How to [Attempt to] Get Republicans to Object
Axios did a piece the other day on the pressure by progressive groups on Democrats to fight harder. It included several quotes saying, “you’ve got the wrong focus.”
Why it matters: Some lawmakers feel their grassroots base is setting expectations too high for what Democrats can actually accomplish as the minority party in both chambers of Congress.
- Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told Axios: “What I think we need to do more is: Put the onus on Republicans, so that the calls that we’re getting are directed toward Republicans.”
- “There has definitely been some tension the last few days where people felt like: you are calling the wrong people. You are literally calling the wrong people,” said one House Democrat.
Blumenthal and his anonymous colleague are not wrong. While Democrats have had some splashy events this week — staging protests at one after another Agency that Musk’s DOGE [sic] has taken over, sending letters and more letters, and filibustering all night before Russ Vought was confirmed on a party line vote — such efforts had the sum effect of getting press attention, laying a foundation going forward, and killing time until the inevitable Vought confirmation. But it didn’t stop the inevitable — nor could it.
Indeed, in the time since Dems have ratcheted up their efforts, Trump has actually had more success with wavering Republicans, security party line votes for two of his most outrageous nominations, Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr, from Senators like Susan Collins, Bill Cassidy, and Todd Young. Trump is doing something — it may be primary threats, it may be quiet concessions on other issues, like the Canada tariffs — to get these Senators to vote against their own power.
Meanwhile, contra a really asinine column from Ken Klippenstein conflating a legal strategy largely pursued by civil society with the media strategy described above, with a few exceptions (like one of two lawsuits that have enjoined Trump from halting grant funding), the lawsuits that have succeeded in slowing the implementation of Trump’s work have been launched by civil society, including unions.
Some of what has been achieved in recent days (see JustSecurity’s Litigation Tracker for others):
- A bunch of retirees got Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to limit any access and dissemination of Treasury data to two DOGE people (one of whom resigned after WSJ exposed his support for eugenics), until further litigation. This suit also got statements from DOJ about the access that conflict with public reporting, which may be useful going forward.
- Some unions got Judge George O’Toole to delay the deadline for the “fork” resignation offer until Monday, allowing further legislation.
- A dispute over whether DOJ can share a list of FBI agents who worked the January 6 cases outside of DOJ will continue until tomorrow.
- Both Judge John McConnell (in a case brought by Democratic Attorneys General) and Judge Loren AliKhan (in a case brought by NGOs) enjoined Trump from withholding grant funds.
These are legal judgments, though, and in at least the latter case, Trump seems to be either defying it or unable to reverse steps already taken. Most notably, Head Start programs around the country are having problems accessing their funding, in spite of both the dual injunctions and the Trump administration claims that Head Start would have been exempt anyway.
[A] growing number of Head Start grant recipients, which operate on razor-thin margins, have reported delays in accessing approved grant funding, according to the National Head Start Assn. While most Head Start programs have not experienced major disruptions, some have had no other option but to close down services, while others are scrambling to find other funding sources to keep their doors open, the association said.
As of Thursday — 10 days after the federal freeze was announced — the association said at least 52 programs across 22 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico are still experiencing funding delays. The programs, which serve nearly 20,000 children from birth through age 5, report receiving “pending” or “in process” messages when they request to draw down funds from their grant from an online payment system.
Something more certain happened with USAID. When DOGE [sic] started IDing things to defund, Republicans like John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy called to exempt PEPFAR, the George HW Bush program funding AIDS drugs in poor countries. But even though PEPFAR reportedly got a waiver from cuts, AIDS drugs nevertheless remained in warehouses, inaccessible.
Marco Rubio, who like the sucker he is was belatedly named Acting USAID Administrator just as this started to blow up, tried to avoid accountability for the problems, suggesting that programs were simply incompetent to ask for a waiver.
But Rubio, on a Latin America tour, also said he was issuing waivers which would allow for “immediate” and “life-saving” aid to continue after President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day suspension on taking office.
“I don’t know how much more clear we can be than that,” he told reporters in Costa Rica.
“I would say if some organization is receiving funds from the United States and does not know how to apply a waiver, then I have real questions about the competence of that organization, or I wonder whether they’re deliberately sabotaging it for purposes of making a political point,” said Rubio, a former Republican senator who long voted for foreign assistance.
Nevertheless, Rubio fired all but around three hundred USAID workers (of more than 10,000), waggling around a word, “insubordination,” Trump flunkies elsewhere are using.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who took control of U.S.A.I.D. as acting administrator on Monday, insisted during a Fox News interview this week that the takeover was “not about getting rid of foreign aid.”
“But now we have rank insubordination,” he said, adding that U.S.A.I.D. employees had been “completely uncooperative, so we had no choice but to take dramatic steps to bring this thing under control.”
On Thursday, he reiterated the promise that some workers would be offered exemptions to minimize the hardship of the sudden recall. The pledge was made first in a notice put on the U.S.A.I.D. website Tuesday night that announced that employees around the globe would be put on administrative leave or let go by Friday.
Two unions that represent some of those affected — represented by Democracy Forward, the same legal NGO behind some other lawsuits — sued. In their complaint, they described some of the havoc caused already and explained why Rubio’s chaotic efforts to disclaim the damage fail.
23. As a result of these actions, most functions of the agency immediately halted, with life-threatening consequences. Clinics stopped distributing HIV medication.12 Staff who operate humanitarian operations at refugee camps in Syria were told to stop work, leaving thousands of people vulnerable to instability and violence at the hands of ISIS.13 Soup kitchens that feed nearly a million people in famine-stricken Khartoum were shut down.14 Toddlers in Zambia were deprived of rehydration salts to treat life-threatening diarrhea.15 Doctors at U.S.-funded medical facilities in Sudan that treat severely malnourished children were forced to choose whether to obey Defendants’ orders and “immediately stop their operations or to let up to 100 babies and toddlers die.”16
[snip]
25. Second, on February 1, 2025, the State Department announced a “limited waiver” for “[l]ife-saving HIV care and treatment services, inclusive of HIV testing and counseling, prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections including TB, laboratory services, and procurement and supply chain commodities/medicines” and “[p]revention of mother-to-child transmission services, inclusive of commodities/test kits, medicines and PrEP for pregnant and breastfeeding women.”19
26. These waivers offered little –to no relief for USAID partners who suffered from defendants’ freeze in funding. They were not “self-executing by virtue of the announcement,”20 so contractors and grantees scrambled to reach USAID contacts to ascertain if they were covered by the waiver. But because agency staff had already suffered severe cuts, groups doing lifesaving work were unsure how to request a waiver and received little to no information about the status of such requests.21
Because of the chaotic nature of the attack on the US government, because this is all being done by men who excel, first and foremost, at dodging accountability for their failures, this will continue to happen. Even if Trump claims to exempt stuff, things will still get shut down.
It will not change without some (more public and more aggressive than they’re already provably doing) pushback from Republicans, too. Particularly if and when it becomes clear that Trump is simply defying court orders.
And that’s why Richard Blumenthal is not wrong. There needs to be far more attention focused on Republicans. It’s far too easy — and defeatist — for Democrats to imagine that screaming louder at Democrats will fix this, because the most it will do is provide some nice PR moments.
That’s a huge task. But not impossible, particularly not if more people focus on better messaging to Republicans rather than louder yelling at Democrats.
Make the damage visible and accountable to Republicans
I said from the start of this that the effort to shut down government will make visible things that government does that most people ignore. And the effects are already being felt — and felt in red states. As one example, in the lawsuit against OMB’s recision order, plaintiffs provided this declaration from a tiny West Virginia non-profit helping disabled people stay in their own homes, describing how losing funding has led it to lay off staffers and contemplate withholding services. Among the people affected are an 86-year old woman they bring to her dialysis appointments and a 19-year old who just aged out of foster care who is being trained to work at Goodwill.
These aren’t AOC or Chuck Schumer’s constituents. They are represented by Shelley Moore Capito, Jim Justice, Riley Moore, and Carol Miller (the latter of whom took to YouTube the other day insisting that Trump would take care of WV).
