Following each effort by Donald Trump to take down one more pillar in the foundation of American democracy, we hear the same question, “When are the Trumpist members of Congress (formerly known as Republicans) going to put country before party?”  Do they really believe the racial animus promoted by their leader is good for the nation?  How can they honestly deny our electoral process was attacked in 2016 and is still under siege today?  Do they consider Moscow Mitch’s refusal to bring election security legislation on the Senate floor a wise political strategy?  Do they not understand their silence as Trump embraces dictators and alienates our democratic allies will eventually come back to bite us?  “Country Above Party” should be a winning rallying cry for Democrats in their effort to send Trump back to Mar-a-Lago and take control of the Senate in 2020.

But as Will Rogers most aptly said, “I am not a member of an organized political party.  I am a Democrat.”  And last night, the 10 participants in round two of the “Debate in Detroit” demonstrated Rogers’ adage is as true today as it was in November 1930 when he first uttered those words.

If any of the contenders or pretenders to the Democratic nomination for president want our support, it is time they put “Party Before Self.”  What does that mean?  Unlike last night, you do not take the bait when debate moderators “stage” fights during which participants use a still popular Democratic president as a punching bag to bring down his vice president.  As Barack Obama would say, “You can disagree on policy.  But at the same time, you can tell voters that what Democrats have traditionally done and stood for is head and shoulders above ANYTHING Donald Trump has done.  How hard is that?”

Take immigrant deportation as a prime example.  Yes, removal of undocumented immigrants rose during the Obama years.  But the overwhelming majority of those cases were individuals who had been picked up by state and local police for other offenses.  At the same time, individuals turned away from entering the United States dropped from 1.7 million in 2000 to less than 100,000 in 2017.  And those individuals were not held in overcrowded cages awaiting asylum hearings or separated from their children.  And the decision to return them to their country of origin was made following due process or formal court orders.  And Obama championed DACA despite failure by a Republican Congress to support a more permanent solution and Republican controlled statehouses to challenge Obama’s executive order in the courts.

Or the Affordable Care Act.  Joe Biden was right when caught on a hot microphone.  “This is a big fucking deal.”  Obama and the Democratic Congress did something that NOBODY else could achieve.  Not perfect, but it reduced the number of uninsured Americans from 40 million to 10 million.  Universal health care is still the goal and “Medicare for All” may be the answer.  But we were a lot closer on January 20, 2017 than we are today.  How hard is it to make that comparison?  If one of the progressive candidates becomes our next chief executive, there will be time for him or her to make the case, not in a 15 second debate rebuttal but in a White House address or in the state of the union.

Ironically, there is one Democratic contender who has a unique opportunity to demonstrate her commitment to party AND country.  That is Elizabeth Warren.  She is in the unfair position that her ascension to the presidency or vice-presidency could significantly harm the Democrats’ effort to retake the Senate.  Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker is a Republican.  Which means, if Warren has to resign her seat following the election, Baker would appoint her replacement until a special election in 2022.  As noted above, this is not fair, but it is the reality.

If Warren believes she has a real shot at the nomination or being on the ticket, she should vacate her Senate seat now.  Yes, Baker would appoint a Republican, but what difference would that make when Moscow Mitch and the Trumpists already have a majority until January 2021?  More importantly, there would be a special election in 2020 to fill the seat until 2022.  And chances are a Democratic candidate like Congressman Seth Moulton has a better than average probability of prevailing thus avoiding a net loss for the Democrats.  Even if Warren is wrong about her chances for national office, she could run in the special election to reclaim her seat.

Which brings me back to Will Rogers.  In his 1924 book The Illiterate Digest, Rogers wrote, “The American people are a generous people and will forgive almost any weakness, with the possible exception of stupidity.”  Trump has spent the greater part of his life hoping to disprove Rogers’ theory.  Democrats should not help him in this quest by being equally or more stupid.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP