Retribution against Trump's enablers is the only way to fix this mess

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested this week that the Republicans are a bunch of crybabies who hate it when the Democrats fight back. When asked about the GOP’s reaction to a successful gerrymandering effort in Virginia, which threaten to give the Democrats an edge in the coming midterm elections, the New York congresswoman responded:

“Wah wah wah.”

She continued:

“Democrats have … asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering, and for 10 years, Republicans have said no. … These are the rules that they have set. … They have been accustomed to a Democratic Party that rolls over, doesn’t fight and takes everything sitting down. What they’re mad at is that we are here in a new day.

“We have been asking the Democratic Party to stand up and fight, and now they have, the Republican Party doesn’t like [it]. If Republicans decide they would like to revisit a ban on partisan gerrymandering, I welcome them. We have the bill right here. We can end this all today. But they don’t want to, because they like continuing to enact an unfair electoral landscape. We have an obligation to defend ourselves.”

The decade has been educational. By the time of Donald Trump’s second inauguration, I think most members of the Democratic Party learned that there are no punishments for treachery. A criminal can mount an insurrection and still be president. Democrats learned that the inherent goodness of the American people is greatly exaggerated.

But what about the other side of that? As there are no punishments for vice, there are also no rewards for virtue. I’m not sure Democrats have learned that. Many are still holding on to the terms of the old deal. Some, like Ocasio-Cortez, seem to get it, though. They understand that they, and only they, can prevent the country from completely tipping into tyranny. The Democrats can’t stand above politics and expect the American people’s blessing. They must fight Donald Trump’s crimes against democracy. They must be his consequences.

Only then can there be a new deal.

For more, I bring you this second part of my interview with someone who goes by “The Angry Black Woman.” In the first part of our conversation, we focused on hope and the challenge of holding on to it. In today’s post, we focus on the Democrats and whether they have the guts to pursue retribution in the name of freedom and democracy.

“I want the US to do what Germany did after World War II. If you were part of the Nazi party, SS, or an enabler, you were banned from running for, or holding, public office. There should not be a single Republican that has supported what has been happening for the past 10 years that should be allowed to prosper in any way. No television panels, no talk shows, no podcasts, no books. They should be shunned from society, because they are complicit in everything that has happened. Part of the ‘new New Deal’ should include these things.”

What have the Democrats learned since last year and have they learned the right lesson? Chuck Schumer seems to have learned how to fight. Others have endorsed a Senate candidate with a Nazi tattoo?

Not a damn thing.

They haven’t learned that “traditional” politics no longer exists. You have to meet the moment. The current leadership is not up to the task.

Schumer learned how to fight on the issue of ICE funding? That was an easy battle to win. People have seen what ICE has been doing so the public sentiment was there for the Democrats to hold the line.

But I don’t think it was just them holding the line. Brian Baez (@MentallyDivine on TikTok) laid out that the Republicans voted with the Democrats because they were being personally affected (eg, Delta taking away their special status). It was impacting them and they didn’t want the public to know. I don’t know if that is what made them vote the funding bill through, but it is on-brand for the Republicans.

That said, I agree with what you wrote:

“But if there’s newfound strength in the Democrats, it’s because there’s newfound weakness in the Republicans, especially the president.”

The fact that the GOP is so incompetent at governing, coupled with having a maniacal man-child as their dear leader, made it easier for the Democrats to hold the line. Either way, it was a low bar and we shouldn’t be giving cookies for doing the bare minimum.

So only time will tell if they are truly up for the task.

We have to look at the totality of how the Democrats move. Praising them for holding the line while people are being murdered is one thing. Supporting a man [Graham Platner] who bears a Nazi symbol on his chest is a whole other issue. It’s emblematic of the party as a whole.

When I read your article on Platner, I started screaming! I had to read it a few times – still screaming! – before I could think about the implications. I posed a hypothetical to my husband: “I am thinking about getting a tattoo on my chest and I chose a design. It’s a Totenkopf. He looked at me like I was crazy and said: “Waffen SS is illegal here.”

For those that don’t know, my husband is German. I live in the country that Americans like to sensationalize the violence that happened here. These symbols and the distortion of history anger me to my core.

For Platner to dismiss this tattoo by claiming “half my family is Jewish” is akin to saying I have a Black friend so I can’t possibly be racist.

It’s also incredibly insulting and frustrating that anyone in the Democratic Party, progressive or not, would support this person.

And if Platner is not racist, then he is incredibly stupid for putting such a specific – and permanent – design on his body without knowing what it means, especially to half of his family.

But, as we have seen, stupidity is not a deal breaker.

This is not the first time a “progressive” has run into problems. Look at [Pennsylvania Senator] John Fetterman. He had a history of hunting down a Black man with a gun, but Democratic voters stood behind him because he was a progressive who should be part of the big tent.

See how that turned out.

Graham Platner refusing to apologize, and people wanting to forgive him, shows how white people ruin things. The Democratic Party, even if a small number, opening its arms to accept him shows how broken the party is. When people show you who they are, believe them.

There is a large effort online to reshape the Democratic Party so that it’s more welcoming (not my word) to “the working class.” This effort mostly comes from what I call the pod bros. I think they are trying to discredit the influence of Black people in order to take over the party. I’m making this sound simpler than it is. What’s your view?

Listen, the pod bros are the epitome of fragility. A number of these chads and kens have a platform because of a Black man providing for them the opportunity. They are feckless and the type of progressivism that MLK warned us about. They want to be the center of the universe and will burn the world down to get it. I don’t see them as different from the maga crowd – except for wanting universal healthcare.

The white working class will never be a part of the Democratic Party. These pod bros and corporate interests will never let that happen. That is why they consistently refuse to address the demands of Black voters. That is why they do everything they can to divide us.

Interestingly enough, they want to discredit Black voters but will be the first to blame us when they lose. They are saying that we should be glad they let us in the room, but how dare we want a seat at the table.

Last April, I told you that if we needed to depend on white people to save us, we were f-----. I was right (I am going to keep saying that). Not only with the presidential election but look at what just happened in Texas with Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. Numbers don’t lie.

Texan voters showed up for a primary between a Black woman and a white man. They chose the white man. Now he is working to reach that white working-class voters but will he? He touts the bible, is a nice white man with little experience whose arrogance wouldn’t let him do what was right for Texas. That is who the mostly white, Latino, and Asian voters chose to run against horrible Republican choices. [James Talarico] doesn’t have the temperament to go against Paxton or Cornyn but maybe those elusive voters will show up. I don’t know.

During the suffrage movement, Black women led the charge in helping all women gain the right to vote. When white women gained that right, Black women were still denied access. White women told them it wasn’t their time and to sit down. We had to keep fighting on our own.

When 21-year-old activist Fred Hampton was working to unite the groups, he had poor Black, white, Latin and Asian people who were paying attention. He was uniting these groups to show that our problems weren’t with each other, but with those who had the money and power. The response was for the FBI murdering him in 1969.

From resistance to the New Deal to withholding GI benefits to Black veterans, from denying healthcare to Black people (Dying of Whiteness is a book everyone should read) to the erasure of Black history and the minimization of chattel slavery as the foundation of the United States – whenever elusive white working-class voters have had a chance to stand up and say enough, they have always chosen their whiteness.

The pod bros are just repeating the same history.

They will use Black people, use their knowledge, abilities, know-how, and community-building skills to propel themselves, but when we look for them to stand behind us, they are nowhere to be found.

They tell us we don’t matter or that we are playing “identity politics” or that what’s good for them is good for everyone. DEI and affirmative action were controversial only because we were able to be a part of the system and excel. That is why they sought to destroy them. White women were the major benefactors of both of those initiatives, however, so their absence is going to be eye-opening for them.

White women actively participated in their own demise just as they have always done. When the wind shifts, as it will, they will come to us again for that solidarity shtick – and we will have another choice to make. That is how they use us and then expect us to be grateful.

So they can downplay our contributions all they want. But if we, collectively, decided to sit it out, those elusive voters won’t show up. And then the Democrats will come back to us with hat in hand.

