“A Lot of Us in This Caucus Want To Fu**ing Fight,”

 

Dems are sleepwalking into fascism while pretending bipartisanship is still real.

--Sen. Cory Booker (paraphrase by Brian Allen)

Booker was yelling at two shocked fellow Democratic senators yesterday for being "complicit" in Trump's never-ending power grabs. "The Democratic Party needs a wake-up call." Preach it, Bro.

Booker was blocking the passage of several bipartisan bills that would fund police programs (including mental health resources for police officers), and in the process he was laying bare the dilemma for out-of-power Democrats in the Age of Trump: Should they cooperate with Republicans where they can, or do they fight everything (including stuff like money for mental health monitoring for traumatized cops). Should they actually shut down government by refusing to participate in "deals"? Fueling Booker's anger, Trump has been “weaponizing” public safety grants by canceling them in many Democratic-leaning states like New Jersey. 

Nevada Dem Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto was trying to pass seven bills by unanimous consent. Booker objected to five, which would have directed resources to law enforcement agencies. “Why would we do something today that’s playing into the president’s politics and is going to hurt the officers in states like mine?” Booker asked, not yet yelling. 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar came to the defense of Sen. Masto in a pursed-lip tsking of Booker's failure to raise objections when these bills were being marked up in committee. According to AP's Mary Clare Jalonick, that's when the yelling started. “The Democratic party needs a wake up call!” Booker shouted, walking away from his desk and out into the aisle. “I see law firms bending the knee to this president, not caring about the larger principles,” he said, along with “universities that should be bastions of free speech.” (You can watch the rest of his timely tirade here.) “This is the problem with Democrats in America right now,” Booker bellowed. “Is we’re willing to be complicit with Donald Trump!”

The arguments point to the tensions below the surface of the Democratic caucus as they head into important moments — both this week, as Republicans push to quickly confirm dozens of Trump administration nominees before the August recess, and this fall when Congress will have to pass bipartisan spending bills to avoid a government shutdown.

Democratic Complicity? Check Out the Veto Overrides in Raleigh

I find myself focused on what Booker was saying about "complicity" and the weakness of just going along shortly after reading "Anderson Alerts" about the few House Democrats in Raleigh who helped Republicans override eight of Gov. Stein's dozen vetoes yesterday. Booker's point applies: When the side in power takes over the mechanisms of control, including the courts and the administration of elections, and often aim their spite at minorities, then the side out of power has to decide whether they will be complicit in that whole project destroying democracy in the state of North Carolina. That's the larger principle Booker refers to, and it is, as the kids say these days, existential.