It is more urgent for progressive groups to identify these stories and get calls to Republicans than to flood Democrats with more calls. Better yet, buy billboards advertising how these members of Congress are letting the richest man in the world disrupt the life of an 86-year old diabetes patient.
Importantly, much of this needs to be predictive. Rather than saying, “Trump gave access to grandma’s social security and granny may not get her check,” Democrats should always pin this on Republicans: “Mike Crapo did nothing after DOGE [sic] seized control of Treasury’s computer, and that may lead to Idaho small businesses losing their government loans.
As one of a handful of Senators who’ll always be among potential swing voters, Susan Collins needs to be a specific focus — not because it’ll work, but because she needs to be held accountable for the effect of her capitulations. In an interview with a local outlet, she listed a number of actions she deems illegal, but said she’d still vote for Russ Vought, even though he promised to pursue those illegal activities.
“I do intend to support his nomination,” Collins said. “If there are impoundments, I believe it will end up in court, and my hope is the court will rule in favor of the 1974 impoundment and budget control act.”
Time to start listing all the ways Vought’s foreseeable impoundments of appropriations will hurt Maine residents. More importantly, time to point out that Collins’ role atop the Appropriations Committee — one reason Maine voters might prefer her against a Democrat — is useless if Vought makes her role meaningless.
Until Republican Members of Congress are made to answer to the harm they’re allowing Trump do to their constituents, they’ll instead continue to respond to Elon’s more visceral threats. That vacuum needs to be filled with localized accountability.
Demonstrate the hypocrisy
Republicans know these cuts are disastrous. Most are just too cowardly to say that in public, making it more likely that any lobbying they’re doing to reverse course is in direct conversations with Trump where other quid pro quos (such as votes for unqualified nominees) might be arranged.
But there are ways to make them do so: by relying on their past statements. For example, CNN has a compilation of all the things Marco Rubio has said about USAID.
Rubio on Monday accused the agency of operating as a “global charity,” telling Fox News, “They have basically evolved into an agency that believes that they’re not even a US government agency.”
But a CNN KFile review of Rubio’s past comments shows he has been for more than a decade a major supporter of foreign aid and USAID, which in fiscal year 2023 distributed more than $40 billion in foreign aid to more than 160 different countries.
Rubio’s most recent comments directly contradict years of support and praise he has directed toward USAID, including a tweet he posted in February 2017 that said, “Foreign Aid is not charity. We must make sure it is well spent, but it is less than 1% of budget & critical to our national security.”
During his Fox News interview Monday, Rubio also dismissed concerns that scaling back USAID’s presence could allow China to expand its influence in developing nations.
But just three years ago, Rubio argued the exact opposite, urging the Biden administration in a 2022 letter to prioritize USAID’s funding as a key tool to “counter the Chinese Communist Party’s expanding global influence.”
>A longtime defender of US foreign aid, Rubio pushed back against criticism of the agency in repeated comments uncovered by CNN — defending aid as both vital and a small part of America’s overall fiscal budget.
“We don’t have to give foreign aid. We do so because it furthers our national interest. That’s why we give foreign aid. Now obviously there’s a component to foreign aid that’s humanitarian in scope, and that’s important too,” he said in February 2013.
These comments — and similar ones from other Republicans — can be used as a way to respond to the flood of disinformation from Elon and Karoline Leavitt.
Get hawkish
By abandoning US soft power overseas, the US creates a vacuum for China to fill. Many of the other actions Trump has taken — like insisting that a list of recent CIA recruits, many focused on China, be sent in unclassified email — imperil US efforts to counter China.
Both Elon and Trump have their own venal reasons to suck up to China. And Trump appears to be preparing to sell out Taiwan to China.
This is a specific example of the effort to warn of potential effects, one that could and should deploy the most hawkish language Republicans adopt (albeit focused on the country and the harm to US standing Republicans say China’s rise poses, not the people), not least because it’s an easy way to make Republicans look weak.
Unlike the focus on the 86-year old granny in West Virginia, this is divorced, somewhat, from the pain affecting Americans. But it is nevertheless a visceral issue for many Republicans and their self worth. Trump is selling them out. Make that clear.
No focus on Republicans will have an immediate effect. I’m not saying it will. But when things start falling apart, it’ll mean Democrats have already laid the groundwork for holding Republicans — all of them, not just Musk — accountable. That may not be enough, in the short term, to cure them of their terror of Trump and Musk. But it stops letting them off easy.
Democrats control my entire Congressional representation, and when I see Welch vote to confirm Trump nominees and Sanders hem and haw about RFK Jr, I will give them grief every day. They need to learn how to be the party of obstruction.
When I see Jefferies and Schumer hold a pathetic press conference to proudly introduce a bill (that will go nowhere) declaring these activities as unlawful when they already are already illegal and then cheekily name it ‘Stop the Steal’, I will give them grief. They’ve earned it.
They need to learn to play hardball in their legislative duties and their media activities.
And yeah, they need to start hammering Republican legislators, especially those in swing districts.
Completely agree with you. Democrats need to tie everything to Republicans. They need to be naming names and directly associating activities with Republican senators and reps. Example-if your private information is released it’s John Thunes fault. Elon musks stooges are accessing your private information. And John thune is ok with this. Your social security number, your tax information and more. John thune wants this to happen. Take it directly to their districts/states. Tell people in mike lawlers district that lawler wants wants to endanger your Medicare and social security. Musk is going to eliminate your benefits. Voight is going to eliminate your benefits and Mike lawler is fine with this.
Hyperbole is your friend. Use it to make the senators and congressman respond. The republicans have used this effectively for years. Democrats need to start.
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Agreed. There should be a central database where activists can go to highlight specific harm being done everywhere. Then anyone in that area can be called into action. “In this city/state this group/agency/ program has now been closed because of this congressperson voting for it. “ The specific information should be shared all over social media. Then local constituents can see and object to the harm they’ll be facing.
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One of the most distubing (to me) lessons on messaging over the past decade or so is the degree to which we are all (to differing extents) ruled by our subconscious in things like political choice.
If Anat Shenker-Osorio is right (per focus groups she’s run) about Democratic non-voters distrusting Democrats to truly stand up and fight, so why bother voting for them, then Dem messaging needs to do (imo) big, loud, splashy things to a) shore up and inspire confidence in the base and b) show reluctant Dem voters that it’s a party worth voting for.
Schumer’s plaintive tweet about “Just wait’ll Trump raises prices on the ketchup for your superbowl hot dog” isn’t that. Schumer shutting down the Senate, in a very public way, and denying unanimous consent, IS.
However, that may be necessary but not sufficient: one metaphor she advocates in effective messaging to the larger public is simply: THEFT. As in, Elon and Trump are stealing from you (and enumerating all the rights and freedoms we are personally having stolen from us). I’m not competent to break down the totality of her models, but the means are there IF Democrats really want to win.
We’re never going to have the country back that we used to live in, by the time Trump and Elon are done, EVEN IF we win back our government. We’ll all have to modify our expectations to live our newly transformed country. The LEAST the Democratic power structure can do is start modifying ITS behavior, from the same-old go-along to actual behavioral change, IN public and FOR the public.
I think 24 national will be the last legit election of this country. Measures the gop continue to take to disenfranchise voters in addition to a totally compromised doj just about guarantee it.
Yes! Tie everything to the Republicans.
As TPM pointed out yesterday, the only hard point of leverage for the Dems is the debt ceiling. Default is unthinkable. But I’m thinking about it anyway.
One piece I’d add to what you say about abdicating soft power by cutting off USAID . . .
The aid provided by USAID comes from purchasing items here in the US. When those bags of grain arrive in starving areas around the world, they are labeled “From the American People.” Inside those bags are the produce from farms in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and elsewhere in the US. By cutting off USAID, Musk and Trump are sticking two knives in the backs of farmers. First, the contracts they thought they’d get are gone. Secondly, they can’t easily turn around and sell it elsewhere, because the prices they expected to get for their crops have now tanked, thanks to the market getting swamped by extra supply.
Chuck Grassley, for one, ought to know this, along with every representative and senator from a farm state.
Dems should be loudly reminding them of this, as well as reminding every hometown news outlet in their states and districts.
Public Citizen just filed a suit in that regard: https://www.citizen.org/news/government-employee-unions-sue-trump-administration-for-shutting-down-usaid/
The Dems need to frame it as “Trump is giving away US influence in the world to Communist China, no strings attached.” And make sure to use the C word.
After the invasion of the Treasury I called my Republican Congressman (one that voted for impeachment after Jan 6) and expressed my concerns about the actions being directed from the White House. Much to my surprise, the phone was answered immediately and I was told that they were being flooded with calls about concerns similar to mine. This is in a very red district. The focus of my call was to emphasize to the Congressman that it would only require a small handful of brave Republicans to change the balance of power and possibly start a landslide against Trump. I imagine him speaking in private with other Congress members. I also acknowledged possible concerns about retaliation, not being primaried, but threats of violence and stochastic terrorism. I mentioned that these concerns have not prevented Democrats from speaking out against the White House. I felt encouraged by the aides understanding response. I was also encouraged to call back if I thought of anything else.
Nice job.
Regarding Just Security’s Litigation Tracker, I posted this diary on dKos a couple days ago (it got little attention): https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/6/2301839/-A-Rundown-of-the-Lawsuits-Against-Trump-s-Constitutional-Travesties-Including-Donation-Links
From the URL you can see that the point of the diary was to highlight the orgs that are involved in most of the lawsuits, such that readers can select which ones to support with donations if they are able. I’m posting it here for the EW readership, for the same purpose. Democracy Forward is indeed all over the place in this effort.
I wrote most of the diary before finding out about the JS list; the number of cases on that list is formidable for this early in the fascist regime. And as I noted in that diary,
” Here’s what we have to keep in mind: the federal judiciary consists of over 800 Active Judges, and the conservative/liberal breakdown of that group is roughly 50/50, but the MAGA portion of it is only about 30-40%. Furthermore, given the catastrophic nature of Trump’s first 2.5 weeks in office, it could be that the “leaners” on the Supreme Court may lean the other direction when the first of these cases get appealed to them.”
And as I’ve noted here recently, I believe both Roberts and Coney-Barrett may be coming to the realization (if they already haven’t) that they have well and truly fucked our country to a faretheewell, and they may be more than ready to do something about it. I’m guessing one or more of these cases will find it’s way to the cert pile in relatively short order.
Thanks again go to Marcy for calling out the Dems for their milquetoast approach. The legal front that the SC list represents is the leading edge of our confrontation with this criminal outfit. To my knowledge, there have been no setbacks in court as yet. Am I correct? Yes, they are all procedural victories, nothing on the merits of the cases yet, but the Dems, especially the lawyer-legislators, can draw straws and hone in on the particular cases that resonate in their districts, and preach the facts of those cases to their constituents, with courtroom theatrics, in YouTube or podcast videos, as well as talk show appearances. Is the number of suits more than 50 now? ;
What a bunch of hidebound manikins if they can’t muster a fight.
Meanwhile I got forwarded a 1.5 hr AOC Zoom session and I thought I’d throw up. I couldn’t watch her preening for more that one minute. It’s like she’s auditioning for a Daytime Talking Lady slot. We’re in a (so far) bloodless war for the survival of democracy and she can’t stop flipping her hair back and showcasing her excellent dental health. Maybe it’s just me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVgNJf6CsBA
Without a doj to hold trump accountable trump can choose to ignore the court rulings tho. Ryan Goodman said as much on cnn today.
re trying to get Repubs to object, I must share some good news about The Resistance in my county.
By now you’ve probably heard about Laura Smith throwing the Nazi salute who just resigned from Towamencin Board of Supervisors. FAFO. But you must watch how her colleague on the board (a Black Democrat man) responded. See “Kofi Osei For Towamencin” on facebook and watch county commissioner meeting clip. (Sorry but that’s the only place–as of now, at least–to get the full story.)
Now THAT’S how you deal with MAGA Nazis.
What I’m seeing elseweb is people calling for strikes (what are those supposed to do, and who’s supposed to take time off from work?) and, still, whining about Harris not winning because [fill in reason]. At least some of the Dems in Congress get iot – AOC and Crockett are leaders!
Strikes are usually accompanied with pickets. I am concerned that strikes or mass protests may play into the hands of provocateurs that will create a violent scene and that could be used as an excuse for tff to declare martial law. Once declared it would never be ended. Then I think, that rather than a massive protest, a multitude of very small protests in many places that do not occupy streets could be organized without permits and be much more difficult to interfere with. Strikes might sound heroic but it will hurt working people far more than tff or Elmo. Massive strikes and protests may have been the traditional methods of the past, but there may be a more effective way in the future. I’m not sure.
Protests are most effective when they are peaceful but the government response is violent. Think back to the civil rights movement. News footage of police attacking non-violent protestors created sympathy for the protestors and changed public opinion. Non-violent protest has also worked in other countries (e.g., Gandhi in India). That said, protest is only one of many tools to bring about change and we need to pull out all the stops.
RW media still portrays BLM protests as riots with videos. Same with other protests where provocateurs created violent confrontations.
This is where maga fanatics come in to engage in terrorism. They know they won’t suffer any consequences for violence against demonstrators.
I’ve been waiting for Marcy to write this before offering an opinion. I 100% agree. Protesting against Trump is a total waste of time, in my opinion. Yes, his anti-democracy actions need to be fully exposed, but anti-Trump protests are accomplishing nothing. He doesn’t care. He no longer needs your vote. Hate him all you want; you can’t touch him. Protesting him may provide some visceral relief but that’s it.
Impeachment/removal is also off the table, and not just because of today’s political reality. IANAL, but I believe the Supreme Court has gutted that process. I’ll save my opinion on that for another day.
So, the only salvation is to get rid of the legislators who support and enable Trump. Stop waving that anti-Trump sign on a street corner. Take a new sign to the sidewalk outside your Republican Congressman’s office and let him know you will do everything in your power to vote home out of office. Make your demonstrations count.
The magic number in the House right now is two. The GOP has 218 and the Dems 215, with two vacancies. Flip two Republicans, and things don’t pass.
The magic number in the Senate is four. That’s not a huge number. If constituents make their Senators nervous enough — I’m thinking of Bill Cassidy re RFK Jr. nomination — they will react. If Cassidy votes to confirm RFK Jr on the floor of the senate, he will own every stupid decision RFK makes, he will own every bit of damage RFK does to the public health system, and he will own every single bit of medical research that does not happen.
Tell him that, and his GOP colleague may get the message too.
I wonder whether even if they know they are responsible for the foreseeable disasters, they would uphold their oath of office.
I hope so and have contacted my maga congressman and senator.
But it is likely they are much more worried about the maga they created. We may call and write our leaders and let them know we expect them to follow their oath. But maga lets them know with violent threats to them and their families. Like Pavlov’s dogs, all it takes is one short fingered tweet to set too many people off.
I saw a CNN news clip interview with Lindsey G, and he looked like he was in a hostage video.
Chance for that, if ever, is two years off. It’ll be too late then.
The Susan Collins’ quote is interesting. How many Senators and Members of Congress are hoping the courts step in to curb Trump? Nice way of shirking responsibilities.
I’m convinced Trump put Rubio in the job to humiliate him.
Democrats in Congress could do more. When Republicans refused to have hearings on the no bid, cost plus contracts for the Iraq Occupation, Democrats held hearings anyway and got the press needed. They could and should be pointing out the dangers arising from Musk’s mucking around in government computers. (Will anyone feel safe flying once Musk gets a hold of the FAA computer?). And Democrats should let constituents know who the Chairs of relevant Committees in Congress are and how to reach them.
Looking at Trump’s history, he responds quickly to economic pressure. That might be worth exploring.
“Make the damage visible and accountable to Republicans”. Absolutely. As a support tool for many of the good suggestions Marcy provides, I will reiterate my idea of some group creating a webpage that lists the Actions, Consequences, and Likely Consequences (predictive) of the Trump administration. This would be an easy place for people to go to find these consequences (well documented), an easy way to communicate them, and an easy reference people could point to when talking to Republicans.