Democratic leaders need to draw the line

If we continue as normal, Trump will have made a thousand decisions before we make a single one.

Photo by Darren Halstead on Unsplash

As we speak, Elon Musk and his pet president are attempting to dismantle the government of the United States and sell it for scrap. If they succeed, Americans will suffer, and our enemies will rejoice. Our constitutional system, which gives Congress the power to decide what the government will spend, will be fatally undermined.

Musk and others in his circle are doing this because they seem to genuinely believe in their radical anti-government ideology. But for Donald Trump personally, this is a contest between strength and weakness. He is asserting power that no president has had before and is daring us to stop him. It’s both political and psychological warfare — an attempt to impress voters with his audacity and speed, and to make his opposition look and feel helpless and demoralized.

It’s essential, therefore, that Democrats respond with actions that also project strength and that stand a chance of forcing Musk and Trump to back down.

So, let’s review the options Democrats currently have.

The first option is to engage in futile gestures to create the appearance they are fighting back but that actually make them look weak. This includes members of Congress standing outside government buildings and complaining when they’re not allowed in, or bragging about bills they’ve introduced to rein in Trump that will go nowhere in a Republican Congress. Democrats — please stop doing these dumb things.

The second option is to step up public messaging, to explain to the American people with vivid personal stories what will happen if Musk and Trump eliminate grants to charities that serve communities across our country, gut cancer research and food safety enforcement, stop hurricane and flood protection projects, purge federal law enforcement, and so on. This is essential. But telling people that the house is on fire raises the question of how Democrats are going to put the fire out.

The third option is to go to court. This is already working. And I’m confident that the federal judiciary will, for the most part, uphold the law going forward. But there are pitfalls in relying too much on judicial relief. First, the Trump administration has already begun to lay the messaging groundwork for defying court orders. And when cases involving the relative powers of the president and Congress reach the Supreme Court, I can see some of the justices saying to Congress: “You have the power of the purse. If the executive branch is defying your will, use your power; don’t ask us to resolve your dispute for you.”

This is the Democrats’ fourth option: Use the real leverage they have in the House of Representatives, where Republicans will need Democratic votes to pass anything important, to compel Musk and Trump to obey the law. The moment of truth will come on March 14, when Trump will need Congress to pass a budget that keeps open the parts of the government he still likes and to raise the debt ceiling.

Some congressional Democrats, such as Patty Murray, the lead Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, have signaled that they intend to use this leverage. But we haven’t heard anything definitive from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer or House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

I get why this is a tough issue. I was a moderate Democrat in the House of Representatives who thought government shutdowns were stupid. I’m also well aware of my party's tendency to engage in endless discussions about every decision, reading every opinion poll, and weighing every possible pro and con before acting. But if we continue as normal, Trump will have made a thousand decisions before we make a single one.

If I were still in the House and considering a March 14 deadline for funding the government, here is what I would say to the Republicans — and I’d start saying this now:

“If you don’t want a government shutdown, be my guest. You have a majority in the Senate and House. You have the power, alone, to send the president a budget that reflects your priorities.”

“But if you can’t keep the government open because of your own embarrassing internal differences, and you ask me to help, I’m going to need a guarantee that the president will respect the budget — even if it's a Republican budget — that Congress passes.”

“This means that if we give Trump $100 for Meals for Wheels, or to run a community health center or to feed hungry kids around the world, he will spend that money exactly as Congress directs. Period, end of story.”

“It means Elon Musk and his gang taking over government agencies are done — Musk can no longer cut anything Congress funds or fire anyone needed to carry out our instructions. And anyone unlawfully fired, whether FBI agents or USAID officers, is reinstated.”

This shouldn’t be complicated. It’s not about defending Democratic spending priorities. It’s about preserving the most basic power Congress has under the Constitution: to make the laws and to decide how the government should spend our money. What’s the point of being in Congress if you’re not willing to defend the reason Congress exists, if you let a president treat the laws you pass like toilet paper?

Again, the purpose of Musk’s and Trump’s “flood the zone” strategy is to show that they can do whatever they want and that Democrats and Congress are too pathetic to stop them. From a political standpoint, it would be foolish for Democrats to prove Trump and Musk right, to say nothing of the harm acquiescence would do the country. And if we allow them to consolidate unlawful power now, what the hell are we going to do for the next four years?

Americans appreciate leaders who stand up for what they believe and who act instead of complain. Democratic leaders should make clear now, calmly and firmly, where they will draw the line. That will inspire everyone else in the country who is fighting back or who simply needs hope. And it will help us win the contest of strength against weakness in the long run.

Tom Malinowski is a former member of Congress from New Jersey who was assistant an secretary of state in the Obama administration.

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