What To Do

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries asked his caucus to keep things cool during the convicted felon Donald Trump’s speech to Congress the other night.

But they’re Democrats so they couldn’t help themselves. Some held up goofy paddle board signs as if they were bidding on abstract paintings at a Manhattan auction house. Others wore hot pink outfits to make a statement about…. something. Still others wore black and white tee shirts that read “Resist” on the back. (Probably available from the Dem Party website in large and X-large while supplies last! Something Trump could appreciate.) Rep. Al Green got himself tossed out altogether — a smart move given that he then didn’t have to listen to the rest of Trump’s two hours of — well, there’s no better description — bullshit.

None of that was effective. I guess they just wanted to do something. But I’m with Jeffries. The best thing to do right now is less. As Trump moves to dismantle everything from weather forecasting to Medicaid, don’t get in his way. When a man is digging his own grave, don’t take away his shovel. Most importantly, don’t make this about the Democrats, who aren’t very popular these days; keep the attention focussed on Trump and Musk. Let them grow even more unpopular and all of a sudden Democrats will start to look better by comparison just because they’re not them.

That’s starting to show up already in a poll conducted by IPSOS last week. Overall, 49% of Americans think the country is on the wrong track while only 34% think it’s on the right one. And on the issues on which people voted for Trump, he’s doing badly. Very badly. Worse than any President in history. Everyone is saying so. Sixty-percent of Americans think inflation is on the wrong track while only 22% think it’s getting better. On the overall economy, only 34% think it’s getting better, while 49% think it’s headed in the wrong direction. Trump promised to turn things around on Day One. This is Day 43, though it feels more like Day 1000, if not Judgement Day.

There’s a big sign in my neighborhood that says, “Keep Doing Something!” In context — and the context is one of the most liberal neighborhoods in a very liberal city — I take that to mean do something to fight Donald Trump. Resist!

Along these lines, I sometimes hear from liberal friends that they want to DO SOMETHING. I’m a polite person, so I don’t say what’s on my mind, which is, “God no! Do nothing! Because anything you might do will only help Trump!”

These are folks who are activists by nature. They would be in the streets. They would know all the chants. They would know where to buy good poster board and just the right markers that won’t run in the rain. They would have been really into last week’s “black out” of businesses that rolled back their DEI programs or did something else deemed supportive of the current administration.

What they would do is feed the rabid dog that is Trump’s “own the libs” strategy. Average Americans don’t like protesters. With rare exceptions, street protests and boycotts hurt a lot more than they help. In no small measure, people voted for Trump just to vote against liberal activists.

So, just as it is with Democratic politicians, the thing for Democratic activists to do is to not make it about them.

But there are two quietly effective things you can do. First, vote. Vote for Susan Crawford for Supreme Court in April, for starters. You’ll turn out and the guys sitting on a couch in their parents’ basement playing video games will not. Crawford will win and the liberals will have a majority on the Court for years to come.

And second use your money wisely. By that I don’t mean ineffectual and counter-productive boycotts. And I surely don’t mean giving money to the Democratic Party or other liberal groups. My God. The Democrats have plenty of money. George Soros has got you covered there. They way outspent Trump last year and they got beat. Sending money that ends up in the pockets of consultants in Washington just buys over-priced drinks in trendy Georgetown bars.

No, I mean finding the right local candidate in a race where your $100 might mean something. Maybe there’s a local school board or other local government candidate in a low-profile race who would be good at that level and might move up in the future. It would take some research to find a candidate like that, but it makes that small contribution very powerful. For me that candidate is Bret Wagner running for the Madison School Board.

So, if you’re the kind of person who just needs to DO SOMETHING, do something smart, something that doesn’t make things worse. Save your paddle boards for the next auction.

And on another matter… everybody’s equally unliked. That’s the conclusion I take from today’s Marquette poll on the Supreme Court and State Superintendent races. Nobody knows much about any of the four candidates: Crawford and Brad Schimel for the Court and incumbent Jill Underly and challenger Brittany Kinser for DPI. But here’s what I found interesting. All four candidates have a negative net approval rating of three or four points. Among those who have any opinion at all about Schimel 29% have a positive view of him while 32% have a negative one. For Crawford it’s 19% positive and 23% negative. Over in the DPI race, Underly comes in underwater at 16% positive and 20% negative while Kinser was at 13% positive and 16% negative. So, I think it’s remarkable that over four very different candidates and two different contests and with varying amounts of awareness of each candidate, they’re all sitting at three or four points to the negative side. I just think that reflects the generally sour mood of the public. People don’t like anybody in office or running for office right now. Trump has never had approval ratings over 50% and Biden did only at the very start of his term. Both our Senators, Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin, have been consistently underwater for their entire time in office.

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Free speech.

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Reason.

Tolerance.

Pluralism.