Trump Is Blowing Up The Republican Party-- Who Will Blow Up The Democratic Party?

In a mea culpa yesterday, longtime Mississippi Republican operative Stuart Stevens wrote in the Washington Post that Republicans who supported-- and continue to enable-- Trump are responsible for the tanking of their party and the inevitable mess he made of America. What about our party? Luke Savage on Wednesday: Dealing With Coronavirus Requires Bold Action. The Democratic Leadership Won’t Take It. "The Democrats," he wrote, "have an opportunity to push for desperately needed, sweeping economic change in response to coronavirus. Instead, they’re letting themselves be outflanked by Republicans." Not enough Democrats in public office seem to have read Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine and realized the dangers and the opportunities. Remember, if Trump and Pence die before November, Pelosi becomes president. It's conceivable she could do as bad a job protecting the country from COVID-19 as they have.

Savage explained that "there's nothing better to shift our collective perceptions of what’s possible than a major crisis. During World War II, the severely underregulated economies of the pre–Great Depression era gave way to sweeping state control over industry, full employment, and industrial policy unprecedented in human history." But what we're looking at now is "a confusing and uneven patchwork of measures and proposals. Though events continue to move quickly, it can safely be said that the official response of the Democratic leadership (and centrist Democrats in general) has fallen dangerously short of what will be necessary given the scope of the crisis-- raising the tragicomic prospect that the country’s nominal liberal opposition will find itself outflanked on the left by a right wing GOP led by Donald Trump. An early sign of complacency came last weekend as Nancy Pelosi trumpeted a plan to guarantee sick leave to American workers during the pandemic. The problem? The legislation came with so many caveats and exemptions that it actually covered only 20 percent of the American workforce-- leaving out big companies such as Amazon and McDonald’s entirely. As CNN reported, the outcome was the result of a nonconfrontational position on the Democrats’ part, despite their majority in the House of Representatives. Summing up the absurdity of this posture, commentator Kyle Kulinski accurately observed: 'Instead of passing a bill through the House giving all working [people] paid time off and forcing the GOP to vote against it, Dems agreed that 20% of the population can have it and then bragged about it.'"

If only to further weaken confidence in their capacity to navigate the crisis, the Democratic-led House actually scaled back paid-leave provisions-- significantly rewriting and watering down an existing bill on Monday. According to the Wall Street Journal, the move came “following pressure from businesses worried about financial burdens.” Moreover, under the revised legislation:

For the next 10 weeks paid leave would be limited only to workers caring for a child whose school or day care had been shut. Healthcare providers and emergency responders, as well as workers who had been in quarantine or caring for a family member affected by the virus, wouldn’t be eligible for the additional 10 weeks of leave.

There is, it should be said, no liberal monopoly on either complacency or dogmatism, and there’s every reason to believe both will remain proudly bipartisan traditions throughout the remainder of the crisis. For their part, conservative ideologues Arthur Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Steve Forbes today released a statement calling on the government not to “expand welfare and other income redistribution benefits like paid leave and unemployment benefits that will inhibit growth and discourage work.” The White House, meanwhile, is clearly hoping to leverage the moment to pass another round of tax cuts, having treated the initial phase of the crisis with an attitude that can only be called criminally negligent.

Nonetheless, centrist Democrats are also in the process of bungling the rapidly evolving debate around direct cash transfers-- set to become urgent over the next few weeks, amid layoffs and the inevitable slowdown of economic activity, and already being floated by the Trump administration. Though House Democrats like Ilhan Omar and Ro Khanna are touting more ambitious proposals, there has seemed little appetite for direct, no-strings-attached cash transfers among the Democratic leadership thus far. Yesterday, Politico reported that none other than Nancy Pelosi “essentially shot down” the idea at a private caucus meeting last week-- potentially positioning the leadership of America’s liberal opposition to the right of former Republican presidential nominee Senator Mitt Romney.

