By Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman
Public Citizen wants to address some questions and comments folks have shared.
What about the Supreme Court?
Our plans are heavy on challenging the Trump administration in court. And the current Supreme Court is tricky.
But only a tiny fraction of court cases go to the Supreme Court. The vast majority of cases never get that far. Public Citizen’s elite team of lawyers will be strategic about which cases we take and how we demonstrate where the law is on the side of everyday Americans.
We may not prevail in every case. But we won’t lose every case, either. Far from it. We have experience and expertise using the legal system to defend ordinary people and progressive values even when the playing field is not perfectly level.
How much can we really do when Republicans will control the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives?
We have no delusions that we can stop every terrible thing Trump and his MAGA acolytes try to do legislatively.
But there have been many times throughout our nation’s history when the same party controlled the presidency and both chambers of Congress — a so-called “unified government” — and still wasn’t able to do everything it wanted to do.
Republicans controlled both the House and Senate for Donald Trump’s first two years in office. And yes, they passed a disastrous tax cut that benefitted billionaires and Big Business at the expense of the American people. But, quite famously, they failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) — even though it was practically the only thing some of them talked about (nearly to the point of foaming at the mouth) for years.
Even more recently, Democrats had a majority in both the House and Senate for President Biden’s first two years in office. Did every bill they introduced get passed? (The answer, of course, is no.)
Furthermore, it’s not like Republicans never disagree with other Republicans. They can’t even put aside their intra-party differences long enough to choose a Speaker of the House without devolving into farcical chaos and literal shoving matches.
On top of all that, the Republican majorities in both the House and Senate will be thin. With any particular bill in Congress, just a few Republicans in either chamber breaking from the MAGA party line — because what’s best for their constituents will sometimes (more like most times) not align with what’s best for Donald Trump, and they know it — can stop bad legislation in its tracks.
Can we rely on ineptitude and in-fighting alone to prevent Republicans in Congress from doing all kinds of damage? Unfortunately not. But those tendencies will slow them down and make at least some of them susceptible to public pressure.
And that’s where Public Citizen comes in. Putting pressure on members of Congress is our thing — it has been since our founding over half a century ago. We will sniff out fractures and we will do everything we can to crack them open.
We’re up against powerful people with so much money.
True.
For example, Elon Musk alone spent at least $133 million bankrolling Trump’s campaign. (And that’s just the money Musk spent that has been disclosed.)
Throughout human history, those fighting for justice and progress always have less money and power than the forces they are up against — pretty much by definition.
But by standing up, by working together, by insisting that the status quo is simply not good enough, we advance justice and make progress nonetheless.
It may happen slowly, perhaps achingly so. We may go through periods where it feels like “one step forward, two steps back.”
Yet somehow, things are better — far from perfect, but better — than they were a thousand years ago, five hundred years ago, a hundred years ago.
Why should this be the moment to abandon all of that history? Why should those of us here now be the ones to throw up our hands and say “we can’t do it”?
Like millions before us the world over — with a debt to them, in fact — we must choose to continue the fight against the rich and powerful, even if it feels like we’re losing ground.
All hope is lost. I’m giving up on politics. I’m leaving the country.
No!
Well, we can’t say whether or not leaving the country is best for any particular person. But a resounding “No!” to losing hope or giving up.
Look, it’s grim. There’s no denying it.
Donald Trump and the racist, misogynistic, sociopathic forces that he has exploited and emboldened (they were here all along — let’s be clear about that) are a very real threat to millions upon millions of Americans, to our democracy, to our planet, and to everyone on it.
That is scary.
Infuriating.
Sickening.
Sad.
It can also be tedious, draining, and debilitating.
We can and should feel those things.
But …
Also …
At the same time …
The math is actually very simple:
If we lose hope, if we give up, if we allow ourselves to become resigned to it, the MAGA vision for America definitely wins out.
If we fight — with everything, every damn thing, we’ve got — we *will* prevent at least some damage, and there is every reason to think we can stop the MAGA nightmare from becoming a permanent reality.
Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman are Co-Presidents of Public Citizen.
This article was sent on November 27, 2024 by Public Citizen.