There's No Shortage Of Ways To Keep Donald Trump's Felony Convictions On The Front Page
Start by trying to get him kicked off the ballot in Washington state.
Prior to his conviction on 34 felony counts, Donald Trump’s lowest and most vulnerable moment in political life was on and just after January 6 2021, as the insurrection he fomented took shape, then failed.
When the rioters finally dispersed and lawmakers regained control over the Capitol, Democratic members of Congress were of two minds about what to do.
Clear-eyed and battle-hardened Democrats like Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) understood that a line had been crossed, and consequences must be swift. They spent their time locked down in a secure location outlining articles of impeachment, which the House could have fleshed out and adopted in the immediate aftermath.
But the only thing Democrats at the leadership level were interested in was finishing the election certification and closing up shop as quickly as possible. Speaker Nancy Pelosi adjourned the House. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) spoke for this dominant faction when on January 7, 2021, he told the New Yorker “I think we need to put all of our energy into the transition, and preparing to take on the issues facing America. To take these critical few weeks and spend them on a President who is going to be removed on January 20th would be a disservice to our nation.”
Merkley quickly reversed himself, but he couldn't reverse the delay his colleagues had already set into motion. And his initial instinct provided a glimpse into high-level Democratic thinking about Trump accountability: That it can’t be mustered without first engaging in lengthy deliberation or rending of garments, and often just isn’t worth the effort.
We’re witnessing a recrudescence of that mentality right now, in the days after Trump’s first felony convictions. After a brutal weekend of self-flagellation, Democrats have found the mettle to describe Donald Trump as a “felon” or “convicted felon" in their official comments. That’s perfectly proper, and a good way to get the words “felon” and “Trump” next to each other in news stories. But as a rote thing, it loses its novelty and thus its shock value quite quickly, which means those news stories will start to lose prominence. By Monday afternoon, Trump’s convictions had fallen off the front pages of the New York Times and Washington Post altogether.
The only way to bring them back consistently and on Democratic terms is to press the issue in ways that generate controversy, conflict, and dramatic tension. Fortunately it’s not too late for those battle-hardened Democrats to force the story back above the fold.
Below are some thoughts on how.