#42: We Will Not Let Him Be Our Country's Voice

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It isn’t as though Donald Trump is messing up what otherwise would be an unblemished global record of the United States. Over time, we have made common cause with countless dictators as they suppressed their people. Often, we have conflated the aims of capitalism with those of democracy. In the 1930’s, we remained isolationist for an interminable period while the world faced its greatest peril. Throughout our history, more than a few Americans have tried to shut the door and lock it right after their generation of immigrants made it past the Statue of Liberty.

Still, over time our democratic aspirations have kindled countless dreams that might not otherwise have emerged in Dakar or Prague or Bangkok. Our free speech and peaceful transfers of power have been well tested and have survived, and equal protection under the law has protected people who would be under siege in many other countries.. As a nation, we have been capable of international leadership, and generosity, and inventiveness. Why not celebrate that now and again we have lifted ourselves, and others? And, why not mourn that the man who “leads” our country is dashing those dreams and withdrawing that leadership, and even mocking the idea of such leadership, every single day?

The “nativists” whom he leads and who of course aren’t originally from here either, throw out “globalist” and “immigrant” as epithets. For all their bluster and meanness of spirit, they are elevated and almost never corrected within a party that once said with conviction that it stood for world leadership. In one decade, a Republican president asked a Canadian prime minister to put his country’s soldiers in harm’s way to defend our collective national security. In the next decade, a Republican president has invented national security as an excuse to invoke special powers in a trade dispute with Canada. As friendly and neighborly as another country could possibly be, Canadians are treated to egregious insults, while Russia and North Korea are praised. How is this possible?

We will make these dreadful moments pass. Within the Republican Party, there is a large cohort whose greatest pride at being Republicans was international diplomacy. Ronald Reagan was far more the renegade than the Bushes and treasured by many in his party for being so. But at this moment he would be ashamed of the behavior toward our allies displayed by Donald Trump.

Those within the White House who did not want a trade war have left, including economic advisor Gary Cohn. Larry Kudlow, Peter Navarro and Wilbur Ross are yes-people. Trump is the arbiter of these matters and he is locked over and over again in The Art of the Deal. Leaving aside that in the first place this was a made-up story about a real estate developer, it has no application to trade negotiations. 

It is monumentally different because there are countless United States interests with every country in which we are in negotiations and each of those countries has its own alliances with each other. It is different from real estate in that time never stands still, that dynamism and change is the constant, and that a single bottom line is a fiction. You could win once in a tweet-advanced swaggering showdown, but you are setting yourself and ourselves up for bigger losses. Most important, it is different from real estate because some countries are founded upon principles of self-determination and protection of human rights while others relentlessly seek to stamp out these principles. In fact, their leaders wouldn't mind stamping us out, even after Donald Trump shakes their hand and pronounces them trustworthy.

Trump rejects out of hand the concept of partnership, even though that is where our genuine self-interest is advanced. Now and again, a pundit will suggest that Trump’s bluster could advantage us, as in “Maybe that other country will think he is just crazy enough to start a trade war and will make concessions.” But we are dealing with other governments, not someone who owns a parcel in Manhattan. This is not just about dairy supports or the price of imported steel. Canada, Germany, Britain and France are not going to forget the flurry of insults, nor should they. Now, Un-believably, and without a trace of irony, Trump has made Kim Jong Un a “lover of his people” while Justin Trudeau is “weak.” Don’t let this become America’s voice.

Democrats, well aware that freer trade has had its economic winners and losers, are going to be happy to watch Senators Bob Corker, Ben Sasse and others battle Trump apologists on the Senate floor over trade. The issue is whether to rein in Trump’s bogus use of national security as grounds for slapping tariffs on products from Canada and other allies. Among the ironies, the Koch brothers are on Corker’s side.

We need to stand for globalism, an indispensable part of the way forward not just on climate change but on most everything that the planet and its people need. We need to remind ourselves again that in fighting poverty and disease, the world has accomplished something together. Nicholas Kristoff says the world has achieved important progress but faces mortal threats. Let’s do three things to diminish the threats.

1) Bolster the Backbone of Those Challenging Trump
	There is always the possibility that the sizable number of Senate Republicans who are challenging Trump on his trade approach will fold in the usual ways when the usual “let’s stay together” pushback is mounted by Trump-battered Republican leaders. But there is a better chance that this battle is an ongoing one, since the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other Republican business interests are aligned with the Corker-led apostates. Donald Trump had promised wary Republicans that the battles waged at the G-7 in Quebec would be “a movie that ends quickly”. But he couldn’t bear to have Justin Trudeau write his own narrative, so the movie didn’t end. Even if it had, with Trump there will always be the sequel. So, it is time to call and write to a couple of Republican Senators who are inclined to give Bob Corker some cover, and who could help over time to make this battle be about the need for global partnerships. Please call and/or write: Senator Lamar Alexander 455 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-4944 Senator Ben Sasse 136 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-4224
2) Represent Yourself as a Part of the Community of Nations
	True as it is that the United Nations is seriously flawed, it is the one place where countries buy in to the idea that we are a community of nations and that we have collective interests that must be pursued. At minimum, we must have a forum where mutual goals are established in fighting global poverty, addressing climate change, and responding to the global refugee crisis. So of all times in our lives it has become necessary to either join the United Nations Association of the USA or at least understand what it is trying to accomplish, now is the most important time of all.
3) Be Guided by Your Fellow Blog Readers
	We have received many thoughtful responses to the 41 missives we have sent since the electoral tragedy of November of 2016, and gratifying encouragement to keep on going. A number of working groups and resistance efforts around the country follow up immediately on the three recommended steps for action that are always included. And we get letters --- Says one - “Perhaps a topic for the next missive is the Sessions’ approach to border-crossing families of taking children away from parents and putting them into holding pens and foster care while detaining, deporting or prosecuting their parents… surely there must be a more humane way…" Stayed tuned for missive #43 for updates and action steps on asylum-seekers and on DACA. Says another - "I would ask you to consider advising your readers to read a very important book I just finished. It’s called How Democracies Die by Levitsky and Ziblatt. It is a scholarly analysis of the signature circumstances that characteristically lead to a democracy turning into an authoritarian dictatorship. It does an in-depth analysis of numerous historic examples with frightening comparisons to America today. I personally believe that every thoughtful person should read to open their eyes concerning what’s going on this country." No dying democracies on our watch. We will read it! From California - "Every Wednesday a bunch of women in our town, whose kids are grown and flown, meet for two hours to write postcards to registered voters. We spruce up our plain postcards in all manner of creative ways and write… to encourage people to get out and be part of the blue wave. As you say each time, we must participate if we are to be governed in a way that is just and fair.” Let’s do that, too.

Since Donald Trump believes he can take the measure of a person in thirty seconds, let’s understand what we would want him to know about us in thirty seconds. We would want him to know--- No, we won’t let this stand. We believe that our democracy is imperiled, and we are fully confident that we can do something about that, and that is what we are doing at this very moment, and that is what we will continue to do until this danger to democracy is lifted.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#40: How Will You be a Part of the Blue Wave?

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It is a little mind numbing, no? How do you separate the claims and the counterclaims? How do you distinguish between the disappointing Trump actions and the hugely damaging? When can you let yourself be heartened by something positive that might happen in the Congress, and when must despair wash over you before you can even try to conquer it?

These times take some sorting. Remember that this President is intentionally unmoored, not just as a part of his being but as a political tactic. That is going to unsettle a citizen’s equilibrium on a regular basis. Remember also that some advocates gain your attention by telling you the worst-case scenario. Just because the most right-wing member of the House of Representatives calls for this or that governmental action does not mean it is going to materialize tomorrow. The legislative process is meant to generate heat as well as light. And it is certainly doing that.

So, if the news bite is something outrageous like “Representative Mark Meadows, leader of the House Freedom Caucus, proposed today that Americans be jailed if they don’t pay daily homage to Donald Trump”, don’t start packing a duffel. There are still checks and balances. Our system is bending right now, but it doesn’t mean it will break.

We need to pay careful attention to which members of Congress are making public statements, and when those statements are consequential. Sometimes legislative leaders selected by their caucuses will signal their specific intentions or even their willingness to compromise on an issue. Statements by leaders of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan or Kevin McCarthy (Republicans) and Nancy Pelosi or Steny Hoyer (Democrats) carry much more weight than pronouncements from individual members. The same is true in the Senate with Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn (Republicans) and Charles Schumer and Dick Durbin (Democrats). 

Watch also for representations made by the chairs of major committees, or the “ranking” member from the Democratic minority. Take note of the higher level of cooperation between Richard Burr and Mark Warner (the Republican chair and the ranking Democrat of the Senate Intelligence Committee). When one of the two says something about the Russia investigation, they will stay connected with the other, even in the face of political differences. Note the lack of such cooperation in the House between Intelligence Committee Republican Devin Nunes and Democratic ranking minority member Adam Schiff, and don’t expect that their statements reach across the aisle. Because of his committee powers and because his pronouncements are less frequent, when Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Grassley says that Donald Trump should not fire Robert Mueller, it counts more than ten other Senators saying the same thing.

We can also learn to recognize when elected officials overuse the microphone. For instance, the ever-vocal Ted Cruz does not have a following in the Senate Republican caucus. His pronouncements on what others should do are not influential. Tom Cotton’s following is small. In the House, public statements from Republican moderates like Charlie Dent are intended to rally the fifty or so colleagues that he needs in order to be treated with more care by Speaker Paul Ryan, but the moderates have rarely gotten traction they have sought. Things are different in the Senate. Because Mitch McConnell holds only a two-vote majority, any public statement by a Republican Senator who might desert him on a key vote means a great deal. That’s why there are always reporters looking for comments from Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Bob Corker, Lindsay Graham, Jeff Flake, John McCain, and even Rand Paul. They have not been as spirited as we would have liked, but we still have what’s left of the Affordable Care Act because of Republican Senators.

Donald Trump was not the first president to make Americans miserable. The now nearly sainted John Adams wanted to put dissidents in jail for sedition. Until later in life, he and Jefferson hated each other. Landowners were terrified of Andrew Jackson. James Buchanan turned the threat of a Civil War into a certainty. Woodrow Wilson was a racist. George W. Bush let Dick Cheney make up a war.

In the face of the pain this man has wrought, collect rare moments of grace. Former presidents and their spouses sitting with Melania Trump at Barbara Bush’s funeral was meant to communicate that we still stand for something together, at least for now.

This misery will be tolerable only if we can make it pass. Our momentum is growing for the fall elections. We will vigorously contest the Senate and will win back the House. And that will provide considerable relief from the worst Trumpian havoc that would otherwise be visited upon the people. 

The Michael Cohen/Rudy Giuliani adventures will continue to bring rewards, and Robert Mueller ever so patiently does the work that he was called upon to do. Tough times require some people to step forward when they didn’t initially intend to do so. Thank you for that, Rod Rosenstein, and Senators Jerry Moran and Charles Grassley. And yes, we do get guilty pleasure from the work of Michael Avenatti.

There is even a tiny bit of movement in Congress on important issues even as most of the time is spent on political positioning. We can and should do these three things to support work in progress.

1) Convince Republicans to Dare to Help the Dreamers
	The discharge petition is a rarely used process in the House of Representatives that forces consideration of a bill on the House floor. Republican moderates hope to use this process to require Paul Ryan and the House to move forward on four separate legislative approaches on immigration regarding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Trump is still blocked by the courts from throwing the Dreamers out, but Congress must act on the longer-term solution. Paul Ryan is afraid that a floor debate on a bi-partisan compromise would put Trump in a position where he would veto the bill because it doesn’t wall us off from Mexico. With Democrats expected to join moderate Republicans, advocates are only seven signatures away. The closer they get, the more leverage moderate Republicans will muster to force a vote. Check this list and see who has signed thus far. Pick a Republican from your state or from a nearby state, call their office and ask them to join this effort. Or pick from these seven Republican members, who signed a letter to the Speaker last December telling him they wanted action on DACA! Remember, even if they don’t end up taking this step, it is worth it to let them know you are out there. Chris Smith of New Jersey: 202-225-3765 Scott Taylor of Virginia: 202-225-4215 Dan Newhouse of Washington: 202-225-5816 Mimi Walters of California: 202-225-5611 Mike Simpson of Idaho: 202-225-5513 Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania: 202-225-4276 Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania: 202-225-4315
2) Give Long Overdue Criminal Justice Reform a Boost
	Criminal justice reform has been a project of Jared Kushner, whose father was incarcerated in years past. Progress has been slow, even though there were broad bi-partisan agreements on sentencing reform and on prisoner education near the end of the Obama presidency. There is still some bi-partisan interest in getting something done this year. The House is prepared to move along a tiny bill on inmate education, eschewing the more impactful but more contentious sentencing reform. The Senate wants to take up both issues. This placces Judiciary Committee chair Charles Grassley in conflict with the House sentencing reform obstructionist Jeff Sessions. Write a quick note to Grassley and Democratic assistant minority leader Dick Durbin to thank them for doing the right thing. Chuck Grassley 202-224-3744 135 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Dick Durbin 202-224-2152 711 Hart Senate Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Sign up to get action alerts on this and other efforts from the Leadership Council on Civil and Human Rights, started over fifty years ago by Dr. Martin Luther King.
3) The Elephants Need You to Remember Their Plight
	The narrative was that Ivanka Trump had talked to her father, and that we were going to fully shut down the ivory trade and elephant trophy hunting. It turns out that there is still hemming and hawing, and talk about case by case evaluation.     And, of course, there has been even more absurd talk that we need to allow permits to kill elephants in order to raise funds to keep people from killing elephants. There are members of Congress who are staying with this issue, and even exploring how Facebook has created a path for people selling illegally secured animal parts. Please call Senator Chris Coons of Delaware to thank him and to ask him to be an ongoing leader in elephant protection.  Chris Coons 202-224-5042

This is how it will be going for a while--- a few meaningful legislative actions here and there, followed by a huge showdown on the budget in late summer, as Trump threatens to close down the government if we refuse to build him a wall. It will all lead up to a colossal referendum on the Trump presidency in the November 6 off year elections. What are you doing right now to be a part of the blue wave?

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#38: We Will Regain and Rediscover Our Own Country

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.

Now that we have drifted further into uncharted waters, it’s appropriate to examine the additional dangers of a presidency that unquestionably is unmoored, rather than one that one might think is merely but perennially misguided.

If you are unmoored, and you are in uncharted waters, you can collide with anything, often without any advance warning. The consequences of such collisions are not known in advance. And what if there are too few people watching out for hidden or even obvious obstacles and barriers?

All of this explains the dilemma of those of us who are resisting. How could we not be askew in the face of this “morally unqualified” president, where the willful lies pile up and where the bullying is relentless and where the learning is absent? This has gotten scary. The Sara Huckabees scurry to tell us Trump tweets on Syria are all consistent with each other and with foreign policy plans, but all sentient beings (even including members of Congress) know better. Who doesn’t get it that every day is a new day with its new bizarre behaviors? 

Mercifully, Donald Trump is not a part of a new and growing movement in America. With the help of the Russians, and of James Comey! (with his announcement a week before the election), and weaknesses in the Clinton campaign, racism, and sexism, he threaded the needle. He won an election he did not expect to win and would not win again. He, and we, are saddled with him having a job that he did not expect to have. Weirdly, his challenge and our challenge is nearly the same - to get through all of this without injury to himself and others. It is not just Senator Bob Corker that has called attention to the president having “minders”. There are cabinet secretaries and staff members (James Mattis and John Kelly, even in his reduced role) who serve in that role every day.

