If nothing else, I think it is nice to take a moment to sit and think about how much Maxine Waters would enjoy doing this, because it’s such a nice thought. Maxine Waters, an especially outspoken Trump opponent will be the chairing the House Financial Services Committee, which would allow her to subpoena the President’s bank records. Democrats intend to request Trump’s Tax Returns, which they can do unilaterally. We can begin that fight immediately by open investigations into the President. Now is the time to fight as hard as we can. It is not a great time for passivity and cowed silence, or, as Republicans keep calling it, civility. So I hope this will be a time when Democrats do not sit on their laurels in the House. But the longer Trumpism festers, the more deeply entrenched into the fabric of our society it will be. If there is to be change, it will come from us. Trumpism is an illness that has taken root in American culture, and there is no America to ride in and rescue us from it. "The longer Trumpism festers, the more deeply entrenched into the fabric of our society it will be." They felt so strongly about it that there were mass suicides at the end of the War because many people did not want to live in a new non-fascist world. People are fearful, and they bought into the lie that they had to fight against minorities to defend their safety and culture. People in Germany did not wake up one day and decide that persecuting minorities was a bad idea. We knew what was right.”īut it always overlooks the fact that we think of Nazis as immoral because we defeated them in a war. It makes sense, because once you have a Republican party that laughs at throwing disabled children in cages, it’s fair to say they’re pretty spiritually identical.Īnd it’s a nice story to tell, because in it, we get to stand by our grandchildren and say, “yes, there were very bad people who laughed at disabled people and sexual assault survivors and minorities, but we weren’t among them. It’s variations on the notion that, one day far in the future, their grandchildren will see MAGA apparel and respond to it as we would to Nazi memorabilia today. There’s a point I hear reiterated often by liberal friends, a kind of hopeful fable. Among his constituency, as of July, he was the second most popular President. If this was intended to be a referendum on Trumpism, then it should also be seen as a sign that many people are very happy with Trumpism. Republican Marsha Blackburn similarly defeated Philip Bredesen, despite an endorsement from Taylor Swift which encouraged massive voter registration. And before anyone yells, “gerrymandering!”- gerrymandering does not affect the Senate. But it was surprising that many of the candidates who excited people the most (and we all remember hearing that candidates weren’t exciting enough during the 2016 election) like Andrew Gillum, BetoO’Rourke, and Stacy Abrams couldn’t turn Florida, Texas or Georgia blue. Trump’s party still controls the Senate, which was always something of a long shot. "If this was intended to be a referendum on Trumpism, then it should also be seen as a sign that many people are very happy with Trumpism."īut it’s also a reminder of how far we had to come. If you like women, or the LGBTQ community, or minorities, or the idea of schoolchildren not being shot, then things are better than they were last week. Florida restored voting rights to ex-felons, which will allow a million people to regain their right to vote. Chris Murphy-who represents the Sandy Hook families and has long been pushing for better gun control-won in Connecticut. Jared Polls is the first openly gay man to win a gubernatorial election. Ayanna Pressley became Massachusetts’ first black congresswoman. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Sharice Davids is not only Kansas’ first gay representative, but the first Native American woman ever elected to congress. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar became the first Muslim women elected to congress.
It was an amazing run for women-for the first time ever, more than 100 women were elected to the House of Representatives. And it’s one which contained so many bright spots. So, we took back that House last night for the first time in eight years.