In the end, all of this is pointless if fascism completes its takeover. We had a good run, but I believe the time of American exceptionalism is gone. The only question now is going to be how to remake the US.

It won’t be in the image of the pod bros, I can tell you that.

I think the Democrats can restore public faith in themselves and in American democracy if they pursue accountability to the greatest extent possible. We need a new New Deal, but we also need to see some serious consequences. What are your thoughts?

I feel like you always set me up for a major rant!

Seriously, though, I believe that Democrats can restore faith. The question is how long will it take and what will we have to go through? I don’t know if they are built for “accountability to the greatest extent.”

We shouldn’t even be having this conversation. January 6th should have been the absolute deal breaker. I have so much anger. Everybody involved, and I mean everybody, should be under the jail right now.

But the party failed us in doing that. Joe Biden, for all the good he did, was too much of an institutionalist when we needed him to be something else. Hell, he could have done both but his focus was on that elusive white working-class voter. Look how that turned out.

The Democrats keep wanting to “play by the rules” when the rule book has been burned. We no longer have the “norms” that we had before. The world order is a whole new animal and we are far behind. The Democrats have not shown they are willing to fight the way Republicans do. They keep showing up with flowers to a gunfight.

For me, accountability looks like this:

I would not start with impeaching Trump. Save the best for last. Get rid of all of his enablers first. Once they are gone, he has no one left to shield him. This means getting rid of Thomas and Alito for taking money from the billionaires to rule in their favor. Then get Judge Aileen Cannon out. Not just impeached but she should lose her license to practice law. The full Jack Smith report should be released.

I know they are fighting this now, but Cannon was put in place to do what she did and it led us to be where we are now. All of the Epstein files need to be released and everybody implicated needs to be held accountable. Republican, Democrat. Just put them under the jail.

Musk and Thiel need to be investigated, fined, jailed, and/or deported. Or both. Then go after that whole crime family. Start with Jared and work your way through. Seize their money, assets, every damn thing they have stolen. Then impeach (for a third time) and convict Trump. Put him in jail – for war crimes, treason, just being a horrible, vindictive man-child who has created so much destruction.

However, I know that I will never see any of that from the Democrats. There may be hearings and information will come out, but it will just fade away like all the rest, and real accountability will never happen.

Some folks may go to jail and we will never see justice. Democrats have too many purity tests and rules that stop them from being great.

I am pragmatic. I don’t need perfection, I need results.

Kamala Harris recently gave an interview where she said make your vote transactional and I agree. “Vote blue no matter who” doesn’t fly anymore, because we see that it does not work.

So I want to see a party that will put safeguards in place so that we never have to face this crisis again. I want to see term limits for the Congress and the courts. I want to see the John Lewis Voting Rights bill enacted and, in a perfect world, getting rid of the Electoral College. Make the rich pay taxes and put laws in place that put humanity above capitalism. Create pathways for universal child care, laws that constrain healthcare costs, and get religion out of our schools.

Most importantly, I want to see my rights, as a Black woman, to stop being up for debate. DEI, CRT, whatever you want to call it – I am a human being and I should have the same rights, freedoms, access, privileges and opportunities that a white person has. Periodt.

We should have dealt with America’s original sin after the Civil War. The fact that we didn’t is why we are at this point. In all honesty, if you are running for office and you cannot focus on this issue as being critical, you get nothing from me. Not my time, money, or my vote.

Lastly, I want the US to do what Germany did after World War II. If you were part of the Nazi party, SS, or an enabler, you were banned from running for, or holding, public office. There should not be a single Republican that has supported what has been happening for the past 10 years that should be allowed to prosper in any way. No television panels, no talk shows, no podcasts, no books. They should be shunned from society, because they are complicit in everything that has happened. Part of the “new New Deal” should include these things.

The bottom line is that we have an opportunity to create the country that we have always claimed to be. One that is fair, just and equal. One that has laws that apply to everyone, regardless of income or color of skin. The question is whether the Democratic Party has the courage.

I don’t know, but I guess we are going to find out.

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