Kick Some Butt!

ACCORDING TO LIZ - If the establishment Democrats think that the election was an endorsement for them to return to their version of a status quo, they have another think coming.

It was a full-throated cry for change. 

In an AP recent poll, 58 percent of Republicans joined the 90 percent of independents and 97 percent of Democrats in calling for a “complete and total upheaval” or “substantial change” in how our country is run.

Of those polled by the progressive Our Revolution action group which supported many of the new electees, 73% said Chuck Schumer is NOT the right person to lead the Democrats in the Senate, and 51% said the same about Hakeem Jeffries as House leader.

Jeffries, who’s in line to be the next speaker, has already put out a shock-and-awe legislative plan to pass broadly popular bills uniting the entire Democratic Caucus with Trump-disaffected Republicans. In the first 100 hours following the January 3 seating of the new Congress, Jeffries wants to:

* Reinstate expired Affordable Care Act health care premium subsidies

* Reverse the nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts included in the president’s domestic policy law

* Move to end Trump’s tariffs and restore congressional power over trade policy

* Direct Trump to end the war in Iran or seek authorization from Congress to continue it

And, until new policies reduce Americans’ need, immediately roll back cuts in healthcare and food stamps. 

Not a huge lift, and any bill would almost certainly be filibustered in the Senate. But it sends the first volley across the bow of Trumpism for all to take notice, before it’s held up or, without a veto-proof majority, undoubtedly dies on the Resolute Desk.

After confirming he would be a “hard yes” for impeaching Pete Hegseth, Jeffries must continue to demonstrate he can do more than talk the talk, by walking the walk with the full vim and vigor previously denied him by the cautious maneuverings of his own party from before the demise of Biden and his tone-deaf kowtowing to Wall Street interests and concurrent commitment to the AIPAC agenda.

But Chuck Schumer with his platitudes and conciliatory ineffectiveness, must bow out now in favor of new blood, hot and ready for action to serve the American people, not service Wall Street and the elites. Or forever compromise the future of the Democratic Party.

The people have spoken, and roundly routed not only Trump’s Republicans but served notice on Schumer and Democratic strategists like James Carville who just three weeks ago in an interview with Bill Kristol opined:

“I would rather the Republicans keep the House by five than the Democrats win by five. Because if that happens, they're hostage to the DSA. Like, Hakeem cannot move. There's no place for him to go.”

But Jeffries can and must prove the old-guard Democratic pundits wrong, wrong, wrong.

Populism has united and galvanized the electorate in support for many of the policies promoted by the DSA. Policies broadly supported by voters across the political spectrum, including growing numbers of Republicans.

James Talarico won in Texas by focusing on issues not of left or right but bottom or top, people or billionaires. Dr. Annie Andrews won in South Carolina by promising to indict Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his onslaught on public health. Gina Hinojosa won the governorship of Texas by campaigning against unregulated A.I. and the cancer of data center.

Abdul El-Sayed won in Michigan by embracing working people and issues that would benefit them: to get money out of politics, put money in your pocket, and pass Medicare-for-All. Troy Jackson won in Maine calling for the reinstatement of a woman's right to choose abortion, and abolishing ICE.

Adam Hamilton won in Kansas by reaching across fault lines:

“To be a liberal means to be generous of spirit, open to seeing things and with new eyes, and to be open to reform. And to be conservative means holding onto values or beliefs that are truly important. We can be both of those things at the same time.”

The Democratic tsunami was the direct result of Trump’s broken promises: 'there would be no more wars', 'prices would come down', 'tariffs would be paid by foreign countries not passed on to American businesses', 'ICE would target only criminals', he’d 'protect Medicare and Social Security', 'clean the swamp'...

In fact, he became the swamp as graphically represented by his renovating the Reflecting Pool into a pea-green sludge.

He gutted the government, installed incompetent cronies in positions of power, made the White House a center of personal profit, and drove up the cost of living for ordinary Americans.

Democrats must replace the rampant corruption, abject incompetence, and lawlessness of the Trump coterie with a government that works forthe people. 

Curtail the power of Trump’s worst appointees by clipping their wings, starting with new White House chief of staff Stephen Miller, architect of his mass deportation campaign.

Make the Democrats the party of peace and stop American acts of aggression, from the war on Iran to CIA machinations elsewhere in the Middle East and across Africa.

