#34: Republican Leaders Let the Sideshow Become the Show

Thank you for continuing to share these messages with your friends, if you are not already on our mailing list, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, A Path Forward to November 3, 2020, every two weeks, which means there will be a total of 100 missives before the Presidential election of 2020, in which our country will select a whole new course.

Dear Republican Member of Congress,

Undoubtedly, you are tired of getting pursued by citizens who are very worried about Donald Trump’s diminishment of our country and its democratic ideals. There are a lot of us out here. Maybe to you it is sounding like we are all speaking with one loud voice, but we have millions of distinct, individual voices and we are not going away. We are certain that Donald Trump represents a grave danger, and we remind you that the extent the Republican Party has claimed him and abetted him is now a huge part of the hazard our nation faces.

Internationally, his assault on global institutions is shameful. Our country’s previous worldwide leadership is in freefall. Worse, he could lead us into nuclear war. Your political party that once called for international strength backs a man who has yielded our international leadership position to the Chinese, and openly admires a Russian dictator. He openly taunts and disrespects nations whose soldiers have died for the ideals that our nation treasures.

His domestic policies are grounded in contempt for others. While you have quietly hoped that he would bring us together, he has split us apart, then lied about what he said, and then split us apart again, and then lied again.

At first, when he would tweet something that was untrue or bizarre, you would find yourself annoyed. You might say that it was “unhelpful,” or try to distract attention from it. Now, when he says something that eighteen months ago would have shocked you, you find yourself incapable of such shock. What you hoped would become the sideshow has since become the show.

Have you met a single member of the House or the Senate who is less knowledgeable about the workings of American government than is this man? Is there a single member of the House and the Senate who is less able to articulate the policy alternatives that are before him and the Congress on any major issue? Is there anyone who reads less, or who is less curious, or is less truthful?

Every day you look to yourself or your colleagues for reassurance. Even if you wish Lindsay Graham hadn’t confirmed that Trump referred to shithole countries, or if you thought Bob Corker’s comment about White House staff doing daycare was inappropriate, you are glad they are out there. Sometimes you allow yourself your own critical comment to a constituent or to a colleague though your practice is to be careful.

All of this makes you less of a Republican, in the context of how you have always defined Republicanism. In the context of how Donald Trump is leading you and “branding” your party to the country, you know that your party has been hijacked.

The issue for you and your party is what to do about that. You have thought about it a lot. You not only have talked to your political colleagues about it, you have talked to those you love and those you trust. You have decided that you can do more for your country and your party and your own political career by staying allied with Donald Trump than you can do by leaving him. It hasn’t escaped you that this is an enormous moral dilemma. So, you have carefully enumerated the issues where his position is not that distant from yours, and you have tried to ignore his offenses against the country and the Constitution. You have clung to moral relativism, telling yourself that other ideas and parties and proposals have no lock on goodness. To this point, you have decided not to walk away.

When you can’t sleep at night, don't you worry that you have made the wrong choice, that you have failed the ultimate test of leadership, that you haven’t done the right thing on the most critical challenge of the day when you always thought you would? That’s the case. For 228 years, the glorious, imperfect American experiment in self-government, this opportunity made from the sacrifice of patriots, has been a beacon for the freedom loving people of the world. If in February, 2018 you think it would be the hardest thing in the world for you to separate yourself from the terrible deal that you and your party have struck, it’s time for you to do the hardest thing.
Here are three things you can do right now to attend to the turning of the tide:

1) Communicate With Askew Republicans
	Polls demonstrate an increased number of disaffected Republicans and Independents and early retirements reveal angst-beset Republican lawmakers. It’s a great time to be a flame-fanner. You could look for places to share or send the above open letter, or write a similar one expressing your personal sentiments. Pick a Republican member of Congress and send it to her or him, or send to the Republican state legislator who lives closest to you. Post on Facebook or other social media, turn it into a letter to the editor, or otherwise extend this sentiment. Do whatever you can to get people talking more often about the unmet moral obligations of Republican elected officials.
2) See if We Can’t Sneak Away With a Seat
	The House Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has had an odd position on special elections. They have been reluctant to aggressively contest special elections in districts where Trump had a significant margin in 2016. Since none of these districts have been in the top 50 of those we are most likely to take back, they are afraid that contesting and losing will create a negative narrative for the November 2018 elections. That’s the wrong way to think about it. In the special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th District to be held on March 13, strong candidate and former prosecutor Conor Lamb will either win or come close enough to send a signal. It’s time to send the coffee money.
3) Become Fully Educated on the Russian Rending of Our Democracy
	To prepare for the swirl of indictments by Mueller and Congressional actions and political ramifications, we must make ourselves more fully informed. Let’s start by reading Thomas Friedman’s hugely important Code Red. Then, let’s compel our own selves to understand all of the specific Mueller charges against the Russians.

There’s a lot of good work to be doing right now. No falling away is permitted. Too bad we didn’t all make a tape of our dispirited selves that awful morning after the 2016 election, to provide the most vivid reminder of our pledge to never let this happen again. On the other hand, Donald Trump gives us daily reminders of what has befallen our country. It shouldn’t be difficult to summon our best.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#14: Good People Will Stand on the Shoulders of Thomas Jefferson

Thank you for continuing to share these messages with your friends, if you are not already on our mailing list, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, A Path Forward to November 3, 2020, every two weeks, which means there will be a total of 100 missives before the Presidential election of 2020, in which our country will select a whole new course.

And so it goes. Each week of the Trump presidency takes us into new territory. Our nation, our government, our citizens, and our world pay a new price for having momentarily discounted how much the aptitude of the candidate matters in picking a president. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says that our institutions are under assault internally. Way beyond his climate change denialism and unacceptable approaches to health care and tax policy, it turns out that Donald Trump does not have the skills of a president.

He is not even tempered. He is not curious or measured or well-spoken or empathetic. He is not energetic or intellectually driven or thoughtful or patient or disciplined. So much of the damage of his presidency has come from the demonstrable absence of basic skills.

Do not think all of this has escaped Republican members of Congress. They whisper to each other about his bizarre and sometimes delusional behavior, and quietly clean up after him daily. Most are fully aware of the danger he presents to the republic for which they are sworn to stand. All too many seem to have made the calculation that they can control for the worst while reaping the advantages of having a president from their own party, however dangerous he is.

For the most part, their public opposition to the worst that Trump has done has been designed to not give offense to him and to not put up meaningful obstacles. At this point, these Senators have not been providing profiles in courage.

What must Senators Ben Sasse or Johnny Isakson or Bob Corker or Lisa Murkowski or Rob Portman or Jeff Flake be thinking about as they head to work in the morning? How could one watch the Comey firing and the health care debacle and this week's misuse of classified information and read the tweets and not have a heavy heart? How could you look at your children and grandchildren knowing that you are complicit in threatening their future? How long can they maintain this awful charade?

As Donald Trump loses support (even among the original base of non-college educated white males) these Senators may well modify what is their underlying political calculation, but the pace of their movement toward protecting our country is agonizingly slow. However, the political price to be paid for standing up to Trump is lowering, and the political price to be paid for failing to do so is growing.

This week, we saw some more Republican restlessness, which will grow further with disclosures that Trump asked James Comey to cease the investigation of Michael Flynn. In promising news, Susan Collins, John McCain and Lindsey Graham blocked Trump's proposed repeal of the Obama administration's methane gas regulations. And chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr of North Carolina criticized the Comey firing  and agreed to the Democratic request to bring deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein before Senators for questioning.

It's possible that Lisa Murkowski of Alaska will keep up her battle to save Planned Parenthood funding. It could be that Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, assigned to come up with a Senate approach to health care, will truly reverse the House approach. And, as the treat of the week, we can appreciate Senate Foreign Relations Chair Bob Corker of Tennessee saying that with the Trump disclosure of classified information to the Russians, the White House lacks discipline and is "in a downward spiral."

The best political signal to send to all of these Senators is to mount awesome campaigns to defeat Trump-supporting candidates on November 6, 2018. Our excellent chance is to take back the House. As we show signs of being able to do that, it will have the effect of giving the above-named cautious but somewhat principled U.S. Senators more focus and more opportunities to step forward.

These three things that we can do today will help bring joy into your heart on the morning of November 7, 2018:

1) Respond Directly to the Unacceptable House Vote on Health Care
	The organizations Act Blue, Swing Left, and the Daily Kos have combined efforts to raise funds immediately to target members of Congress who provided key votes to pass the Trump/Ryan health care bill in the House. The effort is ingenious and attracted nearly 50,000 donations the day it was announced. Don't miss out. We need 24 seats to gain the majority in the House. Appropriately, there were 24 Republicans who voted for the bill who are from districts where Donald Trump got less than 50% of the vote. Act Blue, Swing Left and the Daily Kos organizations are setting up campaign accounts that will be donated in each of these 24 districts to the winner of the Democratic primary in 2018. Here is the Act Blue approach.
2) Sort Out Where You are Going to Put Your Energy, If You Haven't Already
	The excitement about taking back the House has grown because of recent polling of "generic" races between Republican and Democratic Congressional candidates. Even before the Comey sacking and Flynn disclosures, the Quinnipiac poll revealed that 54% of those questioned would vote for the Democratic candidate if the election were today, and 38% for the Republican. Anything close to that in 2018 would mean that Democrats would pick up 60 seats! Of course it is way too early to say, and we must advance these dreams through hard work rather than just dream them. It's always good to understand the cautions, such as these put forward by political scientist Larry Sabato. Swing Left has improved its methodology for targeting races, and has come up with these 65, with a handy searchable map. The issue for each of us is the specific actions we will take once we have picked a race. On local organizing, each of us can pick the organization with which we are most comfortable and which can utilize our energies. In some cases, as the Democratic Party gets its act together, they could be the organizer. At this point, the best thing going in terms of local resistance activity is still Indivisible.You can search their site for the chapter near you.
3) Remember Two Special Elections Coming Up Soon
	New polls show Jon Ossoff running even with his opponent in Georgia, in a seat that the Republicans won by more than 20 points last November. The election will be held June 20. If you know someone in this district, please contact them right away! This will be an enormous boost and signal if we can pull this off. If you are vacillating between sending a check or not sending a check, please send a check. Rob Quist's effort in Montana is a longer shot, but take a look and see if you are game.

As I prepare missive #14, the situation is now changing daily. The allegation that Donald Trump asked James Comey to "let go"; of the Flynn investigation could constitute obstruction of justice if it can be substantiated. At minimum, it means that we are traveling into all new territory of subpoenas and investigations. The Trump agenda will stall. The movement to draft a health care approach in the Senate will slow, as will meaningful work on tax policy.

We will each interpret this turn of events, and some will understandably worry even more about the strain or even the threat to our wounded system.

I believe that with all of its excesses and misbegotten approaches, for all of its lack of attention to people in need and maldistribution of wealth, the country we all have created together is worth treasuring and worth saving. I believe the republic will be preserved and will become stronger and that good people will stand on the shoulders of Thomas Jefferson and Franklin D. Roosevelt and Martin Luther King and make it so.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington