“At the end of the day, this is Donald Trump, and we don’t want to work with him,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego. | AP Photo.
My, my, look at that, some democrats have discovered their spine. Let’s hope this is resolve, not just pointless rhetoric. I will grant that like the rest of us, they were in shock and floundering around a bit, but it’s past time they came to a conclusion, a decision, and a plan of action. We the people have been very busy already, look at all the marches, the participation at town halls, the letter writing campaigns, petitions, and so on. And all that was done while we were still suffering shock. I suppose late is better than never.
Democrats couldn’t be less interested in the whole Jared Kushner vs. Steve Bannon drama, and they have given up on the idea that President Donald Trump’s son-in-law will push him to work across the aisle on tax reform or anything else.
The crisis of confidence they felt after Trump’s shocking win has faded and his record-low poll numbers have killed any incentive in their minds to suck it up and compromise with him.
“There is zero chance of any of this working out that way, and it doesn’t matter who you’re changing,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who notes that many of his colleagues who once decried his absolute opposition to Trump now agree with him. “At the end of the day,” he added, “this is Donald Trump, and we don’t want to work with him.”
As far as Democrats are concerned, the idea of a moderate, post-partisan staff rising to guide Trump into building bridges with them — even for the sake of building actual bridges as part of infrastructure investments Trump talks about and they agree are needed — has now entered the realm of complete fantasy.
“This notion of the battle between Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon and who prevails is irrelevant in many ways to the policies,” said Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), one of the chairs of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, about the discord among Trump’s most senior advisers. “What Democrats are responding to is the substance of the policies: It doesn’t matter who wins the internal battles in the White House.”
[…]
“Initially, people didn’t have a full appreciation of how he would conduct himself,” said Cicilline. “They thought, ‘He won, he wasn’t our choice, but he is our president.’ What I’m hearing from my constituents, even some who’ve been more ambivalent, [is] it’s really important to stand up and resist and try to mitigate the damage that he’s likely to cause.”
Cicilline said that’s reverberated among the other Democrats on the Hill he’s in touch with.
“People are really conflicted, because they want government to work, and they know that’s when we can produce good results, but I think that they’re beginning to lose confidence that this administration and this president are interested in getting things done.”
[…]
“Chameleons reflect the color that they’re on,” said Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. “He can reflect what is the hot flavor of the moment, but the reality is that this administration has got to go a long way to indicate that it’s really willing to work with people.”
I’d bet ten quid against a shirt-button on the record low poll numbers having more to do with their sudden will to actually oppose than any spinal growth has.
</cynicism>
Wouldn’t surprise me. It’s been infuriating, how much they have gone full wimp, especially given all the rotten, filthy shit the rethugs have pulled the last 8 years and something. You don’t have to particularly smart or courageous to figure out that when your opponent is playing dirty, then you need to play that way, too.
Saying shit like “we’re better than that!” gets you trounced on, with nothing to show for it.
So -- DO IT!
I think/I’ve heard that it’s possible that some of the bigwigs funding Dems have paid them for losing and being weak. It may work for a while.
My, my, look at that, some democrats have discovered their spine. Let’s hope this is resolve, not just pointless rhetoric.
I doubt it’s resolve or courage as much as it’s a bunch of political weasels have decided that they don’t like sharing power with the angry cheeto. They’re not interested in doing the right thing because they (like the angry cheeto) have no interest in doing the right thing except where it’s convenient for them, and every interest in impeding the angry cheeto. The angry cheeto’s interest are just the opposite -- the only similarity is that neither is concerned about doing the right thing. Cliff ’em all.