For Senate Democrats, The Moment Of Truth Is At Hand

Members of a political party that has spent the post-Watergate era focused on cultivating individual constituencies and growing the power and reach of the federal government are temperamentally and philosophically ill-equipped to deal with America's would-be dictator. We'll know very soon whether Senate Democrats are willing to jettison the notion that "government is your friend" and deny Trump the funds he needs to consolidate his fledgling autocracy.

In the wee hours of Sunday morning, September 21, I got Senator Tim Kaine's (D-VA) latest "Dear Constituent" email. It was an almost 800-word whine about Trump sacking the two U.S. Attorneys that Kaine and his fellow Senator and Virginian, Mark Warner, had nominated earlier this year. And it's not as if Kaine doesn't understand perfectly Trump's modus operandi, as the closing paragraphs of Kaine's letter demonstrate:

It’s clear that Donald Trump wants federal prosecutors to do his political bidding instead of carry out justice. He has been doing this in D.C., New Jersey, and across the country where he has already installed his loyalists as U.S. Attorneys, and now he is doing it in Virginia. And this is just one of many actions that the President is taking that demonstrates a contempt for the rule of law, beginning with the pardoning of January 6 convicts on his first day in office.

This matters to me in a very powerful way. I practiced law for 17 years in both the Eastern and Western Districts and believe deeply in the integrity of these two U.S. Attorney’s offices. And, having lived long ago in Honduras when it suffered under a military dictatorship, I know that leaders who ignore the rule of law bring catastrophic consequences to everyday people.

So Kaine verbalized 1) that he understands that Trump doesn't give a rip about the Constitution and the rule of law and 2) that he knows what a military dictatorship looks and feels like.

But then I got to the last sentence of his email and was reminded why I fear Senate Democrats will once again get rolled by or roll over for Trump:

You have my pledge that I will do everything I can to uphold the rule of law in Virginia and act to check anyone’s efforts, even the President of the United States, who tries to tear it down.

"I will do everything I can to uphold the rule of law" is not the same as saying "That's why I will oppose funding the federal government so long as Trump is using Red state National Guard troops and out-of-control ICE agents to terrorize not only migrants, but all Americans."

Later on Sunday, Kaine went on Elon Musk's vanity site to say this:

ICYMI: Republicans voted down legislation to keep the government from shutting down and protect Americans’ access to health care. Republicans have control of the White House, the Senate, and the House. They’re failing to lead, and Americans will suffer as a result.

Not just illegal migrants but American citizens are being seized and interrogated by masked and armed ICE or other federal agents, and my bet is the last thing those people kidnapped by federal law enforcement are thinking about is their access to health care--they're likely wondering whether they'll be fast-tracked for unconstitutional deportation to a foreign hell hole gulag.

Shredding the Constitution and defying federal courts is all Trump has done since a majority of Americans--God help us--returned him to power. If anything, the pace and scope of Trumpist political repression is accelerating and expanding at scale.

Last week, the Trumpist goon running the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Brendan Carr, verbally threatened (Tony Soprano-style) ABC into pulling comedian Jimmy Kimmel's show off the air indefinitely. Kimmel's crime? Making completely accurate remarks about the assassination of alt-right political arsonist Charlie Kirk and Trump's initial reaction to it earlier this month.

Carr's Mafia-like tactics appear to be a direct violation of last year's unanimous Supreme Court ruling against the Executive branch's practice of "jawboning" private parties for speech disfavored by the regime in power.

But given that under our current governmental structure, Carr has little to fear. The Justice Department leadership responsible for investigating and potentially prosecuting Carr is the same Justice Department leadership that has pledged its loyalty not to the Constitution and the Republic but to the person of Donald Trump. Accordingly, Carr is safe from the threat of federal prosecution for violating the Supreme Court's ruling...unless he falls out of favor with Trump.

Kaine is hardly alone among his Senate Democrat colleagues in being politically tone deaf regarding the gravity of the moment and threat to the very survival of the Republic that Trump and his minions like Carr represent.

On Saturday, the two most powerful Congressional Democrats--Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries--dispatched a letter to Trump that reads like none of the events of the last eight months had ever happened. The key paragraph of the letter:

Democrats have been clear and consistent in our position. We are ready to work toward a bipartisan spending agreement that improves the lives of American families and addresses the Republican healthcare crisis. However, we will not support a dirty spending bill that continues the Republican assault on healthcare which includes devastating Medicaid and Medicare cuts; skyrocketing premiums, co-pays, and deductibles; the refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits; unprecedented attacks on medical research and the public health system; the suppression of vaccine availability; and the forced closure of hospitals, nursing homes and community-based health clinics nationwide.

Not a word about ICE terror raids on immigrant communities.

Not a word about Red state National Guard troops deployed to Blue cities for "presence operations" (read political intimidation).

Not a word about active efforts to silence news outlets and even comedians disfavored by the regime.

Not a word about endless lawfare against law firms and universities.

Not a word about threats to target domestic groups on the left in the wake of Charlie Kirk's murder, despite the fact that Kirk was slain by a single disturbed individual.

Unlike Jeffries, Kaine, Schumer and their Senate Democrat colleagues actually have the power to end Trumpist repression. But doing so requires them to abandon their obsession with individual government programs and fulfill their oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitutional of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And through his serial unconstitutional or otherwise unlawful acts, Trump has clearly made himself an enemy of the Constitution, and thus an enemy of the Republic.

Senate Democrats must internalize the reality of the existential threat Trump represents to the survival of the constitutional Republic and then act accordingly.  

If the fall of the Republic, involuntary mass migration and a likely civil war are to be averted, at least 41 Senate Democrats must refuse to move any funding bill until Trump sends the National Guard units home, ceases his lawfare-driven "revenge tour" against his political opponents and civil society groups, and abides by every federal court decision--whether it goes his way or not.

From now on, Senate Democrats need to fund the federal government only in 30-to-60-day increments, so that if Trump returns to his repressive ways the money spigot can be cut off until he's once again brought to heel--and if necessary, the federal government should remain shut down until after the 2026 midterm elections. 

If Senate Democrats fail this ultimate test of their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, the country's slide towards repression and armed civil strife will not just be of Trump's making, but of theirs as well.

REMINDER: You can get 30% off my new book about past episodes of unconstitutional surveillance and political repression, the Triumph of Fear, by going directly to the Georgetown University Press website and using the code TGUF...and this code can be used by anybody, so spread the word and thanks for being a Sentinel subscriber!