Like Death

Trump said something about the Democratic response to his State of the Union address that I actually agree with.  No, not the part about them being treasonous, or  the part about them being un-American.  It was the part when he said their response - where they sat on their hands and looked forlorn as he spoke and as Republicans cheered - was "like death."

It was like death.  That's because the Democratic Party is once again dying.  They ended the holidays on the verge of a huge wave in the midterms that would sweep them back into the majority in the House and possibly the Senate. They go into Mardi Gras as the clueless, spineless bench-warmers they've always been.  The Democrats have offered neither a strong rebuttal to the Trump tax law nor an alternative tax program that can appeal to middle-class and working-class voters. So, while the Koch brothers - who are planning to pour millions of dollars in to the 2018 midterms - are making a fortune off the new tax law (on top of the fortune they already have), ordinary people who are only getting a few hundred dollars from the tax system think it's wonderful and are applauding the GOP.  Support for the tax law has almost doubled in the polls.         

And the Democrats - especially Chuck Schumer - thought they could appeal to voters by shutting down the government over an issue like immigration, which they could have used as leverage against Trump while still keeping the government open?  Come on, do you think President Martin O'Malley would have let that happen?

The Democrats can't even come up with a unifying message; while Joe Kennedy III was offering up that lame promise of a "better deal" in an otherwise well-received response to Trump's State of the Union, three other Democrats - and Bernie Sanders - offered up rebuttals based on different perspectives, revealing just how faction ridden the party is.  

The recent volatility in the stock market has caused Trump some embarrassment and has made him look bad after bragging about the record highs of late, but he's hardly been humbled.  And as long as he keeps the investors and Republican donors happy, the GOP will happily tolerate his worst excesses.  Democrats don't tolerate him, but they won't win back either house of Congress in November by saying what they won't do; they have to let people know what they will do.  It's too bad that no one as had a clue of what the Democratic agenda for all of this entire century.  The Democrats should be glad it's only 2018.