Our job now is to have even more people standing between him and the Constitution he would seek to shred, or between him and other nations he would strive to vilify. That is what we have signed up for, from now to perhaps as long as January 2020. Occasionally, we have even taken delight in other more unlikely and inconsistent intervenors. Paul Ryan, thanks for any time you talked the President down when he forget the Congress and the Constitution. Susan Collins, your swing vote has not been there as much as we would have liked, but when it has appeared, we certainly have appreciated it. You too, Lisa Murkowski, John McCain, Jeff Flake and Bob Corker. To House moderate Republicans who are deciding not to run again - now that you are unshackled, could you vote what you believe more often, eschewing your ritualistic genuflection in the direction of the White House? It has becomeembarrassing. What can Trump do to you now? To the cabinet secretaries who believe the agency they head should exist, please identify yourself! And thank you. As the New York Times said on Monday, isn’t it time for you to step forward a few steps more?

Still, you can look in the mirror for the ultimate intervenor. You are the one, with the millions of other resisters by your side. Together, you are the ones that saved the Affordable Care Act, kept the wall from being built, and got a budget passed that funded the Environmental Protection Agency and social services. You are the ones that make the rest of the world understand that America intends to be a beacon again sometime in the future.

You are the ones who are creating an enthusiasm level about winning back the House in November that has petrified Congressional Republicans and accelerated retirements. You’re obsessed by swing districts, and you are working in small groups and marching and registering voters and sending money. You are as dangerous, or even more dangerous to Donald Trump than Robert Mueller and Stormy Daniels. Donald Trump wants you to be quiet and go away. Is that sufficient motivation?

We ended up with a federal budget where almost none of the worst of the Trump/Mulvaney cuts materialized. But remember their playbook. The new tax law will be shepherding in trillion-dollar annual deficits. Then the assaults on social welfare spending will begin anew. Tax cuts for the rich will drive budget cuts for the poor. That all can be forestalled until a new Congress is seated next January. This is one more reason to take back the House. 

In the meantime, Congress is paralyzed on a DACA bill, and most everything else. The eyes are on Mueller, on Michael Cohen’s paramour payoffs, on Trump himself and on whether he will fire deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein. Let’s do three things that will help continue our resisting momentum:

1) Thoughtfully Thanking Thom Tillis
	As this missive discussed above, we need Republican elected officials to defend the Republic, for which we stand. The candidates for this all too rare stalwart behavior most often come from the ranks of Senators who don’t plan to run for reelection, such as John McCain, Jeff Flake and Bob Corker. Now comes an unlikely candidate, North Carolina conservative Senator Thom Tillis. Tillis has joined Lindsay Graham and Democrat Chris Coons in introducing the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act, which would set up additional roadblocks to Trump firing Robert Mueller. The bill isn’t going to pass, but it is a fresh and important signal to Trump. Tillis irritated a not inconsiderable number of his supporters when he went in this direction. Here is his explanation in the Rocky Mount NC newspaper. Thom Tillis has other problems, such as being mixed up with Cambridge Analytica, but nonetheless it is time to write and thank him for his efforts in upholding the role of law in the face of Trump’s threats to fire Mueller. Write Thom_Tillis@tillis.senate.gov.
2) Give Some Counsel to Swing Left
	In the darkest days after the Trump election, two organizations stepped forward to help grow a movement. The work of Indivisible (which was founded by savvy former Congressional staffers) has been indispensable. So has the work of Swing Left, which is fully focused on us taking back the House. The people who started Swing Left were relative political unknowns, and they have delivered every step of the way. They invented “district funds” which are escrow accounts you can contribute to in swing districts prior to the selection of our candidate, so she or he will get an early boost. Now comes Swing Left with an all new question posed to the resistance.  They are already targeting 70 Republican seats, all in districts where we clearly can compete.  They ask us all.   Should they expand the map of targeted races too try to generate the bluest of all blue waves?  Unfortunately, they have framed the question as if this year is like any other Congressional election year. Their worry is that helping candidate in race #77 (whose chances are a longer shot) could weaken our efforts for candidate in race #28 (whose chances are very good.) This worry pays insufficient attention to the fact that every close race we create is one Republicans will have to defend, and that expanding the map is a great way to make the blue wave the election narrative of the year. If we can do that it will fan additional voter registrations and higher turnout, and that too will help in Swing Left’s present list of targeted races. It’s time to write Swing Left at team@swingleft.org and tell them that it will not diminish current targeted races to expand the map.
3) Dare to Dream About the Senate
	There has been reluctance to dream about taking over the Senate.  This is because we are preoccupied with the re-election of several Democrats who won in 2018 and who are seeking re-election in states that Trump carried in 2016.   These include Heidi Heitkamp of North Carolina, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Claire McCaskill of MIssouri and several others. Beyond playing defense, now it appears that there are take-back opportunities, beyond winning the open seat in Arizona that Jeff Flake is vacating, and beating Dean Heller in Nevada. The wild dream is that Representative Beto O’Rourke has started so strong in Texas that he may have a chance to beat Ted Cruz. An even more promising opportunity has appeared in Tennessee. Former Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen is leading in the polls in the race to fill the seat left open by the retiring, Trump disaffected, Bob Corker. Now would be an excellent time to give Phil Bredesen a financial boost.

Every week Donald Trump unravels a little bit more. He gets a little angrier with his staff, a little more disconnected in his public statements, a little less grounded. Every week it seems even more astounding than it was the previous week that this man became president of the United States. It doesn’t work to respond to these woeful circumstances with despair. Instead each of us finds within themselves with new energy to resist, to fight back, and to regain and rediscover our own country.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#34: Republican Leaders Let the Sideshow Become the Show

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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

#32: What Wonders Will Emerge on November 6

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.

Long before Donald Trump came into our world via escalator, political compromise was referred to by its practitioners as an “art”. Two or more sides would recognize and resolve an impasse. Each would give up something, and get something. Neither would be entirely comfortable with the resolution, and both would be able to claim that they achieved an outcome that prior to the compromise seemed highly unlikely.

This still happens in our nation’s capital, every week and on issues large and small. And for the most part, it should happen. However, the differences between what transpired in the recent budget discussions and what is commonplace when compromises are sought are even more striking:

• When the price of resolution includes avoiding a governmental shutdown the debate will no longer be limited to the issues that were initially under review, which were DACA and border security. Instead the debate reached a wider, more complicating sphere related to the broader infliction of pain on the government and country as the consequence of failing to act on DACA. It was not unwise for Senator Schumer and the Senate Democrats to initially refuse to supply the votes necessary to keep the government open, because they traded their inevitable wounds for a clearer path to the conceivable creation of a future for Dreamers. Once the Republicans had already acceded to the six-year extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program within the budget resolution, the high pain/gain ratio for Democrats of shutting down the government even temporarily was predictable. The politics were messy and a bit disappointing, but it was worth it. There will be no ongoing damage, and tactical lessons have been learned.

• In typical negotiations that lead to political compromise, everyone comes into the room with a similar body of knowledge. On the issues before them, Democratic and Republican Senators had varying interpretations on the current effectiveness of border security, or different value judgements on injustices faced by the Dreamers. But, each and every one of them had a deeper understanding of these matters than did Donald Trump. When it looked for a moment like Trump would agree with Republican Lindsay Graham and Democrat Dick Durbin on a “clean” DACA bill, aide Steven Miller marshalled the Fox forces. Because Trump can veto bills, Mitch McConnell has to treat his views as consequential. The combination of Trump not being any kind of a learner and Fox having his ear is very difficult to deal with. With Trump, any deal will become in-artful.

So, none of these upcoming negotiations will easily fit the pattern that Senators had utilized before the present political affliction of the past year. Throughout 2018, Trump and McConnell are going to need 60 votes in the Senate. All year long they will have to come to the table with 51 or fewer votes, and with Chuck Schumer sitting there demanding things. It behooves all of us who see ourselves as a part of the resistance to know which of these circumstances will endanger us and which will advantage us, and how to make more of the latter and less of the former.

The first question is how badly does each side want its objective in a sought compromise? Republicans know how fervently most Democrats want to do the right thing for the Dreamers, while many Republicans would be comfortable with no DACA at all. That’s why what once seemed unthinkable may well come to pass, where Democrats will trade Dreamer protection for the votes Trump needs to get a major section of the wall funded. (Democrats also know that they will have much improved ability to block wall spending after they take back the House in November. Like Rome, walls aren’t built in a day.) Similarly, if the Republicans had needed 60 votes for the bad tax bill in the Senate, Schumer would have been able to extract major concessions, because he would have been fine if discussions fell apart and there was no bill at all.

The second question is does the objective have to be passed, or just blocked? If Trump ever proposes an infrastructure bill, it will require McConnell and him to make major concessions with Schumer and Senate Democrats, because he would need all new legislation, and 60 votes to cut off debate. There is no national groundswell convincing Schumer that he would be in peril if he disagrees with Trump’s approach.

The third question is to what extent is there common ground between the parties? The requirement that 60 votes are necessary in the Senate to cut off debate changes the role of Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski and Jeff Flake and Lindsay Graham from providing a key necessary NO vote (which they did rarely to be sure). Now to be successful they must bring Republicans into a “moderate” coalition, a role which they will find much more enjoyable. This will also enhance the role of the more centrist Democratic Senators, which was described in missive #31.

Here are three things we can do to make sure the resistance isn’t compromised by compromises in Congress:

