Dems need to listen to the people, choose candidates that can win where they live and focus on what voters are telling them they want.
Someone asked me the other day to sign a petition to our House and Senate folk urging the impeachment of Donald Trump.
“When?” I asked. The person said, “right now.”
I declined.
Let’s get real. Obviously, Donald Trump should be impeached. If we listed every impeachable offense he’s committed we’d run out of paper. I want him gone.
But, to bring up impeachment now is just another case of Democrats taking what could be slam dunk wins in the mid-terms and flushing them down the toilet.
Our current reality is most Americans don’t have impeaching Trump at the top of their lists. It’s not that they don’t want him gone – look at his tanking approval ratings. It’s just that they want to elect people who are going to actually govern in a way that makes it possible for them to have a fighting chance at a decent life.
Poll after poll says voters want affordable housing, groceries, gasoline and health care. They don’t want wars, they don’t want ballrooms, they don’t want billionaires running the country. Voters could not have made it any clearer.
When it comes to getting out the vote this November, Democrats need to field candidates who can win where they live. Enough of cookie-cutter purity tests. Who can win in a particular district or state?
Once you answer that candidate question, what are the specific issues that hit home for voters in that district or state. They may be different than one or two districts over or in the next state. Have we forgotten that the House of Representatives is designed to provide up-close representation to the people in an area? Senators represent a state but have specific powers when it comes to the national level.
Democrats need to win and they do that by being very clear locally, at the state level and nationally about what they are going to do if they have control of the House and Senate.
If Dems take control of both chambers Donald Trump still will be president. It’s likely he will veto any bills Democrats send to his desk. But that shouldn’t stop them. They should pass one bill a week, once seated, that addresses a key issue. Pass one a week and send them to Trump. Let him veto them. All those bills will become a platform for the presidential race in 2028.
As for impeachment, once seated and in control Democrat reps and senators need to show they can multi-task. The appropriate committees should be looking into the rampant corruption and abuse of power that has marked Trump’s second term. Hold hearings, gather information that may or may not be used for impeachment.
Dems have a choice. They can choose to impeach, or they can focus on winning the White House in 2028. The reality is, even if they sent Articles of Impeachment to the Senate and a simple majority of senators vote to oust him it won’t be enough. It takes a two-thirds majority. Even if Dems have a simple majority, would enough Republicans join them to kick him out?
What Dems need to avoid is voters looking at them in 2027 and 2028 and seeing them as simply on their own version of a revenge tour. That’s why I suggest passing a bill a week, doing committee investigation and waiting to see where all that goes.
The big, unblurred picture voters need to have a Dems between now and November, and then once they are in control, is of a party working for them, actually governing, doing the work of representing the people.
Donald Trump and his band of autocratic goons can be defeated in 2028 if Democrats keep faith with voters. The only question I’d ask about impeachment would be: Does it make it more or less likely Democrats will win the White House in 2028?