This is the next of our 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. .
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You can’t help but be taken aback. Donald Trump is an unbelievably meanspirited, vindictive man. Each day, there is a new person or country to mock or taunt. The fact is everyone is a potential “Piggy” to him, or a “Traitor”. Will somebody please warn Kash Patel not to read Truth Social a month from now? Bobby Kennedy Jr. you are a major measles epidemic away from having your usefulness revisited. Mike Johnson, Karoline Leavitt, Kristi Noem, at one point Trump loved John Bolton just as much as he now loves you! He once loved Marjorie Taylor Greene even more than he loves you! Mayor Zohran Mamdani, you already know you need to be prepared for next February’s news cycle.
Every month in the last twelve seems the same. The man who had “the best MRI his doctor had ever seen” subsequently said he didn’t know what the MRI was scanning. He tells us that a “lot of people didn’t like” the Saudi-murdered Ahmad Khashoggi, that worries about food prices are a “con job”, and that Zelenskyy is ungrateful and is welcome to fight on by himself.
The good news is that it turns out that every month isn’t the same. The door opened further for our resistance on the off-year election night on November 6, which demonstrated that when he isn’t on the ballot (which he never will be again) he is a much better vote getter for his opponents than he is for MAGA. Latino voters turned away from Trump. Precinct by precinct in Virginia and New Jersey, we ran ten points better than our outcome just a year ago. On Tuesday in Tennessee, we ran thirteen points better.
And that isn’t all. There are seven deadly sins, all working against Trump at the same time, all opening the door further:
1) Affordability - The genie is resisting going back into the bottle. Trump beat Kamala Harris largely due to Biden-era inflation. Now that he is the President, Trump has told his Cabinet that affordability is a “Democratic con job”. Unfortunately for him, by 2 to 1, voters say that Trump has done more to increase inflation rather than reduce it. That’s true of course, but Trump is also hobbled by the fact that even if it weren’t true, perception is always going to be the winner. On the economy, you shouldn’t or can’t tell the American people that things are better than they think they are. It doesn’t work.
2) Trump Gerrymandering - On redistricting, now that the lower courts have blocked the Texas plan, Greg Abbott is relying on the Supreme Court to reinstate his now-blocked effort to grab five more House seats. Five members of the Court will hold their noses and do so, even though they know a “ham-fisted” letter written last summer by the Department of Justice violated the Voting Rights Act. Even so, Trump’s redistricting schemes are slowing, parried by Gavin Newsom’s efforts in California. In Indiana, a Republican State Senator has opposed the bill after Trump slurred the intellectually disabled.
3) Marjorie Taylor Greene - You could think that MAGA’s drum major walking off the field at halftime was just a quirky isolated little thing, but you would be wrong. For years, Trump believers in Congress have done whatever they have been told to do, because to do otherwise would guarantee they would suffer Trump’s political execution ritual. Surprisingly, some pundits have said Marjorie Taylor Greene signed the discharge position forcing the House vote on the Epstein files because she’s chosen another political path. The fact is, she doesn’t have and will not have another viable political path. Otherwise a bit off kilter, she signed it because defending Epstein’s victims is the right thing to do. Given the shortage of profiles in courage in the Republican party, those that occur must be recognized. Partly due to her, the disclosures about Trump and Epstein being each other’s wingmen will continue.
4) The Speaker and the House - Speaker Mike Johnson already knows there isn’t going to be another reconciliation bill. There is no issue where he can keep his tiny majority together. The Speaker is spent, and there is no replacement. Among other things, Republicans in the House are warring with each other internally about Trump’s Putin love, Pete Hegseth’s murderous “fog of war”, health care subsidies, the Epstein files, what happened with the East Wing, asylum, redistricting, regulation of their stock purchases, the continuing resolution, and vaccines. As mid-term elections near, the angst will grow. If the election were held today, Democrats would take back twenty seats.
5) The Ukraine Peace Deal - Being a transactional person, Trump is stuck with trying to secure an agreement that Putin and Zelenskyy will sign, when what they each want is not reconcilable. You either reward Putin for attacking a sovereign nation, or you don’t. With Trump’s longtime friend Steve Witkoff acting as his “diplomatic” emissary, Trump only solidified Putin’s demands. Marco Rubio is helping him backtrack, but Putin is upping the nighttime bombings. Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer are trying to help Zelenskyy without angering Trump. This will stay a mess for a while, and a lot of people are going to be unhappy with Trump at the end of it.
6) The Federal Courts - Legal analysts have marveled at the lengths that Supreme Court Justices Roberts, Coney Barrett, Gorsuch and Kavanagh have gone to protect Trump’s actions. They had not believed nearly so much in the sanctity of executive powers when Joe Biden was president. Happily, a modest but real shift has begun. In a few instances where the Supreme Court has blocked nationwide injunctions issued by lower courts, the cases are finally coming to trial. In other instances, the states are using the Administrative Procedures Act to block agency actions, a course that Judge Coney Barrett had underscored. Moreover, the Court will modify Trump’s tariff powers and prevent his executive order on birthright citizenship from going into effect.
7) The Latino Vote - Kamala Harris won the Latino vote in 2024, but her margins were much reduced from the Biden victory in 2020. Regret among Latino voters is surging. In New Jersey and Virginia, 20% of the Latino supporters for Trump in 2024 voted for successful Democratic gubernatorial candidates Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger one year later.
Already we know that we have seen the last time Donald Trump’s name will appear on a ballot. Our chances of taking back the House have gone from good to excellent. That’s not as good as what will happen in 2028 with our new generation of candidates, but it is where we will start this next chapter. Let’s do these three things.
1) Respond to Representative Maria Elvira Salazar
Florida Member of Congress Maria Elvira Salazar has come to Donald Trump’s defense after he called reporter Catherine Lucey “piggy”. Salazar said “President Trump is a very picturesque and difficult and different type of politician. But I always say that I look at his policies and not at his personality. No one is perfect. Those who are perfect are in heaven.” Let’s call Rep. Salazar’s DC office at 202 225-3931 and tell her that she should be defending the reporter, not her verbal assailant.
2) Help Feed, Clothe and Warm Ukrainians
It’s not clear that Donald Trump cares about the people of Ukraine, but you do. Gifts to the International Rescue Committee are tax deductible. They can be earmarked for Ukraine. They will be matched dollar for dollar until January 5.
3) Time to Put Texas on Your Mind
Georgia, Maine and North Carolina will all be big Senate battlegrounds in 2026. Donors are reluctant to think about Texas, even though Beto O’Rourke almost took away Ted Cruz’ Senate seat in 2018. There are some new possibilities. Very right-wing attorney general Ken Paxton may unseat right wing Senator John Cronyn, upping our chances in the general election. This is a state that once elected Lloyd Bentsen, Anne Richards and Ralph Yarborough. In the right circumstances, they can help us move toward a Senate majority. You can help that along by sending some of your liquid assets to the Texas Organizing Project, which has a big umbrella and is a consistent ground force.
It seems a nearly endless quest, but it isn’t hard to see where we can and will go. So, let’s go there.
David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington
