The short answer is no.
The long answer is also no, but let me explain. The Democratic Coalition Against Trump is a collective effort: it includes men, women, students, community, civil rights organizations and of course, Congressional Democrats. Unfortunately, though, laypeople are bearing the brunt of the resistance. The American Civil Liberties Union, pro bono lawyers and protesters have done more to thwart Trump than Chuck Schumer, Cory Booker or even Elizabeth Warren. That would be fine, I guess, but it’s quite literally the Democrat’s job, and not really ours, to oppose.
Let’s look first at cabinet confirmations. If it comes down to a party-line vote — which it almost always does nowadays — the nominee is going to pass. Democrats don’t need to vote yes. And yet, a lot of them did. Warren, a progressive champion, voted to confirm Ben Carson as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Let me say that again. Warren, a progressive who believes in fair and equal housing, voted to confirm Ben Carson, a conservative who doesn’t. But it doesn’t matter, doesn’t it? He was going to pass in all the measures Republicans voted for him to. But I’d argue that it does, even if a “yes” vote has no practical consequences.
Warren, Schumer and Booker are all voting “yes” on Trump’s nominees because they’re trying to prove something. What is that something? That they want to govern, and not obstruct — which is, by the way, what the GOP did for eight long years. They’re more principled than that, more unifying, more conciliatory. They’re oh so nobly putting country before party. But we need to ask ourselves: is this a philosophy we ought to adopt?
I’m sure you’ve heard this before, mostly because it’s been implored by your more moderate friends and relatives over and over again at the dinner table, but “if Trump fails, we all fail.” But I’m a pragmatist. If we’re going to argue about something, we ought to define the terms we need to define, and then think about the practical consequences of the answer. Success, for Trump or any president, for that matter, is defined as fulfilling promises made on the campaign trail and enacting proposed policy listed on the website platform. Now, let’s take a look at the promises themselves. A border wall. Deregulation. Roe v. Wade getting overturned. An immigration (really Muslim) ban. If those go down, do we as a country go down? Maybe some of us. But the whole union, our government, our political ideology and its practical implication? No.
So no. If Trump fails, we do not fail. They don’t correlate. Adopting that mentality in governance, though, will get dangerous laws passed, even if they look more moderate compared to their preliminary counterparts. It will endanger black Americans, women, Muslims and the LGBT community. It will tear tribal sovereignty from Native American nations, pollute our lakes, rivers and national parks. It will chip away at environmental regulations put in place to keep us from crapping on a planet we very much need.
Towing the line between appeasement and obstruction ought to be the path of moderate Republicans and even, if they are really adamant on it, moderate Democrats. But when Sanders and Warren engage in the game of taming, rather than slaying, the dragon, we’re in trouble. Then we’re dealing with two apathetic parties. The symbolic and abstract high road is not worth the practical consequence now.
So now what? If we’re not going to be conciliatory, then what do we do? Obstruction is passive. It’s got a negative connotation, and it just doesn’t sound like a very successful strategy to engage in if Democrats want to win elections. What we can do, though, is engage in active civil disobedience. That seems to do the most damage when it comes to lawmakers, at least. Sally Yates, the interim Attorney General, decided not to enforce the order. The Badlands National Park tweeted climate change information despite not being allowed to. Those things seem to irritate the most, and grab quite a bit of headlines.
One last thing — before you talk to me about what kind of anarchy and chaos this kind of active resistance is going to launch us into, keep in mind that everything that’s been done has been peaceful and in accordance with the law. If you can justify it using good ole fashion American law (which isn’t hard to do), then it’s a controlled chaos, a perfect storm.
