What I learned from the Democrats meeting in Chicago this week.
The folks leading the fight in states are a great antidote to the fingernail biting anguish I hear so much of from people who follow the news but do not see the view from the trenches.
This week Democratic Party leaders gathered in Chicago for another round of planning in advance of this summer’s Convention. Their optimism, determination, and joy at being together was on full display as they shared ideas and swapped stories. I had the great pleasure of a long overdue in person meeting with Ben Wikler, who is a frequent guest on my radio show. With leaders on the ground like Ben in Wisconsin, Lavora Barnes in Michigan, Liz Walters in Ohio, and Ken Martin in Minnesota, I’m confident the great lakes states will not only deliver for Biden – Harris, but create the conditions for moving the country forward.
Wisconsin Democrats Party Chair Ben Wikler and Edwin Eisendrath in Chicago.
I wish everyone could spend more time with the folks who are leading the fight in states across America. It is such a great antidote to the fingernail biting anguish I hear so much about from people who follow the news but do not see the view from the trenches. This week, in a conversation with some of the smartest Chicagoans I know, I heard worries about a potential convention disaster, worries about young people going over to MAGA because of Gaza, worries that holding Trump accountable in court might just solidify his base. Worries.
I wish those folks, the worriers, could meet the other folks, the doers. First, I think they would really like each other. Second, the encounter might turn the worriers into doers. That’s not just good for the cause, it is also good the individuals, because in this cycle, once you start to campaign, you join a bunch of joyful warriors determined to help America live up to its better angels.
There is no question the next few months will be very difficult. But here’s what I know about Americans- we do difficult things. And I want every hand wringer out there to remember (or to learn) the lesson that Ulysses Grant learned from the battle of Belmont, his first as commander. His army and the enemy were encamped on opposite sides of a hill. He was outnumbered and knew it. He wrote that the night before the battle his fear was the severest he had ever felt. He couldn’t sleep. He feared an attack at any moment. Early the next morning, he rallied his army and went over the hill only to discover the confederates had fled during the night. He wrote, “As we afterwards learned, the enemy had been as much afraid of us as we had been of him. The experience was valuable.”
Unlike General Grant before the battle of Belmont, we are not outnumbered. Americans everywhere are fed up with the lies, the attack on our rights, the attack on our institutions, the protection of the wealthy at the expense of the rest of us, the corruption, and the plain meanness of the MAGA movement.
Americans who live in red states are suffering the loss of their public schools as corrupt gerrymandered legislatures pass voucher plans that turn learning over to Christian nationalist churches and big donors. They see their health care options taken away. When the governor of Tennessee called a special legislative session after a school shooting, they were appalled to discover the only thing the legislature did was to further protect gun ownership.
And now in many of those red states, and in nearly all of the purple ones, democrats are contesting every seat up and down the ballot. This is a stunning change from the years where democrats said they only wanted to put their resources in so called winnable races. This time the MAGA crowd is going to have defend itself on home turf, and voters everywhere are going to hear voices, voices of reason, that they haven’t heard from GOP candidates and FOX TV.
MAGA is on the defensive. They stole a Supreme Court seat, used it to strip away abortion rights, and now hope we won’t remember. We remember.
MAGA is losing. Their hardline wing got overrun this week, and now the House is voting on aid to Ukraine, a thing Mr. Trump and his crowd had managed to delay for months. Ditto FISA reauthorization.
MAGA is in disarray. They see their dear leader, Mr. Trump, asleep and on trial from criminal falsification of records to break influence the election. And they see Joe Biden on the campaign trail and working with both foreign leaders and Congress to move our country forward and to make the world a little more secure. MAGA’s top issue is the border, but they killed the bill to fix it. Chaos. Dissaray.
Sure, we have our own challenges. People are trying to use the tragedy in GAZA to pull us apart. And by people, I mean Russian propagandists not passionate supporters of Palestinian or Israeli rights. Unlike an autocratic party where the only thing that matters is obedience, our side is a big tent. We can disagree, even about very important things, and still respect each other enough to stand together. It’s the guys on the other side of the hill who are running scared now.
Keep up the pressure. Don’t stop. Join the folks in the trenches. We are winning.