Donald Trump threatened to veto every piece of legislation put forward during the second half of his administration if Democrats flip control of the House or Senate during next month’s midterm elections.
“Well, I think the Republicans are going to win. But if there was, you call it gridlock, what happens is I veto everything,” Trump told reporters Friday morning while speaking on the South Lawn. “And then the Democrats come and they want to make a deal. So we’ll work it out.”
Historical precedent and polling data suggest Democrats are on the cusp of flipping at least the House next month and possibly the Senate, due to public frustration over the Iran war and high costs of living.
It’s 2/3rds of present members. It’s still likely impossible. But, if the Democrats actually want to play hard ball (they don’t) they could get shit passed without enough Republican members present.
The Democrats biggest failure has been that they don’t actually play the games the Republicans do. They follow the process and respect the rules when they have power and get nothing passed. When they don’t have power they complain that they can’t do anything.
Trump is going to be gone in 2 years. Republican politicians want a future in politics. There are significantly more ways to get shit passed and vetos overridden that aren’t just “the rules”. It’s actually engaging in political maneuvers and leverage that you won’t hear about on TV and aren’t a part of the actual “process” or law.
A threat or negotiating with specific Republicans to literally just not be present for a vote. That’s the shit that would need to go down. There are countless ways “the rules” can be bent like this. Republicans do it all the time. Democrats are very often completely capable of getting shit passed. But they don’t want to. They want to raise money from donors and continue to be “the less bad option”. If they actually started passing popular policy then the entire point of their party would be over.
This is what they mean when you hear Democrats say they want a “strong Republican party”. They don’t want the Republicans to lose too badly. If they had 2/3rds in the house and Senate we’d all clearly realize that they can’t actually pass Medicare for all because then the money from billionaires would disappear. And that money is what they are there for in the first place.
I don’t have faith in the democratic party. But, I also won’t make excuses for them if they twiddle their thumbs for two years.
The time for the weak backbone bull shit is over. We don’t need another year of the Democrats crying that the Republicans refuse to vote on Obama’s supreme court appointment. It’s that type of shit that got us here.
Fuck the Obama era of “they go low we go high”. It’s time to hit them below the waist. It’s the Democrats last shot to do so. If they fail to hold this administration accountable, makes actual arrest, and lock up not just Trump but also billionaires like Musk; we are not going to have a country anymore. Either through the next phase of fascism or through cities being burned to the ground.