As you point out, now is the time for Democrats in Congress to leverage the need to fund the government to curtail some of Trump’s most egregious behavior. ICE, Greenland, and withholding of funds from blue states are at the top of my (long) list.
On a more personal note, I share your assessed shortcomings… perhaps there is a common cause here.
Congressional Dems should refuse to fund the government until the demands Brian listed, ant a minimum, are met.
They should start messaging why this is necessary now. Connect funds going to murderous thugs instead of healthcare. Connect ‘running’ Venezuela with affordability at home. Connect every bad act by the admin to every elected republican who, at best, sit on their hands.
Democrats need to meet the moment and stand strong for a change. If they can’t get concessions they should force republicans to end the filibuster. If republicans want to continue to gut healthcare, fund illegal invasions, murder & the occupation of American cities Dems should make sure the public knows they refused be complicit.
AOC gets it, why Schumer and Jefferies don't i just can't understand. You would think after a year of getting their asses kicked they would figure it out by now.
I read you for the first time this morning. I love what you said.
It gives me hope. Empty threats only hurt those already hurting. We are not totally powerless. Meetings of like-minded leaders should be held. Great ideas need to be combined and enacted.
Ironically, the following words came to my mind after hearing the Press Secretary yesterday as she tweaked her Jesus charm before she sputtered out despicable castigation on the Press:
On the media chess board comes the bishop running slant-wise across the truth.
The chess allegory must be flying in the ether!!!!
Brian has a whole list of better suggestions and I agree with 90% or more of them. Let's try those before we resort to a last-ditch option of conflict based on force that we will probably lose (based on gun ownership and training statistics).
PS: That doesn't mean we should just stick our heads in sand. We should increase our ownership of guns and be more comfortable with those who owns guns in a safe manner. If for no other reason then for the precautionary principle. We should be ready for the worst-case scenario if it ever happens as an universal first principle.
But I don't want to entertain online discussions of option Z when we have barely tried options A-D, let alone G-Y.
I would have liked to think it wouldn't take the horrors of Trump II to finally teach *some* liberals how foolish it was decades ago to make performative disdain for personal gun ownership into a form of in-group signaling. But if this is what it takes, I guess I'll take it!
Well, yeah, all well and good. And true. But, but, BUT..... Where the hell is everyone who holds a lever????? What are the reasons, the incentives, that have produced this unbelievable paralysis? Until that has answers, and solutions, it seems like we're unlikely to make any meaningful progress.
You are giving him too much credit for being clever or a genius. He doesn’t have policies. He has random ideas that he throws out there, and somebody else transforms his ideas into something more coherent. Please don’t make him out as a genius.
Well, you say he may well just throw over the board if he knows he's losing. That could mean anything from cancelling elections to nuclear war. Or maybe his own suicide, in some grandiose way.
I have always thought that the Jerks will not accept electoral defeat in the mid-terms. We all need to contemplate what they might try to avoid that.
a/ Intentionally interfering with voting in selective areas to dampen down opposition totals.
b/ Simply saying that elections are cancelled due to some imagined emergency. If some states go ahead and have those, refusing to seat successful candidates from those states.
c/ If elections are held and Dems win big, have Johnson refuse to seat resulting members, and enforce that by arresting any of them who show up to take their seats.
d/ Actually arresting and locking up opposition politicians.
Or a combination of all of the above.
Everyone needs to remember that they have most of the guns.
If and when we get to, they have more guns, which they do . it is going to be hand to hand combat. I have bear spray purchased after Jan 6 and if need be kitchen knives, if it is a matter of life or death. Just saying...
IMHO, the best of your ideas for opposing Trump would be for Democratic governors withholding federal tax payments equivalent to federal money Trump is illegitimately holding back from blue states (all of which are net tax payers to the federal government). States sue to restore these illegal cuts, and the states might hold back federal payments until legal issues resolve. Mechanics might be tricky, but it would sure send a message.
I’d really like an explanation of this corporations submit tax withholding to the IRS not the states. How much money actually passes through states instead of going directly? Corporations have not shown themselves brave enough to send payments to states instead.
As I wrote, the mechanics would be tricky. Just wondering if states could reconfigure their payment systems so state employee federal taxes flow through the state government rather than directly to the federal gov?.
State employees sure. The state is the employer and could not submit the withholding to IRS. It’s not nothing but seems more symbolic. It’s not california holding back the taxes from the state but from the tiny fraction of state employees.
Ugh, my love and detailed comment about Democrats being Unimaginative got deleted.
To summarize, the biggest problem IMO with Democrats, the party not the voters, is their lack of imagination. It is what holds back the brave Democrats and the cowardly Democrats, the populists and the technocrats, the Left and the Center-left, etc.
