A few thoughts and suggestions for moving forward in the Biden era, in no particular order.

(First, I’d be grateful for tips, leads, info on the below from any and all regular senate – and now White House – sources either by email or secure channels.)

Democrats, particularly Senate Democrats, already face a stark choice about those “ground rules” I mentioned last week. As noted then, what’s at stake isn’t only effective action today but the ground rules that will shape the next two years and either doom or give Democrats a fighting chance in the 2022 midterms. Last night the Post ran a story headlined: “Fight over the rules grinds the Senate to a halt, imperiling Biden’s legislative agenda“. It’s part of an emerging genre about bulging to-do lists, Republican game-playing and impeachment trials slowing the Senate to a crawl.

What’s happening exactly?

Quite simply, Mitch McConnell is now using the filibuster to stop Democrats from becoming the Senate majority.

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News of Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-OH) retirement could be grounds for the latest reassessment of the historically-purple-but-lately-pretty-red state.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.”

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.

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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