One of the uncanny features of the COVID Pandemic – certainly one of the great events of all of our lifetimes – is the mix of horror and fascination one experiences learning new dimensions of the scourge. One of these for me has been watching scientists unravel the details of the new COVID variants now galloping around the globe, a sprint of investigative work only possible with the powerful genomic analysis tools that didn’t even exist a few decades ago. (In 1918, science didn’t even know there was such a thing as viruses. Or rather viruses weren’t recognized as distinct from bacterial infection.)

For me the big fascination and warning sign has been the new discussion of ‘convergent evolution’.

I think something is getting lost in the discussion of Trump’s Impeachment 2.0 lawyers quitting. They reportedly bailed because they were unwilling to argue Trump’s lies about the election being stolen. But arguing the election was stolen amounts to an affirmative defense of the events of January 6th. In other words, Trump isn’t guilty not because he didn’t incite the insurrection but because the incitement and the insurrection were justified.

On an election night where the President thought things were going well, Arizona quickly stood out as a sore spot.

Not only did Trump hope to win the state, it was his once-beloved Fox News that called Arizona for Biden first. Trump was reportedly irate and tried to pressure the cable news network to reverse the call.

What we see most clearly today is the GOP moving quickly to align itself with the instigators of the January 6 insurrection and the coup plotters who laid the groundwork for it. This may seem like hyperbole, but it is not. Kevin McCarthy, who earlier this month was saying President Trump bore responsibility for instigating the assault, is now making his pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to meet with the disgraced former President and secure his blessing. The only Republicans who stood clearly against the insurrection – like Liz Cheney – are being purged from the party. Trumpist luminaries like Tucker Carlson are already mocking the fears of representatives who feared they’d be murdered on January 6. (That’s right out of the rightist troll culture where you’re blamed for the predation against you for “not getting it.”) Senators like Ted Cruz say it’s time to move on from this violent assault that happened a mere three weeks ago and was instigated by a President who left office one week ago.

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Several times in November I argued the critical importance of Democrats embracing a Democracy Agenda that embodies their entire policy and political agenda in the months and years ahead – here, here and here. It goes without saying today that the country needs more democracy rather than less. I wrote these posts before we saw the shocking spectacle of a sitting President leading a violent siege against the seat of government to prevent the majority from governing.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) just made a stunning and pointed remark about the very real fears that House members are facing regarding security of the Capitol in the aftermath of the insurrection: “the enemy is within the House of Representatives.”

For a decade Democrats have been living within an evolving debate, obsession, recriminations and general chair-kicking about the lessons of the Obama years. They can be put simply: Democrats engaging in good faith negotiations with Republicans, operating within existing legislative norms, and getting played every time. Everyone in politics is capable of concocting self-serving narratives. But this one is largely true. From 2009 to 2015, when Republicans finally took control of the Senate, the model was clear: bargain Dems down (usually with some bipartisan ‘gang’), run out the clock and then don’t actually support the whittled down compromise after all that. An added bonus for Republicans: running down the clock was usually enough for the public mood to turn sour. So when they bailed out there was no cost. When it came time to act the public had often turned against action. It all came to a head in 2016 when Justice Antonin Scalia died and Mitch McConnell simply refused to entertain any nominations at all. Impossible. Unthinkable. And it happened and that was that. The price McConnell paid was a stolen Supreme Court seat.

The Senate minority leader may be trying to distance himself from former President Trump now. But the damage has already been done.

While the broader GOP weighs just how much distance to put between itself and Trump, some of the former president’s most loyal political allies are working to cement his ideological influence in politics.

So, interesting developments over night in the Senate. Both sides are portraying the agreement as a win. But basically McConnell caved. So chalk up a win for Chuck Schumer.