Regardless of what pet cause or ideology a Democrat believes in, it is their lack of imagination holding back their idea creation, the execution of those ideas, and the general use of political and cultural power.
Even Mamdani who I think is perhaps the most imaginative Democrat I have seen in living memory could use more imagination. His enemies on the Right certainly don't lack any imagination.
I think you're right. Trump acts, and everyone reacts. But Trump isn't very smart and has no self-control. I've been screaming since 2016 for Dems to goad and provoke him. That means not just waiting to express shock and disapproval when the next outrage hits. It means taking the fight to him and doing things he never saw coming--like, e.g., that tax witholding. Or a blue state compact agreeing on environmental policies. Or mounting a full-court press to release and publicize the Epstein files. Or the things on Brian's list.
The goal is to make HIM react, both politically and personally and, if possible, physically, if you know what I mean and I think that you do.
It's also true that, no matter how "bold" he acts, he's an idiot, and literally never foresees the consequences of his actions. He went out of business running casinos, for Christ's sake.
Trump couldn't care less about the tut-tutting of Schumer and Jeffries. Not only that, he couldn't care less about the polls. As long as he calls the shots and then we object to them, he's safe to grift, steal, and attack his enemies. It's time--it's past time--for Dems, on both the national level and at the state level, to be aggressive.
At this point he has kicked over several hornets’ nests: the Fed, Greenland, and Gestapoization of DHS. He’s facing major pushback on all these fronts. Greenland and Powell are the most risky for him because of potential for economic chaos from market uncertainty and sanctions. A tax strike would be great. Even better would be a general strike.
PS any legislative restrictions on DHS activity need to include judicial reforms like permitting injunctions, removing qualified immunity etc.
As you point out, now is the time for Democrats in Congress to leverage the need to fund the government to curtail some of Trump’s most egregious behavior. ICE, Greenland, and withholding of funds from blue states are at the top of my (long) list.
On a more personal note, I share your assessed shortcomings… perhaps there is a common cause here.
Congressional Dems should refuse to fund the government until the demands Brian listed, ant a minimum, are met.
They should start messaging why this is necessary now. Connect funds going to murderous thugs instead of healthcare. Connect ‘running’ Venezuela with affordability at home. Connect every bad act by the admin to every elected republican who, at best, sit on their hands.
Democrats need to meet the moment and stand strong for a change. If they can’t get concessions they should force republicans to end the filibuster. If republicans want to continue to gut healthcare, fund illegal invasions, murder & the occupation of American cities Dems should make sure the public knows they refused be complicit.
I’m not gonna hold my breath.
AOC gets it, why Schumer and Jefferies don't i just can't understand. You would think after a year of getting their asses kicked they would figure it out by now.
I read you for the first time this morning. I love what you said.
It gives me hope. Empty threats only hurt those already hurting. We are not totally powerless. Meetings of like-minded leaders should be held. Great ideas need to be combined and enacted.
Ironically, the following words came to my mind after hearing the Press Secretary yesterday as she tweaked her Jesus charm before she sputtered out despicable castigation on the Press:
On the media chess board comes the bishop running slant-wise across the truth.
The chess allegory must be flying in the ether!!!!
Fantastic advice Brian, where is the Dem leadership? Waiting for a consultant's report of what to do?
Epstein file release
Greenland
Tariffs
ICE over-reach
DOJ abuses
People understand -
"You are protecting pedophiles"
"We can have the benefits of being in Greenland without owning it."
"Tariffs are a tax on the American people."
"ICE actions are unconstitutional" (4th Amendment) and EVIL"
"The US government does not belong to Donald J. Trump."
Perhaps we need to study the tactics of how the Barons in England brought down King John to eventually bend the knee to the Magna Charta?
Ag yes, the classic and timeless tactic of threatening to cut off your opponent's head unless he submits.
Perhaps you have a better suggestion then?
Brian has a whole list of better suggestions and I agree with 90% or more of them. Let's try those before we resort to a last-ditch option of conflict based on force that we will probably lose (based on gun ownership and training statistics).
PS: That doesn't mean we should just stick our heads in sand. We should increase our ownership of guns and be more comfortable with those who owns guns in a safe manner. If for no other reason then for the precautionary principle. We should be ready for the worst-case scenario if it ever happens as an universal first principle.
But I don't want to entertain online discussions of option Z when we have barely tried options A-D, let alone G-Y.
I would have liked to think it wouldn't take the horrors of Trump II to finally teach *some* liberals how foolish it was decades ago to make performative disdain for personal gun ownership into a form of in-group signaling. But if this is what it takes, I guess I'll take it!
God forbid we step out of bounds. I mean, after all, they’ve only had 10 years.
You are wildly misunderstanding my posts if that is what you are getting from them.
Well, yeah, all well and good. And true. But, but, BUT..... Where the hell is everyone who holds a lever????? What are the reasons, the incentives, that have produced this unbelievable paralysis? Until that has answers, and solutions, it seems like we're unlikely to make any meaningful progress.
You are giving him too much credit for being clever or a genius. He doesn’t have policies. He has random ideas that he throws out there, and somebody else transforms his ideas into something more coherent. Please don’t make him out as a genius.
I'm pretty sure trump never learned to play chess. Its almost impossible to cheat at and trump never thinks three moves ahead. He's a walking id.
Well, you say he may well just throw over the board if he knows he's losing. That could mean anything from cancelling elections to nuclear war. Or maybe his own suicide, in some grandiose way.
I have always thought that the Jerks will not accept electoral defeat in the mid-terms. We all need to contemplate what they might try to avoid that.
a/ Intentionally interfering with voting in selective areas to dampen down opposition totals.
b/ Simply saying that elections are cancelled due to some imagined emergency. If some states go ahead and have those, refusing to seat successful candidates from those states.
c/ If elections are held and Dems win big, have Johnson refuse to seat resulting members, and enforce that by arresting any of them who show up to take their seats.
d/ Actually arresting and locking up opposition politicians.
Or a combination of all of the above.
Everyone needs to remember that they have most of the guns.
If and when we get to, they have more guns, which they do . it is going to be hand to hand combat. I have bear spray purchased after Jan 6 and if need be kitchen knives, if it is a matter of life or death. Just saying...
IMHO, the best of your ideas for opposing Trump would be for Democratic governors withholding federal tax payments equivalent to federal money Trump is illegitimately holding back from blue states (all of which are net tax payers to the federal government). States sue to restore these illegal cuts, and the states might hold back federal payments until legal issues resolve. Mechanics might be tricky, but it would sure send a message.
How would that work? I pay the money to the feds. Not to any state.
I’d really like an explanation of this corporations submit tax withholding to the IRS not the states. How much money actually passes through states instead of going directly? Corporations have not shown themselves brave enough to send payments to states instead.
As I wrote, the mechanics would be tricky. Just wondering if states could reconfigure their payment systems so state employee federal taxes flow through the state government rather than directly to the federal gov?.
State employees sure. The state is the employer and could not submit the withholding to IRS. It’s not nothing but seems more symbolic. It’s not california holding back the taxes from the state but from the tiny fraction of state employees.
Frankly one of your better columns. I'm just hoping that Trump doesn't upturn the board anymore than he already has.
Ugh, my love and detailed comment about Democrats being Unimaginative got deleted.
To summarize, the biggest problem IMO with Democrats, the party not the voters, is their lack of imagination. It is what holds back the brave Democrats and the cowardly Democrats, the populists and the technocrats, the Left and the Center-left, etc.
Regardless of what pet cause or ideology a Democrat believes in, it is their lack of imagination holding back their idea creation, the execution of those ideas, and the general use of political and cultural power.
Even Mamdani who I think is perhaps the most imaginative Democrat I have seen in living memory could use more imagination. His enemies on the Right certainly don't lack any imagination.
I think you're right. Trump acts, and everyone reacts. But Trump isn't very smart and has no self-control. I've been screaming since 2016 for Dems to goad and provoke him. That means not just waiting to express shock and disapproval when the next outrage hits. It means taking the fight to him and doing things he never saw coming--like, e.g., that tax witholding. Or a blue state compact agreeing on environmental policies. Or mounting a full-court press to release and publicize the Epstein files. Or the things on Brian's list.
The goal is to make HIM react, both politically and personally and, if possible, physically, if you know what I mean and I think that you do.
It's also true that, no matter how "bold" he acts, he's an idiot, and literally never foresees the consequences of his actions. He went out of business running casinos, for Christ's sake.
Trump couldn't care less about the tut-tutting of Schumer and Jeffries. Not only that, he couldn't care less about the polls. As long as he calls the shots and then we object to them, he's safe to grift, steal, and attack his enemies. It's time--it's past time--for Dems, on both the national level and at the state level, to be aggressive.
Impeach & imprison https://www.instagram.com/p/DTOafMjEw8a/?img_index=1
At this point he has kicked over several hornets’ nests: the Fed, Greenland, and Gestapoization of DHS. He’s facing major pushback on all these fronts. Greenland and Powell are the most risky for him because of potential for economic chaos from market uncertainty and sanctions. A tax strike would be great. Even better would be a general strike.
PS any legislative restrictions on DHS activity need to include judicial reforms like permitting injunctions, removing qualified immunity etc.
I also learned to play chess at a very young age, which is why I find The Queen's Gambit such an enjoyable ride.