The Machiavellian Case for Hakeem & Chuck.

After a great deal of pushback on my lukewarm take regarding the leadership of the Democratic Party, I felt it necessary to clarify my position. The Democratic wave was super exciting. There are more progressives—true ones—than ever before about to be seated in Congress, which will make the Progressive Caucus a force in 2027.

Allow me to state in a clear and unwavering voice: The current leadership in no way, shape or form represents the blue tide nor is it capable of learning how to swim along with it.

Understanding this obviously makes my suggestion to keep Jeffries and Schumer in place more than a little tone-deaf, if not downright irresponsible. To be clear, if they’re replaced, I’m for it. My point is that if they manage to hold onto leadership, it’s something we can use.

In much the same way that the country needed to see what life would be like under the full authoritarian rule of Donald Trump, watching the remnants of the establishment flail under the spotlight can also be illuminating. (Trump 1.0 was just an appetizer, and COVID scrambled our brains.) Unlike prior Democratic waves, this one is decidedly progressive, and the incoming class is going to be noisy. The Squad was noisy on the campaign trail as well. Then they were kind of loud when they first took office. After a couple of years both in power and in the minority, their voices were muffled and muted.

You might recall that the last time Democrats enjoyed the majority and controlled the White House, the army of nonelected official progressives called for the Squad to “Force the Vote” on Medicare for All. As the country recovered from COVID, the Democrats were looking to do big things with their “mandate,” so big spending items hit the agenda along with serious policy measures like student debt relief, significant portions of the Green New Deal and enlarged subsidies for health coverage.

Heading into the fight, progressives knew that anything that wasn’t locked down and legislated would be on the chopping block the minute they lost power. (Little did they know just how big Russell Vought’s block and axe were.) Behind the scenes there was trouble brewing with corrupt Democrats like Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin. And of course, the establishment Dems were already inclined to water down progressive measures. The hero turned out to be Joe Biden, who kept more of his promises at first than anyone expected. At first.

But then the machine did what the machine always does, and one by one the progressive features of the proposed bills were watered down so much they drowned. Schumer and Jeffries made promises behind the scenes to the Squad. Trust us, they said. Next time, for sure. We just have to pass this spending bill. And the next one. Then it will be your turn. (Wink.)

Next time never came because Biden’s mandate ran out of juice. Student debt relief was blocked by the courts, never to be revisited. Obamacare subsidies were extended, but not permanently. Direct child subsidy payments were turned back into tax deductions, thereby eradicating the one feature that lifted millions of children out of statistical poverty. And the Medicare for All vote was never taken up. Next time.

The point of Force the Vote wasn’t to pass Medicare for All. It was to put the establishment on notice so that everyone opposed to it had to record their opposition on record. Here we are again, only one step further down the ladder.

My point about leadership is that if Hakeem and Chuck remain in place, then we now have the progressive voices in Congress to force the consideration. If neither man advances Medicare for All or the slew of progressive policies that ushered in this wave, then it sets us up for yet another wave come 2028 to completely turn the tide. I’ve said all along that the progressive project isn’t aimed at Republicans. It’s aimed at conservative Democrats. It’s a force within a force.

This is where I asked Unf*ckers to think like the GOP. Here’s what we can expect for the next two years: chaos and intransigence. To believe that the Democrats just won control of anything is delusional. Russell Vought’s crowning achievement in these first two years of Trump 2.0 is to essentially codify the unitary executive theory. We’re one step short of a monarchy.

• Congress holds the purse strings, right? Then how was the executive able to claw back appropriations under the theory of impoundment? Because it did. And the courts allowed it.
  
  
• Only Congress can grant war powers to the president to prosecute a foreign war, right? Then how the fuck did we start a war with Iran? Or any other war since World War II, the last time such powers were granted? Because he did, as did every other president since Eisenhower.
  
  
• Congress has the power to make laws though, right? So they can pass legislation that stops Trump from doing further damage, right? If you believe this, then you really haven’t been paying attention. Nothing is going to pass to curb his authority, and his Justice Department isn’t going to prosecute anyone Congress holds in contempt. You’ve been following the Epstein affair, yes?

This is still Trump’s America because he learned that our institutions aren’t as powerful as we once thought. He hasn’t completely dismantled democracy or the rule of law at the state level, but it’s not for lack of trying. If anything, he just ran out of time. That project will have to wait until the next GOP go-around. If ever there was a patient cabal, it’s the powers that be behind GOP strategy.

Again, I’m not saying Hakeem and Chuck shouldn’t be replaced. I’m saying that no matter who warms the leadership seats, the next two years remain unchanged in terms of outcomes. What changes is the optics.

Scenario One: Hakeem and Chuck are replaced with more progressive choices. Let’s assume Chris Van Hollen in the Senate and Ro Khanna in the House for argument’s sake. They take the gavels and introduce a slew of progressive measures that are all vetoed. Without supermajorities, none of them are passed under reconsideration. A defiant Trump continues to drive the country into the ground, and the same issues that ushered progressives into the House and Senate deteriorate.

Scenario Two: Hakeem and Chuck remain in place. They refuse to advance truly progressive legislation to their respective floors. The half measures put forward by the establishment Democrats are vetoed by Trump. A defiant Trump continues to drive the country into the ground, and the same issues that ushered progressives into the House and Senate deteriorate.

Under the first scenario the establishment Dems campaign on the need for centrism using the failed progressive leadership as the example that nothing can get done. Likewise, the GOP uses the chaos and deterioration of the country in 2027 and 2028 to claim two things: 1) Trump’s war in Iran was really the problem, and he’s gone now, so [insert milquetoast figure like Vance/Rubio here] is the right choice to lead us; and 2) Thank god a Republican president was there to protect you from the woke communist laws these nutty socialist leaders tried to shove down your throats.

Under the second scenario, the progressive wing exposes the establishment and makes the case for a clean sweep of progressivism in 2028. The evil geniuses in the billionaire-funded conservative think tanks got this figured out. Why can’t we? If we don’t play the Machiavellian long game for once, then we’re going to wind up with a heaping spoonful of centrist bullshit again in 2028. This was a blue wave, not a progressive tsunami. Once you see the next two years of utter chaos clearly, the strategy comes into focus.

If you’re still not convinced, then answer one simple question…

What’s the Democratic plan?

If you can’t answer that as succinctly as MAGA was able to answer this in 2016 and again in 2024, then you have your answer. There is none. Which means we’re not done building the movement. Democrats think they’ve won. In reality we’re just getting started.

Image Source

• Daniel Torok/The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Changes were made.