My opinion: the Dems realistically have a year and a half to directly impact American’s lives. That means economically and safety from government overreach. The deadline is that the next Presidential election will be in full swing by then, and all the swing voters and new voters spurred to come out need some results to feel their choice was worth it.
In Texas, Governor Elect Gina Hinojosa stated her first action would be to fire the head of education and implement policies to try to transfer money back into the public school system. Restore local control. I have yet to see the final outcome on the Texas Congress, but I did see a lot of blue wins - not all of them. There were still red wins.
That’s the kind of thing that has direct impact on people’s lives.
Reign in ICE. Restore Medicaid. Go after the war and tariffs. Apply scrutiny to all federal appointments. Exercise Congress’s Constitutional authority that the Rep Congress abdicated to reign in Trump.
They need wins that improve lives in an observable way.
Also going after the gerrymandering. It worked in the Dem’s favor this time only because of the hate for the status quo. In any normal Rep administration that would have worked for the Reps.
This needs repeating, shouting from the rooftops, or whatever.
I think any attempt to assign a motive or mandate to the election beyond being economically frustrated, frustrated that we’re in a war we started and that has no endgame, and being generally weary of the chaos, hate, corruption, and at least around here (Texas) a certain level of GOP arrogance about how the state will be governed despite popular opinion to the contrary.
It’s not a mandate for de-Trumpification in the sense of post-war de-Nazification, or Reconstruction post-Civil War. And it’s not a mandate for progressive policies either. Assuming it’s either is asking for trouble, IMO.
I think basic first aid in the sense of stopping the bleeding is the way to go. Stuff like immediately reining ICE in, stopping any pending sales of National Park land, holding confirmation votes on interim positions appointed by Trump (or however you force that hand), and that sort of thing is what they should concentrate on. Along with whatever they can do to lower gas and calm inflation down. Maybe a bill about corporate home ownership would be well-received as a way to show intent to lower housing costs.
But leave the more ideological stuff alone for the time being. And yeah, do preparations for the AI bubble to burst and/or prepare for if AI threatens to become too powerful.
Congress has power beyond making laws. The Democrats now control governorships for most of the country’s citizens including 9 of the 10 biggest states. They won control of a lot of state houses throughout the country and scores of local races. Democrats now have plenty of power. Trump should absolutely not stop them from holding people accountable and making positive changes in people’s lives.
I think they rank high on what both moderate and progressive Democrats can agree on. Pass a law taking back from the presidency the power to levy tariffs given to Congress in the Constitution.
With impeachment, you hand Senate wins to the impeached individual. But by passing a lsw repealing tariffs, sure to be vetoes, you hand the Republicans a political loss every time in the next two years there is bad economic news.
Also, I think Trump will keep most of the GOP on his side regarding tariffs. That’s by contrast with foreign military policy, where Trump will allow someone like Vance to attack him (as JD did today regarding Iran and Israel).
Of course, this is all based on the idea that you cannot really repair until you get back the presidency.
If nothing else if the war of choice against Iran isn’t over by then a first order of business is to use the war powers act. He is on a deadline now. He’s too dumb to realize maybe but Rubio isn’t. Not sure about Vance. Hegseth definitely too dumb.
I do not see how the war powers act covers an off and on air/sea war.
It is possible that Trump will, boots on the ground, occupy one or two Iranian islands. If so, yes, the 60/90 day provisions of the war powers resolution/law apply and should be pursued.
What seems more likely is that Trump will NOT put continuous boots on the ground, and progressive Democrats will blame congressional leadership for allowing a war. We shouldn’t feed that narrative. Instead, read up on what is in the War Powers Resolution:
All results aren’t in but it looks like Democrats now have a majority of state attorney generals. That should create a lot of lawsuits, although they can only take action after a policy has been put in.
Not much else that state and local governments can do directly on federal issues that they aren’t already doing. On the state and local levels I’m happy for the people who will now live under Democrats.
I think restoring the economy (starting with ending the war and restoring the old tariff structure) is of immediate importance, but Dems can’t ignore the fact that the GOP and its leader shat on the Constitution, either directly or through executive branch non-compliance. I don’t know how that gets fixed, but part of that has to be visible accountability.
I understand that many Dems are worried that the GOP will cry witch hunt, but that will always be true whenever we try to fix this. It will never be fixed if we just get all hinky every time a hit dog hollers.
I think ignoring the corruption is a mistake and the sheer depth and breadth of it must be made blindingly obvious and public. Congress must pass laws whatever laws they can to prevent further exploitation of the public trust and purse.
But we must also bear in mind that Trump has already said he plans to issue peremptory pardons for his cadre of criminals. Top of the list is Musk. I would expect the same for all his cronies and family members such as Steven Miller (I know I spelled his name wrong and I don’t care), Pete Hegseth, Don Jr., Eric, Jared, Mrs. Kushner, et. al.
So investigate and publish the results, sure. but actual criminal prosecutions are best left to the individual states.
We are on the same page here with regard to the Untouchables, it will devolve to the states to be able to do anything, but if those folks get tied up in court for years and years I’m good with that, and I’m good with federally leading the investigation or assisting with it.
Exactly. Leave the actual prosecutions entirely to the states and Congress needn’t get bogged down in all that. However, they can conduct very thorough investigations and pass what they learn on to the states. Congress can focus on legislating what’s possible and necessary.
To be clear though, for me this includes trying to figure out how to deal with an executive function that refuses to deliver the mandate of Congress, and which violates hiring and labor laws with impunity. That’s not about recrimination, that’s about fixing it. And that’s federal.
As I said, they should legislate whatever they can to prevent further exploitation of the loopholes. They won’t get everything, but I’ll bet they can get a lot.
With Trump 1.0, I said the worst thing he did was what happened to public discourse. He made it OK to be an asshole. Yeah, I think it will take a generation to heal.
Yeah, and I’m not sure what concrete things we can do to fix that.
Be careful what you wish for. Illinois is as gerrymandered as any Republican state. I, personally, would love to see an end to ALL gerrymandering whether it benefits my team or my opponant’s. Hell, I would love to see an end to the American two-party system, but that ain’t gonna happen in my lifetime, and probably won’t even happen in my great-grandchildren’s lifetime.
After “Impeach Pete”, you missed “Impeach RFKJr”. Unfortunately, I don’t know that flushing the steaming orange turd will happen. At least if there is an impeachment, there’s a Senate that will hold actual hearings!
The real problem is (IMHO), they’re racing a fast clock. They basically have a year and a half to accomplish huge things. Republicans will be laser-focused on building delay into every proceeding. It’s not enough time, and it will look as if they are incompetent – even if they do everything exactly right.
Do you think the Senate can get the 2/3 approval for removal for either of these people? I do think it might happen for Hegseth, but I also think he’s going to be fired anyway.
Yeah, I think impeachment of anybody would be a dumb move. As noted, it would be damn hard to get enough GOP Senators to cast a guilty vote for a fellow Pubbie.
Now, investigations into some of the stupid stuff that’s been done (like the DOGE purge) might bring some of the nefarious shenanigans to light.
I think there’s a lot of animosity towards those two, with both being highly incompetent in their positions. Yes, I can see there being enough flips for that; I can’t see there being enough flips to remove Trump through impeachment.