Democrats Go Scorched-Earth Against Trump

[Bojack Horseman]

2002 Midterm Elections was after 9/11 so the results make sense. And it was not exactly a GOP wave year.

But I am not going to write a long post about it again.

I do think 2018 will be a moderately Democratic year though.

This exactly. Democrats would not have won the governorships in Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arizona in a GOP wave year.

[Associate Justice PiT]

My only concern: Democrats were SO bad at shaming the Republicans for their obstructionism. My hunch is that the seasoned Republican politicians are going to be much better at making the Democrats look like bad guys for not giving an inch.

     This is my thought as well. The Republicans are much more skilled at these sorts of political games. It worked for them, but it's far from sure that the Democrats can also achieve success doing this.

All it takes is being able to take the House of Representatives in 2018 to stop Trump. You do not need to control both arms of congress.

     Supposing though that this strategy does not backfire, or at least end up as a wash. The Dems need 24 more seats over 2016 to take the House. It's far from impossible, but it requires a little momentum.

[JJC]

If Dems wanna do this, get a senate leader who isn't friendly w/ half the GOP and all of Wall Street. I love Schumer, I'm not scared of him, as a Republican.

[Sumner 1868]

The impact 9/11 had on the 2002 midterms is exaggerated by most pundits. Democrats will almost certainly lose some seats in the Senate in 2018, but the question is how many? I could see them losing only 1 or maybe 2 if Trump is really unpopular, but also 7 or more.   

So you believe in a red wall now?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Good.

[Mr.Phips]

2002 Midterm Elections was after 9/11 so the results make sense. And it was not exactly a GOP wave year.

But I am not going to write a long post about it again.

I do think 2018 will be a moderately Democratic year though.

You have to remember how poorly Democrats handled politics after 9/11.  They basically rolled over for Bush and Republicans thinking that if they were nice to them, Max Cleland, Jean Carnahan, etc wouldnt be attacked for being unpatriotic in the 2002 elections.  Of course that worked out real well.

Had Dems in the Senate went ahead in early 2002 with investigations of Bush's ignoring of intelligence in summer 2001 that told him that the 9/11 attacks were going to happen, the drip, drip, drip would have likely brought his approval ratings down to the low 50s or below by fall of 2002, making him a less potent force for Republicans on the campaign trail.  This likely would have allowed Dems to keep the Senate and not lose House seats in 2002.

[dead0man]

wait wait wait...you still think Dubya was told about the 9-11 attacks before 9-11 in a way that could have prevented the attacks without some unprecedented and extreme measures?  Why do you think he would have done that?

[Mr.Phips]

wait wait wait...you still think Dubya was told about the 9-11 attacks before 9-11 in a way that could have prevented the attacks without some unprecedented and extreme measures?  Why do you think he would have done that?

I have no idea why.  Why did Bush do a lot of idiotic things that he did?  Even if that wasnt the case, Democrats could have and should have used the intelligence failure investigations to chip away at his approval ratings leading up to the 2002 elections.  Republicans would have done this to Clinton or Obama for sure.  Democrats should have known that being nice to Republicans doesn't mean that they won't turn around and attack you when the next election comes around.

[Meclazine for Israel]

"Scorched earth" is needlessly melodramatic language to describe the normal behavior of an opposition party.

These were my first thoughts. What do snowflakes look like when they scorch the Earth?

[Mr. Smith]

My only concern: Democrats were SO bad at shaming the Republicans for their obstructionism. My hunch is that the seasoned Republican politicians are going to be much better at making the Democrats look like bad guys for not giving an inch.

     This is my thought as well. The Republicans are much more skilled at these sorts of political games. It worked for them, but it's far from sure that the Democrats can also achieve success doing this.

All of this is true, but we've seen what the alternative is, and it's not pretty.

[7,052,770]

Meh. It would be smarter to work with Trump on issues where he's outside of standard Republican doctrine to drive a bigger wedge between him and Congressional Republicans. Grand prize would be frustrating Pence so much that he quits.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Or just sit back and watch Trump implode as he actually tries to run a country, just as they've done all week... That's more than sufficient for him to make himself unpopular.

The goal is not to make him popular. The goal is to prevent him from literally destroying the country.

[Mr. Smith]

Or just sit back and watch Trump implode as he actually tries to run a country, just as they've done all week... That's more than sufficient for him to make himself unpopular.

That just makes the party look like a Party of Do-Nothing.

Meh. It would be smarter to work with Trump on issues where he's outside of standard Republican doctrine to drive a bigger wedge between him and Congressional Republicans. Grand prize would be frustrating Pence so much that he quits.

Except that Trump is clearly willing to give up whatever he stood for to toady for Congress if it keeps him in power, that's why he switched from pro-choice to pro-life, went from LGBT sympathetic to picking Pence.

And that's not assuming he takes the credit and touts those things as Republican, and we all know how on a dime those Congresscritters are to suddenly endorse what they were against. And then there's nothing left to run on to defeat Trump.