The Progressive Populist Today Blog: 2021-06-06

Friday, June 11, 2021

Manchin Coming and Going

Art by Kevin Kreneck

Editorial: Return of the Grifter

Donald Trump returned to political rallying on June 5 in North Carolina, repeating his unfounded claims that Joe Biden stole last November’s presidential election (which election officials and state and federal courts agree Biden won with more than 80 million votes, seven million votes more than Trump, and a comfortable 306-232 margin in the Electoral College).

Trump aired his grievances at the Republican state convention in Greenville, N.C., in his first public speech since February. He hopes a summer tour will help him raise funds to keep him afloat as he evades creditors as well as prosecutors while his party heads into the mid-term election season. But instead of focusing his message on the future, Trump has remained fixated on his failure to defeat a Democratic candidate he continuously belittled.

At the North Carolina convention, the Diapered Don hit on cultural issues that Republican have used to stir the party’s right-wing base. “The Biden administration is pushing toxic critical race theory ... into our nation’s schools,” Trump claimed during a riff against his successor, CNN reported. “Joe Biden and the socialist Democrats are the most radical Democrats in our nation’s history.”

Trump got the crowd on their feet when he suggested that China should pay the US $10 trillion in COVID-19 reparations. “The time has come for America and the world to demand reparations and accountability from the Communist Party of China. We should all declare with one unified voice that China must pay — they must pay,” said Trump, who last year was praising the Chinese government for their work in controlling the virus.

Trump also attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci as “not a great doctor, but a hell of a promoter.” Fauci has “perhaps never been more wrong than when he denied the virus and where it came from,” Trump charged, referring to Fauci’s initial dismissal that the coronavirus leaked from a lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan — back when Trump was publicly minimizing the threat of the virus.

Some Democrats hope Republican candidates will suffer electorally for continuing to embrace Trump, as federal prosecutors close in on his role in organizing the Jan. 6 rally that turned into a violent attack on Congress and New York state prosecutors close in on his potentially criminal business dealings.

Trump remains the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 and Republican elected officials who have challenged his dominance of the party, such as US Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, have been ousted from Republican leadership and face likely primary challengers by Trump cultists at home.

Trump reportedly has told several people he still believes he will be “reinstated” to the White House in August, although there is no constitutional procedure to reinstate a president after the Electoral College returns are certified that he lost the election.

Jason Miller, an adviser to the former president, told the New York Times, “There are two types of Republicans inside the Beltway. Those who realize President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party and those who are in denial.”

But, as much as Trump’s cultists like to mock Joe Biden’s health and stamina, Trump appears to be the one in mental and physical decline. The odds are against him being in any condition to run for office in 2024, if he manages to avoid prison. So ambitious Republicans are paying their respects now, hoping to attract Trumpers and co-opt their grievances when their idol passes.

Republican candidates who put their principles in a blind trust to attract the Trump supporters in the Republican primary might repel centrists in the general election. That’s why they figure they must rig the elections so Democrats can’t win.

With public opinion turning against Republicans, Democrats ought to have a good chance to buck the historic trend that a new president’s party loses seats in Congress in midterm elections. But even if Democrats get the vote out, they face the challenge of getting the vote counted, as Republican legislatures, using the Trumped-up claims of voter fraud, have been passing bills to make it harder for Black, Brown and elderly voters to cast ballots, while making it easier for Republicans to challenge and overturn returns that go against them.

Texas Democrats walked out of the state House Chamber May 30 with an hour left in the session to deny a quorum and stop Republicans from passing a voter suppression bill. In retaliation, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) threatened to veto the Legislature’s budget and said he would call the Legislature back for a special session to pass the bill.

Meanwhile, more than 100 scholars of democracy have signed a public statement that calls on Congress to pass the For the People Act, which would set national standards for voting procedures. “Our entire democracy is now at risk,” the scholars said. “We urge members of Congress to do whatever is necessary — including suspending the filibuster — in order to pass national voting and election administration standards.” The For the People Act passed the House but is stalled in the Senate by a Republican filibuster, which requires 60 votes to overcome.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) is leading the resistance to doing away with the filibuster to protect voting rights. In a June 6 column for the Charleston, W.V., Gazette Mail, he wrote that he supports protecting the right to vote, but it “should never be done in a partisan manner.” But, with the Senate split 50-50, and having a Democratic majority only with Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote, any Democratic senator can sideline a bill as long as Republicans remain united — so Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), another filibuster defender, are enabling the Trump party’s blockade of voting rights.

Democrats must test that Republican unity by putting HR 1, the For the People Act, up for a vote. If that fails, Dems should force votes on individual provisions of the bill. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) should also make Republicans vote on HR 4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which at least would restore the Voting Rights Act to require states to get preclearance from federal authorities before changing election procedures. Republicans on the Supreme Court defanged that law in 2013, ruling the law was outdated, even though it had been reauthorized in 2006.

If Democrats can’t shame Manchin into doing the right thing, they must concentrate on making the 2022 election a referendum on saving democracy, letting no Republican go unchallenged.

Democrats also must flip several GQP Senate seats so faux Dems like Manchin and Sinema can no longer hold the Democratic caucus hostage. Among the top pickup opportunities for Democrats next year are in Pennsylvania, where Sen. Pat Toomey (R) is retiring and Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman already is building up a war chest; Wisconsin, where Sen. Ron Johnson is a vulnerable Trumpite in a state Biden won; North Carolina, where Sen. Richard Burr (R) is retiring; Ohio, where Sen. Rob Portman (R) is retiring; Florida, where Sen. Marco Rubio (R) is likely to face a strong Democratic challenger in a swing state; and Missouri, where Sen. Roy Blunt is retiring.

Democrats also must protect their own senators in swing states, including Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) who are seeking full terms after winning unexpired terms last year, as well as Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.). — JMC