E. Scott Cracraft - What do we do now?

Now that the mid-term elections are over, what should liberals and progressives do now? Democrats now have a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and have won seats in many states and localities. The U.S. Senate is still under Republican control but by a slim margin.

Although some elections were very close, they do show that Americans are rejecting the fascist movement of President Trump and his supporters. They are doing this in spite of lies, fearmongering, and voter suppression coming from the GOP. And, the GOP is scared.

These elections also showed just how far to the right the Republican Party has gone. While there were, at one time, reasonable, thinking Republicans, the party seems to have been taken over by the extreme right and now welcomes racists, fascists, misogynists, and religious extremists. This is Trump’s “base” and it is pretty base!

Democrats have won despite the lies, disinformation, and scare tactics used by Trump and his supporters. Trump said that there would be violence if the Democrats won and at least one pro-Trump clergyman warned that Democratic victories would result in the slaughter of Christians.

The first thing we Democrats must do is refuse to be complacent and apathetic. The far right still won too many elections. We must not only continue to oppose Trump, his supporters, and his agenda but we need to hold the Democrats accountable for what they have promised. We also need to continue to expose Trump’s lies and actions.

We need to continue to speak out. Of course, there are Trump supporters who are so brainwashed and willfully ignorant that they will not be convinced that the Trump administration is a disaster for our nation. But we must continue to try and convince the innocently ignorant. Trump is rude, racist, sexist and seems to blame anyone and anything but himself for his difficulties. He is dishonest both in business and in government. Trump’s administration is possibly the most corrupt in U.S. History. Look at the number of people who have been indicted so far and other indictments are expected.

Obviously, the president is worried about the outcome of the midterm elections and he should be scared. He fired Jeff Sessions in a transparent attempt to derail the Mueller investigation. He sent our troops to the Mexican border for Thanksgiving in order to convince people of the lie that we are being invaded from Central America to take the focus off himself and create a false sense of national “unity.” He is failing in this because you cannot have true unity when there is no unity. To build fake unity is the tactic of fascists.

Second, we progressives need to be on guard against violence by the right, not the left. Far-right groups, including hate groups, are growing. These people have always been with us but Trump, as a national “role model,” is encouraging them to crawl out of woodwork. No, Mr. Trump, when it comes to Klansmen, neo-Nazis, and their ilk, there are not “good people on both sides.”

Almost all political violence these days, in actions or threats, comes from the extreme right, not the left. It is not the left that is shooting up synagogues and mailing bombs to Democrats. Even progressives in the Lakes Region have suffered threats and harassment. Unfortunately, the GOP’s loses in the mid-term elections are quite likely to make the extremists more extreme.

No one is saying that Trump ordered this violence of words and deeds (in politics, words are frequently deeds). He is too much of a coward to do so but he has created a climate where racism, xenophobia, sexism, and hate are becoming mainstreamed and these things certainly do not reflect our values as a nation.

Furthermore, while many Democrats ran for Congress with the direct or implied promise to impeach the president, that is probably not the best choice. Trump has no doubt committed impeachable offenses and the House certainly has the votes to issue Articles of Impeachment. On the other hand, if there is impeachment trial in the Senate, Trump is most likely going to keep his job.

Even if the Democrats are supported by some Republicans, it takes a two-thirds majority to remove him from office. There have been just two impeachment trials in our history and in both cases, the presidents kept their jobs. Moreover, an impeachment trial will cost the taxpayers a lot of money and we should not fund an attempt that is bound to fail.

Moreover, if by some slim chance Trump were removed from office, it would not remove the entire administration. Mr. Pence would simply become president and Pence is a dangerous religious fanatic. Also, if Trump is indicted for any crimes, there is a good chance Pence would “pull a Gerald Ford” and pardon him of any crimes he might be charged with.

Instead, it would be better for the House to try and undo the damage Trump has already done and prevent him from doing further damage. After all, while the Senate can still approve the president’s appointments, it will not be able to get much else done when it comes to Trumps legislative agenda.

At the same time, now that the Democrats control the House, they will have the power to subpoena people to testify under oath. The House should be conducting its own investigations of Trump and his actions as a businessman and as president. The Congress and the American people must speak out against the president’s resistance to a full investigation of Trump, his administration, and his business practices. These investigations should be also be continued by the F.B.I. Then, in 2020 we must elect a president with the guts not to pardon Trump.

Finally, we who resist Trump and everything he stands for must keep up the fight — non-violently, of course. There is more to politics than elections and court cases. We should be writing letters, signing petitions, organizing protests and demonstrations and cutting any business ties with firm that support the Trump agenda. We WILL win!

(Scott Cracraft is a citizen, taxpayer, veteran and resident of Gilford.)