A statement released by Pelosi’s office yesterday that, among other things, makes reference to “expanded refundable tax credits,” suggests the conservative posture currently favored by the Democratic leadership is unlikely to change any time soon.

Failure to change course could prove catastrophic. Now, more than ever, the most vulnerable sections of the US population need an opposition willing to defend their interests decisively and without hesitation. This would necessitate a more confrontational and overtly political posture toward the incumbent administration and its many glaring failures. But it would also require a more adversarial attitude toward big business and other constituencies keen to put their own interests ahead of the general public’s as the situation worsens.

Continued refusal to act more decisively will put ordinary people at risk. But it will also cost the Democrats politically as key races for the House, Senate, and presidency are held across the country later this year. The Republican Party, chaotic and destructive as it tends to be, has historically proven adept at politicizing tumultuous occasions to gain advantage and further its agenda. As in 2009, centrist Democrats are letting a crisis go to waste-- and potentially handing Donald Trump a major victory in the process.

Shaniyat Chowdhury is a super-progressive running for the House seat in southeast Queens occupied by corrupt New Dem Gregory Meeks. This morning Chowdhury told us that "Malcolm X said it best. Neoliberals of the Democratic Party are like foxes. They’ll smile at you and pretend to be friendly and we’ll run towards them anyways knowing we’ll be eaten. While Republicans are like wolves. They’re not afraid to show their true colors so it makes it easier to run away from that danger. I don’t think the establishment understands that whether Bernie stays in or drops out, it’s not up to him to unify the party. Bernie’s campaign was cultivated by millions of people throughout the country, creating a movement like we’ve never seen before. Everyday people are tired of the two party status quo. That is how we got 2016 and Trump. If Biden is so electable, then it’s up to him, his campaign, and the party to draw in the more progressive voters. As far as I’m concerned, as long as there’s Dark money in politics, no Medicare for All, or no Green New Deal, the party is writing is own death bed."

Let’s say in Biden is the nominee-- either he defeats Trump or not, Bernie and supporter will not get the credit or will be blamed. Also, the party had every chance to move primaries dates and yet Tom Perez threatened states with penalties if they did so. There been so many instances of voter suppression throughout the country already! Why should we conform to a party that does not care about the values of working people?

There’s no difference between a Biden and Trump presidency. Both have poor immigration records, won’t ensure every person has access to healthcare, both support Dark money and billionaires running the system, poor on criminal justice and foreign policy records. This is just to make a few. The only difference is Biden says nicer things sometimes but we’ve seen him time and time again disrespect voters in their faces. Like most people, we don’t want sprinkles. We want meaningful change.

As far as I’m concerned, because I live in NY and my vote won’t count electorally, I will be writing in Bernie Sanders in November. I encourage swing state voters to vote their conscious and no one should have to be shamed for it. I’m tired of working people being blamed for the establishment’s lack of incoherent and corrupt behavior. Even Bernie cannot save the party if Biden is the nominee. The people will decide that. My focus will just be on down ballot races because we see that progressives like Marie Newman can win and that’s exactly what I’m going to do in June. I’m doing to defeat the king of corruption that is Gregory Meeks. I’m not okay with the status quo. I am more motivated than ever. It’s how I got here form 2016 and will continue to fight onward.

Not only does Biden not have any policy to stand on, he has no plan on defeating Trump. If they believe they can count on enough people risking Trump and stump in counties where it matters, then it’s just laughable.

  Trump is atrocious, but he has a following that only Bernie can defeat. Right now, Trump’s followers think he will save the country during this pandemic and blindly so, with $1000 checks. The premise alone depicts he’s trying to do something. What does Biden stand for? God knows, but 2020 is going to be another learning curve for all of us and I hope more for the establishment. 

