A message to Democrats who are depressed about the SCOTUS situation and allowing yourselves to experience disappointment that Republican Senators are behaving like the Trump flunkies that they are ... seriously?? You do know who you're dealing with here, right?
Republicans have, for as long as I have been alive and sentient, been about one thing: power. Pure, untrammeled power. They will take it any way they can, and they literally don't care who gets hurt so long as they get it. Mitch McConnell's outer shell is crafted from power.
But Democrats, who represent the actual majority of Americans (Google "who won the popular vote in 2000, 2008, 2012 and 2016) ALSO have power. They just tend do be shy about fully using it, or get thwarted by their adherence to the very rules and norms that Republicans IGNORE.
Part of politics is about winning on the front-end: winning elections, gaining majorities, winning legislative battles, etc. But the other part of politics is about what you do on the back-end. And a lot of THAT is about punishment. Enforcing consequences is also politics.
After Senator Kennedy died, ending the Democrats' 60-vote majority (fun fact: every piece of major progressive legislation has happened when Democrats held at least 60 Senate votes and held the House) things got squirly and Dems had to use reconciliation. https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/resources/affordable-care-act/history-timeline-affordable-care-act-aca
Eventually Dems got the bill through over the near-unanimous objections of Republicans, who even opposed requiring healthcare companies to cover pre-existing conditions because they think insurers have a RIGHT to refuse the sick/charge them more) and 20-30 million got healthcare.
Clearly Republicans ultimately realized they were gonna lose the vote, just as they had when they fought Medicaid and Medicare in the '60s. But they didn't sulk: they got revenge; turning the anti-mortgage relief "tea party" into a midterm voting machine. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/15/tea-party-republican-primary-victories
And because Democratic voters and the party stood down in 2010 and 2014, Republicans won huge gains in those midterms, finally completing their legislative and gubernatorial takeover of the South, which again, didn't happen until 2014. https://newrepublic.com/article/138897/democrats-biggest-disaster
It was about PUNISHMENT. Republicans were determined to punish Democrats for voting for Obamacare. And they didn't just talk about it, they did it.
Then...when in the wake of the stolen SCOTUS seat given to Neal Gorsuch, Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh, who turned out to be as gross toward women as Trump is, and just as publicly whiney? Democratic voters punished Republicans in the 2018 midterms.
The 2018 midterms were a buildup of voter rage over Trump, Russia, the Electoral College, Trump's misogyny (he's now up to a couple dozen sexual misconduct allegations including rape), Republicans' assault on the ACA and Kavanaugh. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/13/18082490/blue-wave
They're going to do it, BECAUSE THEY ARE REPUBLICANS. And this is what Republicans do. They break the rules, or ignore them, or rewrite them in the moment, or whatever the Hell it takes to take power. Period. Democrats need to get this. And really take it in.
It's easier for Republicans to stand together and act as one, even when it seems on the surface like they disagree (they don't. Trust me. Every single elected Republican genuinely is devoted to and loves Trump, or at minimum they believe he's useful to their power goals).
This is harder for Democrats, who constantly try to seek consensus. Well surprise! you now have it, Democrats. Your disparate party is UNITED on loathing Donald Trump. They're united on viewing the Republican Party as an insurgency against democracy. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/upshot/democrats-united-poll-election.html
They're united on wanting everyone to have the right to vote; something Republicans don't believe in. They're united on thinking women should have the same liberties and freedoms (and pay) as men. They're united in wanting a Supreme Court that's not the handmaid of corporations.
They're united on not wanting to lose their healthcare in the middle of a pandemic, and in not wanting a 6-3 Supreme Court imposing a far right white Christian belief system on them for the next 40 years and giving corporations, polluters and the super rich lordship over them.
Free yourselves, Democratic politicos. Your base, as disparate as it is, wants you to do whatever it takes to put fairness in this system for the progressive white, Black, Latinx AAPI and indigenous MAJORITY. Expand the Court. Make DC and Puerto Rico states. End the filibuster.
In the meantime Dem, indie & never-Trump voters have the power, despite the pandemic, voter suppression and the shiny keys Republicans keep throwing, to punish every single Republican who participates in stealing that SCOTUS seat. And their president, too. https://www.axios.com/senate-seats-election-2020-54bee405-7f43-456c-936f-5bc75758bc59.html
looking the other way at Russian bounties on our troops, Trump's disrespect of our war dead and his dangerous lies on covid, that they have the gall to be feeling GOOD today, while Democrats who have the voting majority and the power of punishment on their side are feeling down.
You can follow @JoyAnnReid.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: