It'll Take More Than Russia

by Deacon Blues

There's been some talk amongst the pundits over the last several days that the Democrats' relentless focus on Trump's Russia problem is letting him and the GOP get away with a lot of bad stuff under the radar. I agree. Upon reflection, I also think that all this talk about Trump getting impeached anytime soon is nothing more than wishful thinking. First things first.

While Democrats, MSNBC, and CNN have pounded the airwaves with the latest Trump scandal-du-jour, Mitch McConnell has been angling in the dark to draft and pass an Obamacare repeal bill. Sure, no one has seen the bill yet, no one knows what's in it, and McConnell doesn't yet have the votes for it. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't pass when it is dropped into the chamber in the dead of night one day next week. I don't think it will ever eventually come to pass because 1) there are still at least 3-4 vulnerable GOP Senate incumbents next year and moderates not up for re-election that would be damaged by anything that blows up Medicaid; and 2) the Senate's bill would have to skate through the House unscathed to actually reach Trump's certain signature, and that isn't going to happen either. But having said that, it's true that by focusing on Russia too much and not shining a light upon McConnell's shenanigans, Democrats have missed a golden opportunity to turn the heat upon those 3-4 senators now and make it impossible for them to vote "yes" on the bill. The DSCC should be running ads in those states right now targeting those GOP senators and setting the narrative, but they aren't.

And it's not just health care; Democrats are not shining a light upon Trump's war in Afghanistan, his war in Syria, his lack of allied support, and his lack of any overarching end game behind any of it. Democrats aren't making the point that the Trump/GOP effort to repeal Obamacare and any vote to do so is nothing more than a vote to destroy families so that Wall Street and the wealthy can get a tax cut. And Democrats aren't making the point that there still isn't:

1) An infrastructure plan that adds jobs right away
2) A border wall paid by Mexico
3) A rollback of NAFTA and thousand of new jobs
4) The Trump plan for a new climate agreement
5) A tax reform plan that helps the working class more than the wealthy
6) A draining of the swamp in Washington.

Democrats could be hammering Trump every day by saying "We're Still Waiting for You to Make America Great Again," and question all of his actions to the contrary, but they aren't. Which is why I think the impeachment talk is nothing more than wishful thinking at this point, because the congressional GOP will not turn on Trump until 1) his base sees that his campaign talk doesn't match his actions, and 2) Mueller drops the bomb on him. And both of those things won't be clear and known until sometime next year.

So wise up Dems. You still have to make a case against Trump and hit it over and over again, building a self-sustaining narrative that he is destined to reinforce by nature of his self-destructive DNA. Just saying Trump is in the pockets of the Russians is not enough to help off-year congressional challengers, nor enough to swing his base against him, because our body politic is so corroded now that millions of people will still support a treasonous criminal as long as he is their treasonous criminal.