How Democrats Can Ditch The "Distraction" Crutch

Gary Hale: I am a lawyer and former Democratic State Senator here in CT. Only disclosing that as my preface to my firm belief that lawyers - specifically Holder under President Obama and Garland & Monaco under President Biden are culprits in a fair amount of the distrust among rank & file D's and voters in general have with our party. Holder's failure to prosecute a single major Wall Street exec following the economic collapse in '08 and Garland's lethargy in prosecuting Trump & others after taking over the DOJ for Russian collusion, emoluments & Jan 6 broke a trust with everyday citizens. The powerful won't prosecute the powerful, and justice is never equal. Thoughts?

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My view is that the Democratic leadership’s decision to largely sidestep Trump accountability (and to “look forward” past earlier elite crimes) has had three terrible consequences:

1. Demoralizing Democratic voters who rightly want to see Trump’s crimes fully exposed, and for their party to be unafraid of him.

2. Allowing Republicans to win the battle of public perception over which party is more corrupt. It’s not just that liberals became frustrated with Democrats. It’s also that, as Democrats retreated and Republicans hyperventilated over false specters of Democratic cheating and Biden corruption, the median voter came away believing Democrats are dirtier than Republicans.

3. Reinforcing Republican impunity. The failure to prosecute any of the architects or functionaries of the torture regime or the financial crisis didn’t help in this regard, but I don’t think it contributed nearly as much to the GOP’s transformation into a criminal enterprise as seeing their leader violate his oath of office, commit grave crimes of state, and get away with it. and Trump came back more crooked than ever, and it’s ruining the country.

I think this is essentially consistent with your view, but the rank and file crisis of confidence in Democrats is only a small piece of this political catastrophe. A few years ago I wanted Democrats to expose Trump’s corruption to simultaneously weaken him and protect democracy. Now, before they can accomplish either of those things, they’ll have to overcome the false sense that they’re the less ethical of the two parties.

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Liz: Is Chris Murphy helping or hurting by saying Trump’s DC occupation is a stunt?

Cards on the table: I think it’s harmful and every leader that frames it this way makes it harder for serious people to resist. It looks like an occupation and quacks like an occupation; even as a stunt, it normalizes the playbook of “Declare emergency + militarize.”

Am I actually hysterical, and is it a problem in its own right that someone in Democratic leadership doesn’t want me to believe my lying eyes?

You are not hysterical, but at least in Murphy’s case, I don’t think he means to be evasive. We should distinguish Democrats who brush off various Trump outrages as “stunts” or “distractions” because they’re scared of conflict with him (let’s talk beef prices instead) from Democrats like Murphy who are happy to confront Trump, but struggling a bit with how to describe why and how he’s lashing out.

Allow me to explain:...