Democrats had been oddly quiet.
A plurality of voters chose Trump. Democrats have been processing that in quiet despair.
The silence has ended.
Steven Law is a college classmate. He attended the protest in Hartford, Connecticut. Like several others from the class of 1971, he has been urging people to assemble in protest of Trump's executive orders. Steve has had seven professions including investment portfolio analyst, domestic abuse shelter counselor, and search engine marketing analyst. At Harvard, he was as a reporter for WHRB, the college radio station. He tells me he has not taken part in any public political action since 1978 in South Africa -- until now.
The silence has ended.
Senate Democrats changed policies. Previously, Democrats were uncertain whether to work with Trump -- after all he won the election and Democrats respect elections -- or to be in full resistance to Trump in the Congress and the courts. Legislative resistance would mean that Senate Democrats would use every parliamentary device and Senate rule to slow down the process of filling out the Trump team and then passing new legislation. As Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell used that strategy four years ago after Biden's win. Trump's illegal executive orders changed the politics and the mood. Trump was implementing the Project 25 agenda after all, doing so by "flooding the zone" with so many proposals that the public could not focus on the merits of them. Senate Democrats agreed to stay in session through last night to use the full 30 hours permitted for Senate debate to slow the nomination of Russell Voight, a Project 2025 leader, to be the director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Meanwhile, Democratic voters across the country found new indignation and energy. Democrats organized a nationwide program under the banner "50501," representing 50 protests in 50 state capitals on one day. Additional protests took place in Washington, including this one at the Treasury Department.
Steven Law is a college classmate. He attended the protest in Hartford, Connecticut. Like several others from the class of 1971, he has been urging people to assemble in protest of Trump's executive orders. Steve has had seven professions including investment portfolio analyst, domestic abuse shelter counselor, and search engine marketing analyst. At Harvard, he was as a reporter for WHRB, the college radio station. He tells me he has not taken part in any public political action since 1978 in South Africa -- until now.
His report shows keen attention to whether the protest will be safe and orderly. That is wise. The George Floyd/Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 got hijacked by infiltrators in Portland and Seattle, and the message of those demonstrations got hijacked as well.
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| Steven Law |
Guest Post by Steven Law
Here's my experience at the Connecticut state capitol in Hartford.I attended this event aware of a warning from Robert Hubbell's Substack newsletter. The protests were put together quickly. "Several readers and other commentators have issued cautions about attending marches organized under that group’s (50501) sponsorship, suggesting that the marches are not well organized, may not have permits, and may be infiltrated by right-wing agitators." The group was dedicated to peaceful and orderly protest, but there might be counterprotests and conflict.So, of course today I joined the 50501 demonstration at the capitol in Hartford. I'm pleased to report that the participants respected the laws, even to the extent of keeping the sidewalk open for pedestrians crossing through the crowd, and that I saw no evidence of provocateurs. However, there were no police around or near the crowd, which I take to be a sign of lack of organization. There were no counter protestors that I could see.
Both the signs and the chants brought out the same themes and they ranged from the righteous to the obscene. (signs) “My body, my choice”, “F*ck Trump”, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere", "No King Trump", and "Deny Delay Obstruct". (chants) “Trans rights are human rights”, "Lock him up", “What does democracy look like?” And response “This is what democracy looks like.” The most common chants, and many signs, expressed outrage about Elon Musk: "Musk, Treasury is not your ATM," and "Deport Elon." I heard chants, "Musk must go."
About 400 people were present between noon and 2:00 despite the cold and the stiff wind. The mood was upbeat, excited, and cordial. Whenever a passing car or truck driver sounded their horn for us or a driver waved or held up a fist, the crowd let out cheers. I saw two opposition cars go by, which we ignored. We mingled in groups, talking to each other about, well, there have been so many outrages that conversations ranged from the Supreme Court, to historical dictators, to immigration, to Musk stealing our personal data, to the likelihood that January 6 armed groups may attack with impunity.Here is the New England Public Media account.
[Note: To get daily delivery of this blog to your email gfo to: https://petersage.substack.com. Subscribe. Don't pay. The blog is free and always will be.]
11 comments:
It sure beats sitting around waiting to turn into the Fourth Reich. Elon Musk is a terrible president, but he does give a very convincing Nazi salute.
“Hijacked” by “infiltrators”? The toxic messages “Defund the Police”, “All Cops Are Bastards” and “Abolish ICE” bespoke the Democratic base beginning in 2020, and along with Republican naïveté and weakness were responsible for the political survival and resurgence of Trump even after COVID and January 6th. “Bad Israel (before and after October 7)” and “Trans Women Are Women (per Science)” are just as widely unpopular and, ultimately, Trump-enabling. Same goes for Code Pink apologetics for the Venezuelan dictator, and the Stop Fossil Fuels zealots.
Perhaps picking the right battles means not letting far-left “hijackers” with their own signs—and spray painted messages—into the Democratic resistance tent. It should overlap with alarmed moderates, independents and inevitably Republicans. Common sense should mean commonality.
I agree with Low regarding common sense and commonality, it’s just difficult to find that. Fox News and right wing media resists doing that. They want us them devides, not cooperation and let’s work together thinking. It’s up to democrats to do this as the Republican Party is locked into the democrats are the enemy. Wish there was a play book for where is the middle ground .
Ya gotta love the way the far-White like to blame Trump on Democrats, Blacks and the LGBTQ, rather than on those who voted for him. In the Weimar Republic, they just blamed the Jews - scapegoating is so much simpler than taking responsibility. Democratic republics are just too woke for them.
The Democrats are lucky that “some people“ are not in charge of their messaging. As of November, denigrating white people, along with the rest of woke rhetoric, has fallen out of fashion.
Looks like getting hit with that electoral 2 x 4 has really gotten the donkey’s attention this time.
"Rather than" is a pretty poor reading of "in addition to". Moreover, that blame goes with the strident Left within the groups listed.
Don't watch Fox much any more, but points taken. I'll note that the Wall Street Journal has challenged Trump excess (redundancy?).
The new US Border Patrol chief said the number of illegal migrants stopped trying to cross the besieged southern border has dropped an astonishing 90% since January 21 — a day after President Trump’s inauguration.
Michael Banks, a longtime former border agent himself, touted the plunge in illegal crossings in an interview on NBC News Thursday, adding that prosecutions of criminal migrants the agency has apprehended have also jumped 52%.
“US Border Patrol knows how to get the job done, we know how to secure the border. All we needed was a president that was going to empower us — a strong leader like President Trump — and a secretary like Secretary Noem that knows exactly what we need to do to secure the border,” he said.
While Trump’s chumps gloat over his assaults on such soft targets as immigrants and minorities, Musk and Trump’s goons are taking over the federal government without congressional authority and very little public awareness. Shhh, don’t wake them up – they don’t want to be woke.
Actually, this year many liberals are waking up out of the politically catastrophic woke spell they fell into that alienated so much of the working class. They finally figured out that pronouns and DEI were not that popular with normie voters.
The link disappeared.
And here I thought it was inflation that alienated so much of the working class, but tRump is doing so much to fix it for them.
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