Don’t misunderstand what’s going on here
There’s this prevailing notion on social media right now that the Democrats must do something to magically stop Trump from taking office, and why won’t they do something, and if they would just do something. It’s a totally understandable sentiment. But it’s also based in desperate fantasy, and a misunderstanding of how things work and what’s going on.
For starters, and it pains me to type these words, but Trump will take office. No amount of magic wand ideas on social media, no matter how many retweets they get, are going to change that. No upcoming DNI report is going to magically keep Trump from taking office, no matter how much hype it’s getting. Biden and Kamala are not knee deep into a secret plan to keep Trump from taking office, no matter how many people on social media would like to fantasize about such a thing happening.
Why? Because – and again it pains me to say this – there’s nothing we can do to keep Trump from taking office. It’s happening. If you’ve been doing this since 2016, you already know the script. Every magic wand idea on earth for keeping Trump from taking office is going to be floated online, and people are going to be desperate enough to embrace such ideas without realizing they’re nonsense. People are also going to bash the Democrats for not waving any of the proposed magic wands, and other people are again going to be desperate enough to get on board with that bashing, without doing any thinking.
And I’m not interested in any of it. In fact I consider such talk to be a distraction. Trump will take office in January. And if he does keel over from his obvious health problems before then, JD Vance will take office in January. This is happening. I’m sorry that it is.
That said, even as way too many folks are distracted by imaginary magic wand scenarios, there is a battle going on, and it’s a crucial one. The battle is all about making Donald Trump as unpopular and off track as possible before he takes office. And right now that comes down to defeating as many of his cabinet picks as possible. It doesn’t matter if the people he eventually ends up with are as bad as his initial picks. What matters is that every failed nomination is yet another body blow that makes Trump more unpopular and costs him political muscle. That’s the battle we’ve been fighting.
Trump has been unwittingly gracious in this battle, as he’s nominated some of the most laughably unsuitable people on earth, which has prompted even Republican Senators to begin saying “no” to him. Gaetz has failed. Hegseth is failing. Gabbard and RFK Jr are in trouble. Trump’s entire agenda is being held up because he keeps tripping over his own scandalous nominees. It’s a great thing for us. Terrible for him.
So when you ask what Senate Democrats are doing right now, they’re actively working to defeat as many of these nominees as possible. They’re forcing the issue when it comes to each of these nominees’ scandals and unsuitability, and they’re forcing their Senate Republican counterparts to grapple with whether they really want to tie themselves to boat anchors like Gabbard and Hegseth. And so far it’s working, given that Trump’s nominations are dropping like flies.
If you want to make a difference right now – an actual real world difference that’ll have an impact and matter and change things – get on board with helping to expose and defeat Trump’s cabinet nominees. That’s the battle at hand. It’ll set the entire tone for what kind of power and momentum and political leverage (or lack thereof) Trump will have once he enters office. Right now we’re winning the nominee battle. We can defeat even more of his nominees if more of you are willing to get on board with fighting this battle. This fight is going to be one step at a time. And step one is to use Trump’s idiotic cabinet nominations to weaken him as much as possible right out of the gate.