1) Promote the Promise of the Common-Sense Coalition
	Any time a group of Senators from both parties labels itself a Common-Sense Coalition, it’s time to be wary. The danger of any centrist coalition is that it can blunt necessary advocacy and substitute half a loaf when a loaf is needed. But in 2018 the emergence of this coalition will prove more valuable to Democrats than Republicans. That’s because the Democrats are in the minority, and thus are that much more in need in terms of coalition building. Three weeks from now we will be enveloped in a DACA debate, with all of the complications of the budget resolution set aside. For at least a day, attention will be paid to the substance --- who would be deported if DACA doesn’t survive in a meaningful form; the contributions they make to America; and the injustices that will be visited upon them. By participating in the recent meetings of the Common-Sense coalition, certain Republican Senators have revealed themselves as possible supporters of a DACA bill. They need a note from you thanking them for working across the aisle and looking for solutions. Give them some positive re-enforcement, even though the real work is yet to be done. Choose any or all of these three, who are definitely not used to getting such notes: Mike Rounds of South Dakota Cory Gardner of Colorado Lamar Alexander of Tennessee
2) Delay the Usual Internecine Democratic Warfare
	There always will be and always should be a place within the Democratic Party for Democrats to battle Democrats. Fighting passionately over what you stand for is how you end up standing for something. So, the disappointment of some that Schumer and colleagues agreed to end the shutdown could easily end up within the normal bounds of discourse. However, let’s get the situation clear in our minds. Schumer got something that was meaningful, and he was not in a position that DACA gains were going to emerge in full bloom with each successive day of a shutdown. Further, the moderate Democrats who were eager to have the shutdown be over all stood tall by Schumer’s side through all of the Affordable Care Act votes and all of the votes on tax “reform”. Under considerable pressure and from states who strongly supported Trump over Clinton, they will continue to be strong members of the Democratic caucus. We can all be monitors of this internal debate, to make certain that our resistance has both standards and a big tent. Or we can seek to eviscerate our own. Stephanie Taylor of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee wrote: "Today's cave is also a wake up call for the Democratic Party. Today's cave was led by weak-kneed, right-of-center Democrats who buckled as soon as the fight was on. Senator Schumer voted with Republicans and called this a good path forward. This is exactly why voters don't know what Democrats stand for. Weak Democrats muddy the party brand -- and today, they made it harder to inspire voters and win elections everywhere in 2018." Write Stephanie Taylor at info@boldprogressives.org and tell her what she already knows --- Schumer is not a “weak kneed right of center Democrat”. Schumer ultimately told Joe Manchin and Claire McCaskill that he didn’t need them in the effort to withhold 40 votes, which helped them in their home states where they are seeking re-election in November. He ultimately decided he did not have an immediate path to DACA victory. That’s what you want a Democratic caucus chair to do.
3) Help the Coalition for the American Dream and United We Dream Get Momentum
	Even though battle lines are now well drawn, it’s not too late to get a little bit more momentum behind the forces that are working to protect Dreamers. One of the communities of interest that has been surprisingly helpful (within their own self-interest) is America’s corporate, labor and trade association leaders. Figure out a way to get attention for their efforts. Write to a corporate, labor or trade association leader you know and ask them to join the growing ranks. Send their letter to Congress to your own member of Congress with an attached note. Or, get behind the spirited, intensive lobbying effort of the largest group of immigrant youth in the country. Click to donate here.

Because of the need for the bills to get 60 votes in the Senate, we’re heading toward a year where compromises will always be at the table. Since Donald Trump always has Fox TV tuned in and since he has almost no knowledge of policy issues, he will never be a presidential negotiator even at the lower end, represented by the days of James Buchanan and Warren G. Harding. That will make things a bit more tumultuous. We will have to expect our elected officials to pick their way through carefully, and we will have to get beyond the declared wisdom of one paragraph posts.

Through it all, with determination and confidence and energy and hope, we are working toward the wonders that can emerge on November 6, 2018.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#25: Republican Senators Say a Prayer for Mattis, Tillerson and Kelly Every Day

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.

It has been almost a year. If this was a merely a presidency without grace, we would bear up under it with aplomb. But it is a bullying, incurious, relentlessly dishonest, scary presidency. Hence, our resistance.

For most of this year, the number one thing we need to do has been clear. We need to and plan to take back the House of Representatives on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. It is now just over a year away and the races are emerging. Our chances of getting the 24 seats we need are excellent. A new poll shows Democrats significantly leading the “generic” Congressional vote. We have more than a year to go, but our prospects are the best they have been. Of course, our prospects are good because of the awful damage that has been wrought upon our nation. That makes it a bit more difficult to celebrate.

Recently, Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee said the greatest danger of this presidency is that its disdain for diplomacy and resultant reliance on “binary” options could lead us in the direction of World War III. This is the most serious of business, forcing us to BOTH take back the House and adopt a new number one project. That project must increase the number of Republican leaders who are actively speaking out to check the President’s excesses. As outlined most recently in missive #18 this is no easy thing.

One might think that Donald Trump’s unpopularity would give any Republican leader some “cover” under which to criticize him. After all, the narrative that Donald Trump has a solid, unquestioning and unflinching base is false. Somewhere around 20% of the Republicans who voted for him are not with him anymore, and he has hemorrhaged support from independents.

However, the remaining Trump supporters are of sufficient number to punish Republican officeholders not only for real slights, but for imagined slights. All of the recent Steve Bannon adventures recruiting candidates to oppose the Republican “establishment” are a Trump-blessed demonstration that there will be retribution for those that stray. Note that none of the primary Republican Senate critics of Trump (Murkowski, Corker, McCain, Collins, Sasse, Paul) are up for re-election in 2018. And, all have given him important support at critical junctures, though not on health care.

Corker maintains that there are a lot of Republican Senators who share his worries about global conflict, which is hard to doubt. But they are also glad that it is Corker who is talking, not them. Senators like Jeff Flake of Arizona toed the line on the health care votes, but all he has earned is an alt-right opponent in the primary and a strong Democratic candidate in the general election.

How do we increase the number of Republican dissenters? First, we develop a richer understanding of why they don’t want to do what we want them to do. Officeholders vary widely in how they seek to establish justice and promote the general welfare, but all of them think that’s what they are doing, and none of them want voters to tell them they can’t do it anymore. They vote with Trump for reasons of self-preservation, so that they can continue to serve, so that they will be able to do the good that they are doing, or (in some cases) that they think they are doing.

It gets complicated for them when their interest in self-preservation pulls them in two distinct directions. In an increasing number of states, Senators fear that the retribution from independent voters if they vote with Trump will outweigh retribution from the Trump “base” if they vote against Trump. Loud, intense, well-resourced, concerted opposition from all of us changes the equation. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska wanted to do the right thing on health care, but you can bet that she was also weighing who she was going to make the maddest and how long they are going to stay mad.

Even with all of this weighing, it is important to remember that a Senator can always step forward out of pure principle. Ben Sasse of Nebraska is an example of this. He would be better off politically if he hadn’t asked if Trump was “recanting his oath of office” when he said NBC should have its broadcasting license (which it doesn’t hold in the first place) challenged.

Certainly, Senators are worried that Trump will start a war and that a lot of people will die. They say a prayer for Mattis, Tillerson and Kelly every day. Because they have these worries, you can ask them (or a Representative) to oppose Trump on foreign policy so that the republic will stand. But it never hurts to also be able to say that if they do not oppose Trump on foreign policy, there will be political consequences. Just be sure to follow up and help make it so.

There will be time to take on tax “reform” efforts and with them the re-kindling of the novel Republican notion that decreasing revenue by $2 trillion in tax cuts will not increase the deficit. For now, let’s do three things that will reinforce the signal to Republican Senators and Representatives that it is time for them to be counted:

1) Start Counting On Nebraska Senators
	Ben Sasse of Nebraska followed up with his criticism of Trump with this response to Sean Hannity of Fox News, who had taken him on for criticizing Trump: "Some of us still believe in the constitution".   Sasse has potential that all of us need to help him realize. Let’s thank him for standing up for the First Amendment and thus give him some positive reinforcement. Let’s make sure we get through my leaving a phone message, sending an email to him, and trying to get a personal message through. First, call the main line at: 202-224-4224 Then, email the Senator Finally, to make sure you get a human, call his Lincoln office at 402-476-1400 After that, take an interest in the other Nebraska Senator, Deb Fischer. She has supported Trump almost without exception, though she was somewhat troubled by his order regarding transgendered persons in the Armed Services. For all of her unyielding support, she has been attacked by Steve Bannon for failing to criticize Bob Corker when he criticized Donald Trump.  We aren’t going to turn Deb Fischer in our direction, but it would be good to show her she has been noticed. If you have extra energy on the Nebraska front, send her an email telling her that it will be a political test that America is watching for her to stand up to Bannon.
2) Thank Senator Bob Corker Profusely and Follow Him Closely
	Senator Bob Corker has a year left as the chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He can do an enormous amount of good for America if he doesn’t start getting worn down by the attacks he is receiving.  Reinforce the good. Be a part of the “count” by emailing the Senator himself.   Then try to find your way around the curtain by writing a note to his foreign affairs counsel John Rader and tell him how important it is that the Senator attend to these matters on a daily basis: John Rader, Counsel Senate Foreign Relations Committee 423 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington D.C 20510-6225
3) Make Sure Our Side of the Story is Well Articulated
	A year after Donald Trump was elected, the main voices of the opposition remain Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. These two people were elected by their fellow Democrats as managers of their caucuses. They are imperfect national spokespeople to be the lead respondents to Trump. Email Michael Tyler, spokesperson for Democratic Party chair Thomas Perez and the Democratic National Committee. Tell him you are sitting out there hoping that they are working aggressively to groom and advance other elected officials to comment on the daily happenings in Washington D.C. Ask him what the DNC is doing on this front.

The rest of the fall will be all about the budget bill, keeping the government open, and tax “reform”. The central tax issue must remain the enormous and growing disparities in wealth distribution in America. The best thing you can say about the tax debate and related media coverage so far is that almost every story refers to the distributional impact by income level of various tax proposals.

On the global front, we need to persuade some Senators to imagine themselves as a part of Profiles in Courage. Or, in the alternative, let’s continue to show the political intensity that will make the principled stand of any Republic senator less courageous and more practical. Let’s make them more worried about our reaction than they are about Donald Trump’s reaction.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#23: We Have Never Had Any Choice But to Take Back the House

EMERGENCY ALERT: We interrupt this post that is focused on other dangers and threats. There is an emerging threat that the Graham-Cassidy effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act will be brought to the Senate floor this week. Please email these Senators and beseech them not to play along on this all new scheme to take health care away from the Americans who most need it: 

• Morgan Griffin, Legislative Aide for Lisa Murkowski, Alaska 
  Steve Abbott, Chief of Staff for Susan Collins, Maine 
  David Bennett, Legislative Aide for John McCain, Arizona 
  Rachel Green, Legislative Aide for Dean Heller, Nevada

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.

It’s time to collect ourselves as we (and so many others) continue this largely successful effort to curb the countless excesses of Donald Trump, and thus protect our nation. It is also the time to make certain our fervor does not dissipate.

We all have done better in the past 10 months than we might have expected. The Affordable Care Act is wounded but it stands. The wall is unbuilt, proposed State Department cuts have been pushed back, Russia has been sanctioned and Planned Parenthood is funded. On the other end of the ledger, a new Supreme Court Justice has been confirmed, executive orders have diminished the environment, and the President has regularly contributed to international instability. Ahead of us is a major battle over taxation, and the extent to which tax “reform” exacerbates or alleviates huge wealth disparities in our country.

