Dems Must Commit to Consequences

Secretary Hegseth and Donald Trump forced essentially all of the top military brass to come to Virginia to be lectured to. Hegseth, in addition to other things, said that he would untie the hands of soldiers and not be worried about rules of engagement. Trump said that some of the people in that room would be involved in invading American cities. All of this is facist and supposed to be un-American, but that will remain so only so far as the Dems make sure that the enablers of these actions will face consequences.

Just following orders is not a defense. When someone orders boats of civilians sunk, they must be held accountably, all the way up and down the chain of command. We must not shy from prosecuting people, and, especially, for senior and civilian leadership (I am open to a different standard for front line troops, given the situation), if the Hague comes calling, we must not be afraid to turn these people over to the Tribunal. We can pay for their defense even — they were acting under the color of the American system. But right now, we have to make it clear that violating the law either here or abroad will not be forgiven. No more ignoring the past, no more looking forward.

This should be our position, out loud, right now. Every job cut by Trump will be hired back, with stronger protections against being arbitrarily fired, and likely supported by even more jobs so we can quickly get our government back up and running. ICE should be shut down and its money used to support government functions that actually help Americans. Every immigrant kidnapped and exported should be found and returned for proper due process. Every official or cop who violated any right should be fired and/or prosecuted. The Dems have to make it clear that complying in advance will have consequences. Not only will this deter people from complying in advance, it would signal to those Americans who do not approve of this lawlessness that there is hope and purpose in voting for Democrats.

They will almost certainly not do this. It involves fighting, and our political class, especially the consultants who are in charge and the large donors who are more afraid of a free buses than a dictator, are terrified of fighting. Which is a shame, because these are easy fights. “Americans don’t commit war crimes, they hold Nuremberg trials. Americans don’t shoot fellow Americans for protesting — they support the first Amendment. Americans don’t railroad innocent people — they defend them.” etc. None of what Trump is doing is popular, largely because it runs against the story America has always told itself about itself. And while that story has never been entirely true, the aspirations it reveals can and should be used to make it true.

In my worst nightmare, I see someone like Pritzker running in the primary on just these terms, and someone like Newsom or Mayor Pete claiming that he is going too far, that we should turn the page and be normal again. The problem is, we cannot be normal unless we work to restore normality. And that must mean accountability for those who did wrong, as well building the government civil service back larger and stronger than it was before. We cannot allow each successive Republican administration to ratchet further and further into authoritarianism.

We didn’t prosecute Nixon. We didn’t force Reagan out of office over the law breaking revealed in Iran-Contra. We prosecuted no one in senior leadership for the torture committed in Iraq, we failed to hold Trump to account for January 6th. My entire life has been the story of the authoritarian wing of the GOP pushing us farther and farther away form freedom and democracy and closer and closer to one party rule. And each time, the Democrats elected to clean up their messes refused to hold them accountable. And now here we are.

The best time to fight was always yesterday, but the next best time is always today. I hope the Democratic party collectively understand this, finally.