Should Democrats Fight Dirty To Win? We Must. Or Democracy Loses

“What we’re not going to do is stand around while they pull this bulls*t that they’re trying to pull right now" - Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett

Any sports fan can tell you that momentum is not something that can be analytically measured. It’s something you feel in the air, like a crisp breeze in an early New England autumn. Or, alternatively, the rancid burn of amoebic dysentery and flop-sweat stew when Donald Trump ambles by.

Politics is much the same way. Democrats seemed shell-shocked after Trump’s historically weak win in November. It was frustrating—I won’t lie—waiting for them to get up off the mat. But up off the mat they now are.

Let’s Go Democratic Party

For years, Republicans have banked on Democrats’ playing nice while they lie so often it’d seem to be a form of flatulence, bulldoze key democratic institutions, assert dangerous conspiracies and rewrite rules, norms, decorum or anything else those disembodied voices in their heads dictate.

But something’s shifted. You can feel it the past few days, as more and more members of what we’ll call Generation Next have bypassed those who still think politics is badminton. The former have done something I’ve wanted to see for so long: They’ve fought as hard to protect democracy, individual rights and a fair economy as morally degraded MAGA Edgelords have to destroy it.

With respect to fighting dirty. When I say “dirty,” no, I don’t mean cruelty or corruption. That’s the GOP’s bag. But fear of taking advantage of loopholes? Of not following “traditions,” “precedent” or “collegiality” tossed aside by top Republicans decades ago, which how has engulfed the entire Republican party? Gimme a break.

And many Democrats seem to get that now. The past few days they’ve used all media—especially social—to create spectacle irresistible as corporate media clickbait. They’ve delivered jeremiads at rallies and messaged the hell out of not just Trump’s failures, but those of an incel-insecure, last-one-picked-at-recess, never-picked-at-high-school-dances, perpetually un-funny, un-cool and un-loved, Elon Musk.

Musk’s Himmler reenactment followed by his committing a daylight bank robbery at the U.S. Treasury seem to have finally done the trick.

Musk forced his way into the U.S. Treasury with a cadre of “creepy” 18-yr-old-incel-Elons-to-be as part of a make believe committee. Wanna know how much power Elon’s committee has? I just named myself the head of the Hair Committee, which gets to dictate a ‘do to all of you. And, yes, my committee is bestowed with the same power and authority under U.S. law as the one run by the emerald miner’s caesar.

But Republicans should learn about cause and effect. Because this has led to the emergence—in a BIG way—of a new generation of Democratic leaders; Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost, Brian Schatz, Dan Goldman, Ted Lieu, AOC, Hakeem Jeffries and Chris Murphy are just some. And If this past week is prologue, they’re there to fight. They’re no longer listening to voices of “caution” and “bipartisanship” while we’re experiencing the attempted GOP Anschluss of America.

Jasmine Crockett Takes on Elon Musk—And Wins the Moment

If you haven’t seen Jasmine Crockett’s latest speech at the Treasury hearing, do yourself a favor and find the clip (we helpfully have a video at the bottom with a live stream discussion of it!). It was a masterclass in how to shred a billionaire fraud in real time.

Meanwhile, Musk, whose love affair with fascism has grown so intense I’m expecting *bow chick a bow wow* music to start playing as he enters a MAGA meeting to “deliver a pizza,” clearly didn’t expect to get called out so publicly and thoroughly, but Crockett didn’t flinch. Her monologue was pointed, factual, and completely obliterated Musk’s fragile tech-god facade.

There were numerous other Democrats also laying into Musk, including Rep. Maxwell Frost, the first member of Generation Z elected to Congress (pictured below), Rep. Ayanna Presley, who called him a “Nazi Nepo Baby,” and Senator Chris Murphy, who we’ll talk more about in a bit. Murphy made clear “we don’t pledge allegiance to the billionaires or the creepy 22-yr olds working for Elon.”

As I’ve said ad nauseam: Messaging Matters.

Brian Schatz and Chris Murphy Hold the Line

Meanwhile, over in the Senate, Brian Schatz is proving he understands something too many Democrats forget: procedural power is real power. He’s been holding up Senate votes, slowing down Republican maneuvering, and making sure that every move Trump’s lackeys try to pull gets met with resistance.

When real President Elon Musk said he and his piss-boy, Trump, would be shutting down USAID—an organization that invests abroad to prevent wars, pandemics and terrorists from ending up in America—Senator Schatz decided if they were going to blatantly break the law by doing this, he would use his power in the Senate and on the Foreign Relations Committee to put a hold on all Trump State Department appointees.

The easy way to explain this is Schatz can’t stop them forever, but what he is doing will make processes that normally take minutes now take days. He’s grinding their greedy and grotesque gears to a halt.

Then there’s the aforementioned Murphy, who has been everywhere, using profanity when required, grace when that accomplishes more, but fighting on all fronts. He’s been one of the most effective fighters against Trump since that horrid day he took power that we won’t speak of.

Now Murphy is stopping all nominees, in fact all business in the Senate. He had this to say:

“We should not be moving forward nominees or legislation in the United States. Senate Democrats should not be giving votes to nominees or to legislation until Republicans get serious about this crisis. Democrats should not help Republicans raise the debt ceiling in order to pass their massive tax cut for billionaires and millionaires.”

Bottom line? Many Democrats now get it. Yes, much more must be done. Yes, Democrats still adhering to an old, bygone order need to change or move out of the way. And, yes, we’re still up against a fascist force supported by a corporate, clickbait media, a gerrymandered judiciary and a right-wing-propaganda machine the likes of which the world’s never seen.

But this country has been through some pretty bad times before. Civil and World Wars. Terrorist attacks. Natural disasters. It’s now our turn to step up and be the heroes.

And if this is the fight we see from Democrats going forward, there are a lot of reasons to have hope. And as Andy Dufresne writes to his friend Red, in Shawshank Redemption, “remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies."

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• My Live Stream Yesterday! We discussed Crockett, Democrats’ new fighting spirit, hope, and, yes, a troll even showed up! So I had the catharsis of…not being nice to him for roughly 30 mins…WATCH!

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