We never have had any choice but to take back the House in November of 2018, and the chances are very good that we will accomplish that goal. More moderate Republican members of Congress like Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania and Dave Reichert of Washington have announced they are not seeking reelection, making their swing districts far more vulnerable for Democratic takeover. We need 24 seats to take back control of the House, and could get more than 40.

The key word is could. First, there is no danger that Donald Trump is going to significantly increase his voter approval. The John Kelly molded man seeking to look presidential will return to the true mold each time Kelly looks the other way. The unfettered, uninformed and unprincipled Trump is the essence of the man.

So that may mean that the biggest impediment to taking back the House is us. Pogo said “We have met the enemy and they are us.” We must defend against three ways we could take ourselves down. We could pull defeat out of the jaws of victory in the fall of 2018 with no cohesion, or no leaders, or no ideas.

The first test is how people who previously Sanders and Clinton work together. So far, the signs are encouraging. Neither Sanders nor Clinton is going to be the 2020 nominee, and their strongest supporters know that already, which is freeing. There will be meaningful Democratic policy/political differences in scores of Congressional primaries, but those can strengthen us. Additionally, the fears that “identity politics” will make us less than our collective sum are not founded. Passion fuels us. By November of 2018, we need to display unity, not uniformity.

Who will lead us is the bigger question. Did we not realize during the reign of Harry Reid that having the Senate Minority Leader as our spokesperson on the evening news will inevitably become a problem? Good minority leaders are tacticians. They relentlessly attend to the key concerns of each Democratic Senator. They automatically illuminate their political sides. The clear articulation of our aspirations and agenda is not the prime gift of either Chuck Schumer or Nancy Pelosi. Hopefully, this need will start to get filled when various presidential aspirants start to appear. The New York Times has given its sought after attention to eight candidates.  

And, of course, we must and will become sharper about the why, the reasons why Americans should select our candidates rather than those allied to Trump. Some of these more refined positions will come out of Democratic primary races. These will be especially pointed in their disputes over international trade, within a party that houses both protectionists and free traders. The policy focus which will not emerge naturally is the interwoven series of initiatives that will respond anew to uneven economic opportunity in America’s regions. Actually, Democrats have been addressing these for some time, but it is not clear the public has been aware of that. It is broken and must be fixed.

All together, we give the resistance to Trump unbounded energy. That energy will drive and improve the responses to the three above challenges of cohesion, leadership and ideas.

If our indispensable weekly attention to these matters is waning, a little, then we will be less likely to gain the outcome we seek. Here are three things we personally can do to sharpen our engagement:

1) Please, please, please pick your Congressional campaign
	Campaigns are won or lost from their inception, not on the day the results are posted. We all felt Trump-generated despair from the moment he got the sufficient Comey-boost to gain election. We looked for every opportunity to fully and genuinely resist. Even if you have never picked a campaign in the past, it is time to pick one now. Read the newspaper to decide which, if any, Congressional races near you are going to be heavily contested. There will be 60 or so at least somewhat competitive races so you are going to find one, even if you have to consider a neighboring state. Use the excellent online resources which are available to help you sort things out. These include Indivisible and Swing Left either of which can help you sort out targeted races. Even though they have been excruciatingly absent from the organizing side of the picture, get on the e-mailing list of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Also make it a point to keep tabs on your state Democratic party. After you pick your race, go see the candidate or one of her or his aides if they are within driving distance. If you don’t live in their district, join an Indivisible cell or other organizing group that will “adopt” the candidate. If such a group doesn’t already exist, organize it yourself. Do not be discouraged if there already five or six candidates indicating their interest. Pick the one who you find compelling. Even if your candidate isn’t the one moving forward, you will be adding to our collective strength.
2) Where you have special skills, advance them.
	Take an inventory of your skills. Start by making yourself good at door-to-door work. Eventually every campaign finds these resources essential, not just as a tool for swaying voters but even more as a tool to make certain we identify who is with us so we can get them to the polls. In 2016 we did not get the voter turnout we hoped for in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. That should provide some motivation. What other skills do you have? Can you raise money? Could you give money, even in the form of a monthly pledge? Organize events? Could you participate in or lead a letter writing campaign, or organize social media? Intermediaries are cropping up to make certain people with high-demand skills get found. Tech for Campaigns is an organization that is recruiting and deploying all manner of technology-savvy people.
3) Start your own voter registration campaign
	Even if you live in an enclave where people are red hot about their politics, you are surrounded by people who aren’t registered to vote. Or you know some people in other places who haven’t registered. They are young and haven’t got into the voting habit, or they have moved, or maybe they are disenchanted with the present situation. (How could that possibly be the case?) How about figuring out how to do a voter registration drive this winter and spring among high school seniors who are just turning 18.  Or, emphasize the 35 states who offer online voter registration. Scroll down on this site, find the link to online registration in your target state, and send the link to people you suspect have yet to register.

There will always be countless issues on which we must engage, and new Trumpian horrors to confront. Trump says that in all of his bullying, his disregard for even the most basic of truths, and his relentless promotion of himself and his properties, he is being “presidential” in a “modern” way. Could you imagine anything further from the truth than that? Or anything more motivating for all of us.

We continue to seek the day that we can say that it is a former President that said such a thing. It is a good time to re-assess how each of us is doing, and to determine and do what is necessary.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington