President Donald Trump is rapidly degrading the United States of America into a fascist hellscape. The nominal opposition leaders are nowhere to be found.
As a socialist, I’ve never been overly fond of the Democratic Party, but I’m shocked by how little fight its most prominent members have in them at this crucial historical juncture.
On January 20, Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer posted the following boilerplate nonsense on social media: “It is time to look to the future. The challenges that face America are many and great. The Senate must respond with resolve, bipartisanship, and fidelity to the working and middle class of this country.”
Bipartisanship! Is Schumer out of his mind? That very same day, Republican oligarch Elon Musk repeatedly gave a Nazi salute at a Trump inauguration rally. I’d be more open to the idea this was some kind of awkward faux pas if the richest man on Earth wasn’t simultaneously supporting fascist parties throughout the world.
There can be no bipartisanship with people like this. There can be no bipartisanship with people looking to dismantle what remains of the New Deal or Civil Rights legislation. There can be no bipartisanship with people seeking to force women out of public life and gay people back into the closet. Schumer should resign.
I assumed personal ambition would motivate some Democrats to distinguish themselves in their opposition to fascism, if only to make a name for themselves in advance of the 2028 presidential primary. With a few exceptions, however, that hasn’t been the case. Appeasement seems to be the preferred strategy throughout the party.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one such exception. It should come as little surprise then that Democrats voted for a 74-year-old cancer patient, Representative Gerry Connolly, to serve as the party’s top member on the House Oversight Committee, instead of the 35-year-old rising star with a national profile.
The existing Democratic organization needs to be replaced root and branch. I’d like it to move significantly leftward. I’d like it to champion the development of cellular agriculture, which I view as the most promising means of advancing animal welfare. But, at the very least, the party needs to be one interested in confronting fascism.
The truth is there can be no progress on any of our political priorities under a right-wing authoritarian state. Democratic officials who aren’t willing to fight the Republican administration like the country depends on their winning — because it does — should step aside for leaders who will. We need wartime consiglieres.
God willing, there will be a free-and-fair presidential election in 2028. How prospective Democratic candidates behave now — in this moment of peril — will be front of mind for me as a primary voter. I’d rather eat my shoe than vote for a mealy-mouthed Democrat who was silent in the face of Trumpian terror or made peace with it.
I’m sick of feeling helpless. Part of this is unavoidable in the current circumstances. Republicans control the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. But a significant part comes from being left adrift by Democratic leaders, who won’t use what little power voters have given them, for fear of violating long-forgotten norms.
Jon Hochschartner
Granby, Connecticut