Apparently Chowdhury isn't the only progressive thinking that. Over 65,000 Twitter users voted in this poll:

And Common Dreams writer Eoin Higgins noted on Wednesday that Pelosi's Reagan era conservative approach is driving progressives mad. "Progressives erupted with frustration and anger Wednesday over days of reporting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would not consider cash payments for Americans without means-testing despite the ongoing coronavirus outbreak that has ground the U.S. economy almost to a standstill... Direct cash payments would be a salve to the gaping wound left in the U.S. economy by the pandemic. 'We are the wealthiest nation in human history, and have the lowest borrowing costs of any major government on the planet, and thus, can easily afford to contain the pandemic and keep our people well provisioned simultaneously,' Eric Levitz wrote Tuesday for New York Magazine. 'All we need is for Congress to overcome its superstitions about deficits, and supply the economy with the many trillions of dollars in stimulus that even many center-right economists say we need.' As the crisis has deepened, the political ground on cash payments has shifted substantitally, with bipartisan Congressional support for the proposal... 'Nancy Pelosi is officially to the right of Tom Cotton on economic support for American families,' HuffPost reporter Zach Carter tweeted on Sunday. 'This is a total failure of Democratic Party leadership.'"

Meanwhile, Bernie's proposal is for a $2 trillion package including direct payments to Americans. Let me put a Wednesday tweet storm by Walker Bragman is narrative form:

Trump, who bungled the early response to coronavirus, is starting to take actions resembling Bernie Sanders' proposals-- monthly checks to everybody, ramping up production via the Defense Production Act, freezing foreclosures and evictions... All while Democratic leadership is pushing [tepid and ineffective, weak proposals] like tax rebates. Baffling. The Democrats really are ceding populism to the right and that's terrifying... Trump 1) didn't push for early testing out of fear that high reported cases would be bad politically, 2) didn't accept test kits from the World Health Organization, 3) downplayed the threat. And yet, if his response is big enough now, it may not matter in November. Democratic leaders have been pushing visionless, technocratic 'pragmatism' as the path forward for years. But if ever there were a time for big spending and big programs, it's now as we face the COVID-19 pandemic. Democrats are at risk of missing what should be their moment. Many Dems cannot imagine how Donald Trump, who ignored COVID at first and who has facilitated war crimes/genocide, separated families, thrown people in cages without medical care, and pushed cuts to entitlements can win. But Dem leaders are making it more likely.

Shahid Buttar is the progressive running for the San Francisco congressional seat still occupied by Nancy "asleep at the wheel" Pelosi. Yesterday he told me that "It's preposterous that Pelosi stands so far to the right that she risks getting outflanked by the likes of Tom Cotton, and even Trump himself. This is no time to place the interests of capital and corporations before the needs of families struggling to provide for their basic needs in a time of dire crisis. I support Bernie Sanders' proposal to legislate an emergency program to distribute a basic income of $2,000 per month to every American, at least as long as the COVID-19 outbreak lasts." He was just getting going...

It would be bad enough for Pelosi to stand in the way of direct cash payments, had she also not previously refused to bring Rep. Pramila Jayapal's Medicare for All bill to the House floor for a vote. Pelosi remains dedicated to predatory corporate for-profit "healthcare," ignoring the mounting evidence that healthcare has massive economic externalities, rendering it foolish to distribute as if it were a commodity. If ever the American public were presented with a teaching moment, it is now: the Coronavirus offers a lesson in why we all share an interest in public health. The risks of contagion render it downright idiotic to keep people from seeing doctors and getting medicine whenever they need.

Not only has Pelosi failed to embrace UBI at a crucial time and stood in the way of universal healthcare, she has also bragged about an emergency relief package that extended paid sick leave to only 20% of the American workforce. Her concessions to corporate interests-- even in the face of a mounting pandemic placing the lives of millions of Americans at risk-- are simply disqualifying.

Our communities need solutions, and I'm happy to embrace them. In addition to UBI, universal healthcare, and universal sick leave, I've also called for a suspension of ICE enforcement operations to allow immigrants to get care and testing without being forced to hide in the shadows, placing public health at further-- and unnecessary-- risk. To the extent UBI proposals are not implemented, we must at least impose a national rent and mortgage freeze to keep families in their homes and stop a wave of preventable evictions.