Strip Section 219 and all related commitments, which would all but fuse our military with Israel’s, from the NDAA.

Too much to do, too little time, but the Democratic majorities seize the low-hanging fruit from the following and make a splash.

Every effort in the House and Senate must be focused on delivering economic relief for working Americans from labor to healthcare to energy, not rubbing up to billionaires and corporate donors.

Act swiftly to push for the promised pro-labor policies that helped win swing states including raising the minimum wage, mandating paid sick and family leave, strengthening collective bargaining rights, banning non-compete clauses, and addressing the gender wage gap.

As an aside, my business friends may scream bloody murder and lump me in with DSA pariahs, but wouldn’t the economy be better with more people having more to spend widely, than a few billionaires buying a few outrageously expensive items?

Fight to impose strong, perpetual and enforceable guardrails on Big Tech and its booming data center build-outs, which threaten communities, the climate, and working families.

Rein in ICE, CBP and the DHS: ensure compassionate justice in all aspects of immigration. Attack the policies, not the people, and make everyone working for those organizations personally responsible for their actions, with no taxpayer money used in their defense. 

Ensure foreign policies are no longer based on MAD but on MAC, mutually assured co-operation.

Reverse Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine and give Zelenskyy the weapons and support necessary to drive Putin back to where he belongs, in a diminished Russia.

Stomp on the president’s oil and coal buddies, reinvigorating truly green energy incentives with their ability to improve the environment, stop rampant corporate pollution, and avert climate disaster.

Climate change is real.

How about impounding Trump’s illegally-obtained crypto gains and using them to subsidize heating for those on limited budgets across the northern tier of states and make whole those in the south who suffered outrageous air conditioning costs? 

Last but certainly not least, implement a new and improved Voters Rights Act for all Americans.

Moving forward, join newly-minted Texas Governor Gina Hinojosa in going after Elon Musk for his assaults on truth, justice and the American way of life.

Start developing the necessary legislation to rein in the oh-so-profitable corporations that continue to feed from the taxpayer trough, sunsetting unnecessarily incentives and removing the most egregious deductions, capping executives’ take home pay inclusive of bonuses, and requiring full accountability for their wrongs – ruptured pipelines laying waste to land and water, pollution-caused cancer.

Laying the ground, in the face of a corporatocracy that will fight it tooth and nail, to renegotiate trade agreements ensuring a respectful balance of trade and giving every country back their legitimate domestic power.

Taking on the budget-compromised military-industrial complex, the neocons, AIPAC and the Israeli lobby, the tech companies increasingly feeding on military contracts. Making them all fully accountable.

Ditto ditching the power of the plague of lobbyists and dark money infecting the country, especially the swamp of D.C.

These will all take time, and many won’t be realized until there is a Democrat in the White House.

Concurrently, steps must be taken to redress the wrongs of the Supreme Court by instituting guardrails to defend truth and justice against the Federalist Society’s puppet court’s worst inclinations; enforcing a code of ethics to guard against cronyism; eradicating its own forms of corruption, expanding the lower courts to provide greater and speedier access to justice; and diversifying the pipeline of judges so they reflect broader legal and geographic demographics.

No longer will the people of the United States accept its purported leaders’ indifference to loss of life, that torture can be overlooked, and that plans for a public execution livestreamed worldwide is acceptable entertainment. 

Makes them sound like the jihadists they pretend to abhor.

Democrat and Republican need to repair, rebuild, and repurpose their parties for the existential fight against big money – Big Oil, Big Ag, Big Tech, Big Pharma and the bloat of the military-industrial complex.

We need to reinvigorate all-American values of right and wrong and embrace compassion not vengeance in all our affairs, repudiating the malicious tenets of Trump and his Mar-a-Lago mafia as well as self-serving dogma and religious rigidity.

To surge the new-found sense of hope into the 2028 elections, Democrats will have to continue to mobilize, to challenge the entrenched powers that be, to become a pro-people party as the 2028 presidential race opens the potential for fundamental reforms and reconstruction needed to make this economy work for and by Americans and the future we build together.

Politics that brings the vast majority of people in, rather than shutting them out. 

Democrats and independents and Republicans need to unite, to stand for something better or our lives will continue to fall apart.