David Corn, Mother Jones: "Is It Time for the Democrats to Wage All-Out War Against Trump?" [View all]

[Miles Archer]

Is It Time for the Democrats to Wage All-Out War Against Trump?

With their base angry and fired up, they may not have a choice.

DAVID CORNJAN. 30, 2017 3:56 PM



This weekend, some prominent Democrats took to the barricades to protest President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants from certain Muslim-majority nations and limiting refugees. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts rushed to Logan International Airport to join the spontaneous protest there. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey headed to Dulles International Airport outside Washington to decry the order as essentially a Muslim ban. Other Ds slammed Trump's move and praised the federal court order that temporarily froze part of the presidential order. It was a show of force. And it prompted a question: Was this a step toward a wider and deeper opposition to Trump?

Until now, the response from elected Democratic officials to the Trump takeover of the federal government has left some grassroots Dems underwhelmed and puzzled. The weekend of the inauguration, millions of Americans hit the streets to denounce Trump, his dystopic and divisive view of America, and his policies (especially those regarding women). The overarching message was fundamental: resist. Yet few national Democrats have mirrored back this sentiment to the progressive audience and to millions of Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton and have spent the last few months in a state of discouragement, fear, and anger.

Sure, Capitol Hill Democrats have spoken against Trump and his fellow Republicans' first stab at repealing Obamacare and have called out the early GOP talk of privatizing Medicare. Booker did break with senatorial courtesy to testify against the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Trump's choice to be attorney general. Yet at the same time, several key Democrats—most notably Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer—talked of working with Trump on areas of common ground, say infrastructure spending. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the progressive firebrand, said he would be "delighted" to collaborate with Trump on trade policy. And most Senate Democrats have been voting for Trump's Cabinet nominees. Warren and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), another leading progressive, voted in the banking committee for Ben Carson, Trump's hardly qualified pick to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Booker and 46 other Democratic senators voted for retired General James Mattis, Trump's choice for defense secretary. (Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York has so far voted against every nominee except UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.)

The Senate Democrats have indicated they will mount campaigns against certain Trump nominees, notably Betsy DeVos, the education secretary nominee, and perhaps Rep David Price (R-Ga.), Trump's eager-to-repeal-Obamacare pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services. But their response so far has created the impression of piecemeal opposition. There has been no big thematic push against Trump. The concerns and outrage of the 66 million Americans who had voted for Clinton are not being directly addressed. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) did mobilize a modest-sized boycott of Trump's inauguration after saying Trump was not a "legitimate" president. But in general, the Democratic leadership was not sharing the sense that a crisis is underway.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/donald-trump-democratic-opposition-executive-order-immigration