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Wield a Sword Against the MAGAs, But Also Extend an Olive Branch to Potential Coalition Partners [1]

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Date: 2023-01-15

Several days ago, I published here a piece — “What Might a Person of Integrity Have Done in McCarthy’s Position?” — in which I argued that a decent person would have reached across to Democrats, looking for a better way to get a majority than allowing himself to be extorted by the worst of the Republican Party.

In that piece, I said that I felt confident that the Democrats would have been willing to negotiate. (They’d negotiate, whether it was the would-be Speaker himself that approached them or a group of Republicans unhappy with where their would-be Speaker was taking them.)

In addition to appearing here on Daily Kos, it appeared this weekend as an op/ed in the Northern Virginia Daily (whose area of coverage is an area of Virginia that’s about 70% Republican). A commenter on the online version of the newspaper took somewhat contemptuous exception to my declaration that the Democrats would have negotiated with Republicans who approached them.

“You don't seriously believe this do you?” he challenged me, describing as “laughable” my suggestion that the Democrats would have been willing to negotiate.

To which I responded, on the online site,

What is it that's not plausible to you about that guess about mine, regarding the Democrats' willingness to negotiate? First, the record is clear that the Democrats are continually hankering after bipartisanship. (They were ready to make a deal with Trump about infrastructure and about immigration-- but Trump was never interested. Biden spent the first two years reaching out for Republicans to deal with, but except for a few instances they chose obstructionism.) Beyond the record, there's also the pure political motivation. Without some alliance between Democrats and some less-MAGA Republicans, Biden's legislative agenda is a complete non-starter for the next two years. Without an alliance of that sort, the Democrats' life in the House for the next two years will be one of complete impotence and irrelevance. So why WOULDN'T they negotiate. Plus, without such negotiation, the MAGA-controlled House is set up to push the United States into default when the debt ceiling issue arises later this year. Any American patriot would feel compelled to try to prevent that. And besides, the Democrats would have to figure that even if the Republicans were the cause of the economic disaster, the American voters are likely to blame the party that has the Presidency (and the Republicans have previously been successful at wreaking havoc and then convincing voters to blame the President who presided over the failures). So why wouldn't they negotiate? If I were advising them, just on the basis of their own political advantage, I would say to certainly negotiate but to drive a fairly hard bargain. I would say that the chances are the Republicans will hurt their brand, if the hard-core MAGA gang that extorted McCarthy calls the shots. And that should make the Republicans very vulnerable in the 2024 election. So the deal should confer enough benefits to outweigh the benefits from having the Republicans enact their ugly political dramas -- never even trying to do things that will improve the lives of Americans -- for the next two years.

To which I would add now that I hope the effort to build a bipartisan coalition is a major part of the Democratic strategic plan.

Such an effort would be in addition to all that they already have started to do to expose to the American people what an ugly thing this MAGA-controlled House is. Truly, the Democrats should never stop hammering them for their sins, and should continually contrast the Republicans’ failure to do anything for the American people with the constructive things the Democrats propose to do or are already doing.

But what would be best for the country is if control of the House can be wrested from the destructive and crazy and given to the constructive and sane. And that can only happen if enough Republicans and enough Democrats join together to take the speakership away from McCarthy and to block the ugly path the ugliest part of the Republican caucus extorted from the current craven Speaker.

It may well be that there will never be enough Republicans willing to take that route. Certainly, the Republicans are hanging together pretty tightly now, but the effort must be made: to pry loose enough Republicans who — for opportunistic, or better reasons -- don’t like having the ugliest of their party running the show.

In particular, as it is widely observed, the Republicans from swing districts must know that their political survival is threatened by having the likes of Jim Jordan, and Marjorie Taylor Green, and Matt Gaetz -- the likes of that MAGA core who have connections with White Supremacists and neo-Nazis, and Republicans implicated in the Insurrection – calling the shots and being the face of their Party.

People say, rightly, that there’s no real sign of such “moderate” Republicans. But with many of these Republicans who are staying in line so far, it is not about “moderate” or “extreme.” Rather it is just about fear, and about their lacking the integrity to stand up for what they believe is right when that might cost them power and status. They are scared of breaking ranks and being kicked out like Liz Cheney was.

Those dangers are real. Working with Democrats has long been perilous for Republicans. (Years ago a Senator from Utah lost his seat because he worked with Democratic Senator Wyden to put a health-care proposal together.) But that danger has increased, with the Republican base now so long marinated in the pervasive and increasing demonization of the Democrats in the right-wing world.

But regardless of the difficulties, Democrats should execute the best strategy they can devise to generate a House majority behind a good agreement, even as they continue to wage political war against the MAGA Republican House that exists now.

For if they succeed in getting a good agreement among 218 or more members of the House (Ds and Rs combined), the dismal prospects for the next two years can be transformed. Worthwhile legislation can move from impossible to possible. The debt ceiling issue could be moved from a weapon for extortion and/or economic disaster to something that’s dealt with smoothly and without incident (as it has a hundred times before).

The MAGA House gives the Democrats a great target, if the Dems prove adept at calling out the many ways this destructive Republican force betrays the American people.

But even better for America would be taking power out of such hands. And a sufficient coalition could accomplish this, if they could come to a good agreement:

The rules allow any member to submit a motion to “vacate the chair.” If the new-majority coalition had reached an agreement to do so, they could then vote McCarthy out.

If a coalition could agree further on who will replace McCarthy, and other such changes from the MAGA House, that coalition could execute that plan: electing its agreed-upon candidate for the Speakership, etc.

So, I’d like to see the Democrats in the House wield two tools in a two-pronged political strategy:

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/15/2147349/-Wield-a-Sword-Against-the-MAGAs-But-Also-Extend-an-Olive-Branch-to-Potential-Coalition-Partners

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