A blueprint for resistance to Trump has emerged. Heres what it looks like.
By Greg Sargent February 10 at 10:17 AM
Two of the biggest news stories of the moment — the court’s remarkable rebuke to President Trump’s immigration ban on Thursday night, and the continuing controversy over Kellyanne Conway’s staging of a White House commercial for Ivanka Trump’s clothing line — together suggest that something with potentially lasting significance may be happening right now. It’s this: The outlines of a meaningful blueprint for resisting Trump are now taking shape. This applies both to the battle against Trump’s authoritarian impulses and serial shredding of our democratic norms, and to the battle against the various ways in which Trump will work with Republicans to advance a more conventional GOP agenda. This blueprint has five crucial components:
1) Have (guarded) faith in our system. The battle over Trump’s immigration ban is not over — the question of whether it will remain on hold goes to the Supreme Court, and the underlying legal dispute still must be resolved. But Thursday’s unanimous decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit — which kept the hold in place for now — is significant. Crucially, the decision affirmed the role of the courts in “reviewing the constitutionality of actions taken by the executive to promote national security … even in times of conflict.” Whatever the legal significance of that declaration in this case, as a statement of principle this may loom large later, given what we might expect Trump to try to do on national security grounds, particularly in a “time of conflict.” It’s also significant that this first setback emerged from a challenge originally brought by states. Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington state, the lead challenger, has argued that this is template for further resistance by states, in the courts and out, that could make a difference in other areas where Trump may unleash regressive and destructive onslaughts, such as Obamacare, climate change and other aspects of his promised immigration crackdown.
2) Keep pressuring Republicans to exercise real oversight on Trump. The fact that House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) agreed to rebuke Kellyanne Conway for her on-air commercial for Ivanka’s clothing line is an indication that congressional Republicans cannot ignore any and all of the Trump White House’s ethical transgressions forever. Chaffetz faced angry crowds at a town hall meeting last night, and there was one particular exchange that went viral. A schoolteacher stood up and demanded to know: “Where is your line in the sand?” Chaffetz tried arguing that Trump is legally exempt from conflicts of interest, which is just misdirection, but if more conflicts and corruption emerge, this posture may not be sustainable forever. Democrats are largely powerless in Washington, but one thing they can do is keep pressuring Republicans to hold Trump accountable — they can keep asking that schoolteacher’s question. People are very politically engaged right now, and they will be watching the GOP Congress closely.
3) Fight hard in the Senate with all available procedural weapons. Congressional scholar Sarah Binder has a good piece Friday that details all the procedural tools that Senate Democrats can use to “focus attention on controversial parts of the president’s agenda and force Republicans to cast potentially unpopular votes.” They can also “offer unrelated amendments to bills under debate, affording Democrats the chance to create discord among Republicans and between Republican senators and the White House.” Democrats will lose a lot of legislative battles, but they have all kinds of means at their disposal to try to throw the actual GOP agenda into sharper relief in the eyes of the public.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/02/10/a-blueprint-for-resistance-to-trump-has-emerged-heres-what-it-looks-like/