Once the “initial euphoria” wears off in the increasingly likely scenario that the midterms wipe away President Donald Trump’s GOP in a blue wave, Democrats will have to tackle a “long and extremely urgent to-do list” lest the country “suffer deeply,” one top political scholar warned for The New Republic.
Norman Ornstein is a veteran political scientist and scholar, best known for co-authoring the prescient book, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks, about the growing partisan divide threatening the U.S. and jamming up Congress. On Sunday, he published his latest piece for The New Republic, warning that the “initial euphoria from everybody hoping to put a halt to the nihilism and march toward corrupt autocracy driven by the destructive narcissist Donald Trump and his minions” will quickly subside after the midterms, before the newly empowered Democratic Party is faced with a key question: “What do we do now?”
Ornstein proceeded to lay out at least “three big challenges” the party will need to tackle if and when it retakes the majority in the House, and possibly the Senate as well.
“First, a lot of those who voted for Democrats are expecting action to improve their economic conditions,” Ornstein explained. “Run on affordability, you better improve affordability. Second, and related, with Democrats holding a sizable piece of power in Washington, the failures of policy driven by the reckless Trump and his administration could be blamed on them—and it is a sure thing that hundreds of millions will be spent by Trump allies to try to pin the problems on the Democrats. Americans already think Washington isn’t working; if it looks like Democrats are a part of the problem and not of the solution, that could have brutal consequences in 2028.”
He continued: “Third, it is clear that the Democratic Party base wants toughness and serious pushback against the corruption, misconduct, and mayhem that are the core of Trump’s presidency. Witness the negative reaction to the private meeting between House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, looking for areas of possible common ground after January 3. Rank-and-file Democrats want pushback, not compromise. Of course, compromise will be necessary to meet the first challenge of improving people’s economic circumstances. But if it is not led by Democrats using every tool at their disposal to name names, kick ass, and stop further destruction, there will be hell to pay with the base.”
As for the immense task of actually addressing these issues, Ornstein further outlined six key tools that House Democrats should have at their disposal: lawmaking, the power of the purse, oversight investigations, the bully pulpit, advice/consent in the Senate and impeachment. In order to better enact laws without pushback from Republicans, he advised them to “consider reforming the Senate’s Rule XXII, not by eliminating the filibuster but by putting the onus on the minority by flipping the numbers—41 required to continue debate, not 60 required to end it.” As for reclaiming the power of the purse, he urged Democrats to use Republicans’ favored tool of reconciliation, “which requires only a majority in the Senate,” and would allow them to “pass and send to Trump tough spending measures to right the balance toward decency and the rule of law”
“Third is investigations and oversight: to dig into wrongdoing, corruption, lawbreaking, and malfeasance inside and out of government, along with the failure to see that the laws are faithfully executed,” Ornstein detailed further. “Fourth, and related, is the bully pulpit: the ability to use debate on the floor and in committees, and the megaphone provided by the legitimacy of Congress, to report to the public what you are doing and to shed light on failures or gaps in norms, laws, and policy. Fifth is advice and consent in the Senate: the power to examine the qualifications and character of presidential nominees for federal courts and executive positions, and to reject those unworthy of confirmation. Sixth is impeachment: the power in the House to hold miscreants to account and recommend their removal to the Senate.”