Advice for Dems from Nobel laureate

What do we do now? Paul Krugman has some suggestions

by xaxnar, Daily Kos

Democrats look to have control of both houses of Congress come January, assuming no shenanigans keep that from happening. That’s huge, but not sufficient. Although they have historic margins, it’s still not enough to guarantee overriding presidential vetoes or getting around the filibuster. Trump still retains vast powers as the chief executive and commander in chief, not to mention the GOP control of the Supreme Court.

Nonetheless, Paul Krugman has some suggestions. There’s a lot that can be done by Democrats in Congress even so.

The American people have just delivered a stunning rebuke to Donald Trump. If we had a parliamentary system, the moving trucks would already be at the White House. 

As it is, however, an increasingly deranged and debilitated Trump will remain in control of foreign policy, national security, and many of the federal government’s domestic operations for two more years. He will also, as he made a point of emphasizing on Truth Social as the returns came in, retain the ability to veto legislation. And Democrats, despite their huge margins in both houses of Congress, won’t have enough votes to override his vetoes.

So what can Democrats do with their new majorities?

One important answer is that they will now hold committee gavels, hence the ability to conduct investigations and hearings backed by subpoena power. This matters more for the Trump gang than it would for a normal administration. 

Everyone paying attention knows that Trump and his cronies have been stealing billions, but many Americans probably don’t grasp the full extent of the corruption. Gaining the ability to bring this corruption into the sunlight is critical to rebuild Americans’ faith in the integrity of government, as well as to hold Trump and his vandals accountable. 

Moreover, knowing that his days are numbered, the Trump gang have every incentive to engage in a wholesale smash-and-grab spree.

And Democrats know it. On Tuesday night Rep. Robert Garcia — the probable chair of the House Oversight Committee — had a blunt message for everyone associated with Trump: “Lawyer up.”

emphasis added

But wait – there’s more!

On the eve of the midterms, when election modelers anticipated a blue wave but not this awesome tsunami, I thought that control of those gavels would be the main payoffs. However, the gargantuan size of the win showed that Americans want fundamental change, a decisive break with Trumpism. 

Yet, with Trump still wielding the veto pen, what should they do in the remaining two years of his term?

I think I know the answer to that question: Pass highly popular legislation that would clearly benefit ordinary Americans and not the oligarchs, knowing full well that Trump will veto the legislation. Emphatically, the Democrats should not try to make deals with Trump, a man who never agreed to a deal that he didn’t subsequently try to break.

Democrats should craft an expansive menu of legislation to address the issues plaguing ordinary Americans. When Trump vetoes a bill, they should attempt to override that veto, forcing each and every Republican to either to uphold Trump’s obstruction — making it clear that they are as culpable as he is — or to develop a spine and supply the additional votes required for such overrides.

emphasis added

Krugman goes on to describe how to put this in motion and has a list of obvious items for an aggressive legislative agenda. He warns against any attempts to cut deals with Trump, and that opposing these bills should force Republicans to pay a political price.

For my own part, I want to see Democrats stop reacting to GOP moves and go on the offensive. If power is an illusion, so is powerlessness. To quote Miles Vorkosigan, “First you see it, then you be it.”

There is no need to reach across the aisle for any of this – nor should there be. NO Sinemas, Manchins – or Fettermans. You don’t call on arsonists to help you put out the fires they’ve started.

We have a number of new Democratic leaders who are ready to pursue an active agenda instead of trying to return to a status quo that is broken. We need to build back better.

Krugman has this for a conclusion:

Yes, Democrats today are overjoyed about Tuesday’s results. But we should also be clear that they will still have to fight Republican obstruction over the next two years, as well as a hostile Supreme Court majority. So let’s have our celebration, but also be clear that this is, to quote Churchill, not the end, not even the beginning of the end, but perhaps the end of the beginning of the fight to reclaim this country.

Read The Whole Thing

One more thing.

Paul Krugman has put together a new book that collects his efforts from Substack over the past two years. As a subscriber, I can say there is some really important stuff in there.

Krugman:

Marketing note: I have a new ebook, Navigating the Chaos: Chronicles of Economic and Political Madness, which uses material from this Substack to construct a thematic narrative of the past two years and the issues that Democrats must now address to build an enduring progressive movement. Available from Amazon, Kobo, Bookshop, and Nook.