Four suggestions for crashing Donald Trump's inauguration party
It's time for the Democrats to show some fight against an aspiring authoritarian
This piece was originally published at The Hot Screen.
In the days since Donald Trump’s narrow win, it’s become increasingly clear that the Democrats will face a president bent on wrecking our democracy, undermining our economy, rolling back the fight against climate change, illegally prosecuting his opponents, and encouraging hatred and even violence against disfavored groups. As I’ve argued before, for the Democrats to see cooperation and bipartisanship as a reasonable path forward requires adopting a deeply selective view of what Trump has done in the past, what he has promised to do in the future, and what he is already starting to do as evidenced by his staffing choices and post-election messaging. A plain and honest reading of the facts shows that full-throated opposition is necessary for both the good of the Democratic Party and of the country.
The truth of our situation is that Donald Trump years ago declared himself to be an enemy of the United States, due to his failed 2020-21 insurrection, his multi-year quest for vengeance against those who defended democracy against his predations, and his promises of anti-democratic behavior to come. The Supreme Court’s intervention into the government’s prosecution of his crimes, and even his re-election, do not erase the fact that he committed an unpardonable injury against our country in attempting to overthrow the 2020 election results. The fact that a bare majority of voters voted for him does not change the underlying reality — that he is a deranged, power-mad man who would rather destroy our democracy and our freedoms than ever face any consequences for his illegal actions. There is no basis for thinking he has changed; if anything, there’s plenty of evidence that he’s more enraged and bent on illicit revenge than ever, based on his own words and actions.
Trump also poses a host of lower-order threats that amount to more than the sum of their parts, and that likewise call for unstinting opposition. The financial corruption he is poised to unleash, both to benefit himself and his allies, would bring a host of harms, from creating still more economic inequality to empowering an oligarchic class with unearned and dangerous levels of influence. Plans to staff the federal government with lackeys and incompetents will threaten Americans’ lives and livelihoods in countless ways, affecting vital government functions that most of us take for granted.
The constellation of threats that Trump poses cannot be set aside in Democratic political calculations, as if they might be counter-balanced by parts of Trump’s agenda that might do actual good for the country. It makes no sense for Democrats to try to find common ground with a man whose overall vision for American is so diametrically opposed to their own. Trump and the MAGA movement espouse an agenda that, were we to see it enacted in another country, we would not hesitate to label as authoritarian and illegitimate. For reasons both practical and moral, the Democrats can’t simply aim for harm mitigation; they must steer for democratic victory over the forces of racism, reaction, and autocracy that Trump embodies, based in the understanding that only a democratic and egalitarian America merits public legitimacy.
And so what Trump has done, and what he promises to do, requires the Democrats in turn to do all they can to bog down his presidency and diminish his power. The Democrats must do everything within their power to stop what evils they can, and to communicate to the public why their own pro-democracy, pro-working and pro-middle class vision is the right one for America. They must expose and communicate the illegitimacy of his authoritarian pretensions, including by everyday language and examples.
There is much to say about the various possible strategies that might blunt Trump’s power and roll back MAGA. But as a first step, and in honor of his impending inauguration, I want to lay out some concrete areas where the Democrats can act now and in the coming weeks to highlight and oppose Trump’s basic unfitness, the lawlessness he would bring to our country, and his contempt for mainstream American values. As I’ll discuss more in a follow-up piece, Democrats need to do as much as they can to take the initiative, wreck the idea that Trump represents some sort of overwhelming national consensus, and exploit lingering doubts about Trump even among many who voted for him. Metaphorically speaking, they need to crash Trump’s inaugural party.
To begin: given that Donald Trump has indicated that his first order of business upon taking office will be to pardon January 6 insurrectionists, the Democrats must raise holy hell around this obscenity. Their outrage should be aimed at unsettling a large swathe of the American people, reminding them of Trump’s propensity to violence and lawlessness. The army of degenerates — white supremacists, neo-Confederates, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers — who attacked the Capitol didn’t just attack a building. They attacked America; they attacked the rest of us. As Brian Beutler puts it, “Pardoning violent January 6 felons would be an impeachable violation of the president’s oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution from criminals who sought to replace it with mob rule.” Some of them aimed to kill Mike Pence, Nancy Pelosi, and other elected officials. Yet Trump’s highest priority is letting them loose on America’s streets, which raises plenty of questions beyond its inherent outrage. Does Trump intend for these ex-prisoners to be his own private, ultra-loyal militia? Does he think that they did not actually attack the Capitol, or, alternately, that attacking the Capitol was a just act?
Unlike the Democrats, Donald Trump understands quite well how very badly his insurrection still hinders his ability to win support in this country, an indelible reminder of his fundamental rottenness. Pardoning the terrorists who attacked the Capitol will be a grand bid to re-write history in a way that favors his revisionist, authoritarian vision. Defenders of American democracy need to recognize that the culpability and odiousness of the attackers must hold firm in the public record; erosion of this basic reality will only embolden Trump further. With the pardons, Trump is trying to close the door on a disqualifying past; Democrats should kick that door open and ask why Trump thinks it’s OK to attack America. As I suggested above, use the planned pardons to remind Americans right out the gate that he’s a depraved insurrectionist.
Second: though the window has arguably almost closed, Democrats should attack his nominees for cabinet and other high-level positions for their incompetence, their extremism, and their loyalty to Trump over the Constitution and the American people. Above all, they should use the nominees to highlight Trump’s contempt for the public and his dark vision for the country. Take Pete Hegseth, the nominee for Secretary of Defense. He’s a Fox News personality clearly unqualified at the most basic level to run as important and complex an organization as the U.S. military. Yet this is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s plentiful evidence that he’s a raging drunk, an abuser of women, and a white nationalist, to boot. He has voiced his opposition to women being in combat. His nomination, in short, sends a loud message that Democrats should be unafraid to amplify: that for all his lip service to the U.S. military and American strength, Donald Trump doesn’t really care about either. He cares about one thing above all else — installing a bootlicker into one of the most important positions in U.S. government, and who has the added benefit of sharing his belief in keeping women in their place.
Other nominees, like RFK, Jr. for secretary of Health and Human Services, former representative Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, and former Florida AG Pam Bondi for attorney general, also follow this template of incompetence, lickspittlism, and malice in varying proportions. RFK, Jr., a literally brain-wormed individual, lives in fantasy world where life-saving vaccines should be abandoned; meanwhile, Bondi made clear in her confirmation hearings that she won’t stand in the way of Trump’s desire to prosecute political opponents. Overall, the Democrats have a ready-made message of opposition: In nominating such figures, Donald Trump is showing his contempt for the American people, whether it involves the national defense, our health systems, or the rule of law. He only cares that he has people who will follow his orders, no matter how deranged they might be.
Next: Trump obviously sees it as a high priority to illegally prosecute his political opponents, such as former Representative Liz Cheney and Senator Adam Schiff, as well as persecute and harass other influential political players, such as major media. However, in the case of political “enemies,” it’s a reasonable assumption that Trump and his allies’ strategy is as much to make examples of a few people in order to cow far greater numbers of their political opponents. After all, the potential costs of sic’ing the Justice Department on dozens of Democratic senators and representatives would be unpredictable and more plausibly garner public backlash. Indeed, a poll out from the New York Times this weekend shows that a heartening 73% of Americans oppose “Trump pursuing legal charges against his adversaries.”
As observers like Jamelle Bouie have noted, Trump is not nearly as strong politically as he’d have us believe, and he is reliant to a significant degree on a divide-and-conquer strategy. Where illicit prosecutions are concerned, then, Democrats will need to rally around those targeted to signal that they are not alone, and to provide all available resources in their defense. And as some have argued, anti-Trump individuals outside the party should provide legal and monetary resources to defend those who Trump would try to isolate and destroy.
And last but not least: Trump has indicated that one of his highest priorities will be to deport millions of immigrants through a process that he asserts will be “bloody.” Those involved in organizing the efforts, such as former acting head of ICE Tom Homan, have said that U.S. citizen children of undocumented immigrants will also be deported, under the pretense that the Trump administration does not want to separate families. Democrats should not be taken in by these fake humanitarian concerns. Deportations of U.S. citizens would be a gross violation of their rights, full stop. “Donald Trump is deporting U.S. kids to Mexico” should be an unending talking point. It doesn’t matter what polls might say — Democrats would absolutely own the high ground, and it beggars the imagination to think they wouldn’t be able to rally majority support around a defense of literally our fellow American citizens, and children, at that.
The Democrats could run this defense as a benign mirror opposite to the MAGA campaign to slander all immigrants for the crimes of a few: find some targeted families with particularly adorable kids who speak perfect English, and publicize their plight. Above all, humanize and normalize them, and shame those who would deny them the full benefits of citizenship. And if the result is to cause the Trump administration to double-down on family separation — well, let’s fight that battle again, too, and see how well it goes for them this time. Democrats cannot submit to the MAGA logic that some Americans are less American than others.