“Remember in November!” was the patriots’ response to the Trump/Project 2025 regime’s atrocities.
While I hoped enough Americans would do that, I worried that a blue wave was just wishful thinking. So the deep-blue tsunami that swept both our state and our country blew me away.
As with other momentous events, this one leaves me a bit discombobulated.
For one thing, the winds of change missed our red area. Despite a hard-fought campaign by Democrat Rachel Wallace, we are stuck with ultra-MAGA Congressman Dan Meuser for two more years.
I wish more people had watched him more closely. Consider, for example, how he brushed off the deaths, the injuries, the destruction of our military bases, our depleted weapons supply, and a cost of at least $47 billion from the Iran War.
“These things happen,” he told reporters after admitting the war wasn’t the cakewalk that the regime expected. “It’s a very tough situation. They’re trying to figure it out.”
On a brighter note, he and Donald Trump’s other puppets in Washington and Harrisburg will be at the back of their chambers now that common sense and a desire for the common good prevailed over craziness and corruption.
That certainly calls for a celebration, but it’s hard to relax. With the emergence of MAGA, worrying has become a habit for small-d democrats, and Trump just gave us more reasons for it by appointing sadist extraordinaire Stephen Miller as his new chief of staff.
And despite the drubbing Trump took, he’s still treating the District of Columbia as some kind of architectural model for the personal fiefdom he wants our country and maybe even our hemisphere to become.
Declaring his gaudy Oval Office a national monument was met with eyerolls, but the Pentagon’s plan to send more military equipment to the National Guard troops patrolling our nation’s capital is downright concerning.
So is what awaits the Democratic Congress.
Everyone has their own idea of what it should do, and some in our base are already trying to block Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries from heading their respective chambers.
Regardless of who ends up in charge, I hope the process will be quick and orderly rather than a repeat of the GOP’s endless series of failed votes for House speaker in 2023. I thought it was hilarious then, and I’m sure the GOP would welcome a reason to smirk from the sidelines.
It’s also important to remember that with the powers the president has, Congress can only do so much.
I like the game plan that economist and political expert Paul Krugman suggests:
- Investigate the White House grift, which was one of the top reasons for the Democrats’ ascent.
- Aim high even if the bills stand no chance of passing so voters know the party stands for positive change. But also propose more modest alternatives that might withstand a Trump veto. (For example, Krugman says, shoot for Medicare for all but also present a buy-in option for under-65-year-olds. And definitely restore the health care cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill for billionaires.)
- Go ahead and force Trump to use his veto so more Americans realize he’s the reason we’re suffering under policies that benefit only him, his oligarchs, and political accomplices.
Hopefully, the Democrats will use this opportunity to fight for what the voters wanted: affordability, peace, and curbs on the White House and its corporate cronies, especially the Silicon Valley bros who are trying to inflict artificial “intelligence” and data centers on us.
But my biggest wish is that the new Congress will repair our democracy and somehow protect it against the Christian nationalists, the white supremacists, the oligarchs, and whatever aspiring autocrat appears next.
The biggest obstacle to setting up those guardrails is the number of people with short memories when it comes to politics and government.
In this century, the GOP crashed the economy, started needless wars, showered tax cuts on the super-wealthy, and ran up the national debt while bestowing the 99% with crumbs at best.
Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden were left with the consequences of their immediate predecessors’ actions, and both made headway in cleaning up those messes. But the GOP bashed them for not fixing things as quickly as it had broken them, and too many voters listened.
I’m no political strategist, so I have no idea how to break that cycle. But we all must keep memories of the Trump/Project 2025’s toxic agenda green, from its costly vanity projects to the war it started on a whim to its attempts to suppress free speech and to rig this midterm election.
For while Trump and his clown car failed, they came dangerously close to establishing a government of themselves, by themselves and for themselves only.
Image: Canva
Canary note: Opinions expressed in any Op-Ed column appearing on this site are the views of the writer and are not necessarily the opinions of Coal Region Canary.
Want to be a columnist with Coal Region Canary? Contact us at newscanary@gmail.com.
Subscribe to Coal Region Canary
Get email updates from Coal Region Canary by becoming a subscriber today. Just enter your email address below to get started!Support Coal Region Canary
Like our reporting and want to support truly local news in Schuylkill County? Your small donations help. For as little as $5, your contribution will allow us to cover more news that directly affects you. Consider donating today by hitting the big yellow button below ...