I would like to know which of the Democrats in the United States Congress meant it when they said, prior to the election, that Donald Trump is a menace to democracy, the rule of law and the constitutional order, and which of them said those words because they sounded real nice. 

I would like to know, because I have seen a handful of prominent congressional Democrats come forward in gladness to say that they are looking forward to working with a criminal president-elect. 

I would like to know, because the current president, Joe Biden, welcomed an insurrectionist back to the White House after having accused him of running for president again to stay out of prison.

And I would like to know, because the Democrats in the United States Senate appear unmoved by the victory of a man whom military leaders have said is “a fascist to the core.” This week, they voted to keep Chuck Schumer as leader. It appears to be business as usual, even though Trump called for Schumer to be prosecuted by a military tribunal. 

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I would like to know which of the Democrats meant what they said and which of them did not, because I want to put my faith in leaders who understand there’s no middle ground between individual liberty and totalitarianism. There is no compromise with people who refuse to acknowledge others’ humanity. I want to know which of the Democrats want to fight and which are willing to settle for slow-motion suicide.

I’m asking which of the Democrats is which for another reason. 

The days after the election saw a rapidly forming consensus about what’s going to happen after Trump takes office. It goes something like this: Trump is going to overreach so badly, perhaps on trade or immigration, that he will end up being the most unpopular president in history. He’s going to make a mess, in other words, and when he does, the Democrats will be there so say, see? Vote for us to clean it up.

I don’t know why any congressional Democrat would believe such a thing unless they really didn’t believe that Donald Trump was a fascist menace to the republic. Those who really believe it are fighting right now with everything they have in their power to sound the alarm about what’s about to happen. If they believe what they say, they’re acting politically, not performatively. They are not saying, in so many words, that sure, Trump’s a fascist, but he makes some good points. 

A fascist never makes some good points.

If, however, they did not really believe what they said, then they would be doing what many of the Democrats in the Senate appear to be doing, which is waiting around for Trump to do something wrong in terms of policy before taking the risk of saying that he’s wrong – a fascist is always wrong, because the goal of fascism is to do wrong. 

My senator, Richard Blumenthal, is representative of this. On CNN recently, he said Trump’s policy agenda, including tariffs and trade, will blow up in his face (not his words), and when they do, “he’s going to have to live with those consequences and be held accountable.”

When the practical consequences are known to consumers and when they see higher prices of goods, knowing how they feel about inflation … I think the reaction is going to be hugely negative, and I think he’s going to have to live with those consequences and be held accountable. … He’s heading toward a real horror show in which the consequences can’t be squared with the promises he made. … And Republicans will be held accountable, not only the president-elect when he takes office but also my Republican colleagues in the United States Senate if they go along with these irresponsible policies.

Note the passive voice. Blumenthal doesn’t say who is going to hold Donald Trump and the Republicans accountable for the mess they are going to make, only that they will be held accountable by someone somewhere with a power greater than what the Democrats have. 

The implication, of course, is that the American people will hold them accountable in the form of polling that shows broad disapproval of a policy agenda that dramatically raises the cost of living for everyone. With this implication comes an assumption: that the American people can figure out on their own who to blame for inflationary policies. 

With that assumption comes an article of faith:

That the people will do the Democrats’ work for them. 

The people won’t do that work. Reality does not shape public opinion. Politics does. If reality shaped public opinion, we wouldn’t be talking about a deranged old man and his lunatic policy agenda. Instead, we’d be talking about President-elect Kamala Harris and her trust-busting plan to stop corporations from price-gouging consumers into oblivion.

This election should have taught congressional Democrats something about the nature of democracy – that the American people should never have been trusted to stop a fascist menace like Donald Trump. They don’t know enough. They don’t care enough. And they are too vulnerable to liars and cheats who are willing to say anything to win. 

What they needed was a Democratic Party to stop the fascist menace. Instead, they got a party that waited around for permission to use the full power that the American people had already given them, only never to receive that permission as a direct consequence of not using their full power. As RR Edmonds said today, “power must be used to be believed.” Use it, and people will believe in you. Don’t, and they won’t.

The Democrats follow the public. The Republicans lead it. Trump never expected the American people to do his work for him. He did it himself, and as the election showed, the public followed. As long as the Democrats wait around for public opinion to change, they will be allowing Trump to set the terms for, well, pretty much everything. 

That’s not restraint, as someone wise once said. 

That’s a lack of gumption. 

I ask again: which of the Democrats meant what they said and which did not. I’m not going to put my faith in leaders who are afraid to lead.