This is the next of a new series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Each will provide three steps we can all take to build upon our huge victories winning back the House in 2018 and the Presidency in 2020.
We will be sharing these messages every two weeks by eblast and on blog, Our Unfinished Work. Please click here to be added to our email list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can also read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement.
A surprising thing happened in America at 7 am on Thursday, December 17. In the 20-minute CBS news summary there was not a single mention of Donald Trump. There was no tweet revisited, con expanded upon, citizen counterpunched, scientific fact dismissed, or false election claim advanced.
For those glorious 20 minutes, America’s possibilities were in view. On television, vaccines were administered and snowstorms described. Fresh, distinguished governmental officials were appointed with the new president detailing dreams they will all seek to realize.
It turned out this was just a fleeting moment, but nonetheless we have seen a future where we can attend to the American agenda. In the meantime, Trump is occupying his last 30 days with an extraordinary set of rants and lies. He is conspiring with people who are as dysfunctional as he is. This is a pool more and more limited as time passes. It is up to us to move the country forward, limit his screen time, and try to decrease the damage.
How do you drive away from someone when they’re desperately clinging to your rear bumper? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris know what to do in the longer-term to put this bizarre person behind us. It’s a matter of getting things done. Administer the vaccine. Escape from the pandemic. Repair the economy. Address our country’s enormous wealth disparities. Fix the tattered Affordable Care Act, and tackle climate change as if lives depend upon it. Fight for racial justice in an all-new way.
Before those goals are sought, we must retain our focus on the damage that Donald Trump will continue to cause between now and inauguration. We are using our phenomenal organizing skill to put Georgia in play on January 5 hoping to take advantage of dissension in the Georgia Republican ranks. You don’t get 80 million votes for your candidate and then stop.
Even now that Mitch McConnell has called the election, the damage to the democracy being caused by Trump is on the shoulders of the Republican leadership in the Senate. It was they that enabled Trump to advance his lies about fraud all the way from November 3 to the electoral college vote on December 14. They believed Trump would stop once the Supreme Court refused to hear his case. Since McConnell and Cornyn and Thune know Trump this expectation does not qualify as rational. Children waiting for Santa Claus to come have a stronger basis for their belief.
Trump’s current destruction is concentrated in three areas:
First, the fraudulent claims of election rigging and the ascendancy of Sidney Powell send a signal worldwide that we are not currently a beacon for the fair and peaceful transfer of democratic power. Imagine being an American diplomat somewhere in the world trying to talk a military leader into honoring the vote of his country’s citizens. Will our country sanction him after he tells made up stories about their voting machines?
Second, Trump’s last month has seen several actions by the Department of the Interior to expedite mining claims or decrease protections of existing wilderness areas. These projects include the transfer of public lands in Arizona for a huge copper mine, a helium drilling permit in a Utah wilderness area and open pit lithium mine in Nevada. As the New York Times outlines, a number of these actions are contestable by environmental organizations but a few have been timed to make reversal less likely.
Third, the most significant rending of the constitution will come right at the end as Donald Trump makes a further mockery of the already mockable pardon process. Even if Trump ends up pardoning himself, and the courts uphold that pardon, it would not free him from charges that can be brought under state law in New York. Any number of miscreants from his administration will receive his pardon as will various other people who have received his attention, perhaps even Joe Exotic. There will be almost nothing that anyone can do about it except express dismay and find and keep a better president.
There are 100 things that we can do to stand in the way of the megalomaniacal person. Let’s start with these three:
| 1) Stop Tommy Tuberville | |
 | There’s an argument that we should want an up or down vote in Congress on January 6 on whether to overturn the results of the electoral college which selected Joe Biden for President. This will be unsuccessful and will create enmity in the Republican party for several years. That’s why Mitch McConnell doesn’t want the vote to happen and why he’s trying to achieve a unanimous Republican caucus to prevent it. To have a vote at all requires at least one senator to join a small group home of especially disgruntled Republicans members of the House. Donald Trump has found new Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville who probably knows less about the constitution than he does. Tuberville may be willing to bring this matter to a vote. He shouldn’t because it’s just one more American trip through a garbage dump. We have had enough of that. Email Tommy Tuberville and tell him that America wants him to do the right thing. He doesn't have an office yet since he won't be a senator till January so let's reach him at contact@tommyforsenate.com. |
2) Win the Mining Battles One at a Time | |
 | For decades the Natural Resources Defense Council has been the leading litigant on federal lands management. They are on the front lines of defense in stopping Trump’s new efforts to open up mining in protected areas. Now is a good time to sign up for their information briefs and to give them whatever financial boost is possible. |
3) Do the Next Best Thing to Stopping Trump's Pardons | |
 | There is no way to rescind presidential pardon powers. However there is a way to make our new President more successful. Give Joe Biden the Senate majority by winning the two seats in Georgia. The state has been flooded with money. At this point pick a smaller organization working hard with limited resources. A great choice is Mi Familia Vota seeking to expand Latino turnout. |
In less than a month Joe Biden will be president and Kamala Harris will be vice president. We all did that together and we’re not close to being done.
David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington
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