The Other Opposition
Yesterday in this spot I noted that two things stood in the way of the Trump agenda: Democrats and Republicans. We talked about Republicans yesterday; now, a few points about Democrat opposition to the MAGA Mandate.
Obviously, as the party out of power, we expect Democrats to block anything and everything. Add to that the fact that the GOP majority in the U.S. House could hardly be smaller, and the majority in the Senate is going to start at 52-47…and you see that it won’t take more than a few Republican defections coupled with a solid Democrat bloc to limit action from being taken.
There is also the intangible, the fact that so-called Trump Derangement Syndrome is alive and well in Democrat circles. They view Trump as beneath them and unworthy, so any chance to make his life difficult appeals to them.
And some have not given up on so-called “lawfare” designed to keep him from office. During the campaign, Democrat Congressman Jamie Raskin told a crowd during a televised event that even if Trump won the electoral college, Democrats could still use the Fourteenth Amendment to stop him from taking office…an idea that got renewed traction through an op-ed in The Hill last week. The idea is to twist the meaning of that amendment to prohibit an insurrectionist from serving in the national government; never mind that that provision was superseded by legislation 150 years ago, or that there has been no finding that Trump engaged in insurrection…it’s close enough for them to put on a dog-and-pony show when the electoral college votes are counted in Congress on Monday.
And generally, many Democrats have a visceral reaction when Trump’s name is mentioned…so you can tell they will not be easily convinced to act in the name of good government, as opposed to pure politics.
As noted, November 5 was not the finish line…it was just the beginning, and the beginning of the tougher part—governing.
