On Tuesday, November 5th, 2024, a fuse was lit that will detonate the bomb planted in our nation’s capital on January 6th, 2021.
Because of a massive failure to bring the full weight of the law down upon the heads of the domestic terrorists in the Republican Party who coordinated the violent attack on America that cold, January day, good people in America are now forced to watch in horror as the fuse burns toward its terrible end on January 20th, 2025.
That is when the landscape of the United States of America will be blown to smithereens right in front of our tired eyes, and quite literally altered forever. We will no longer be able to recognize ourselves as Americans, or the ideals we alleged to care about for 248 years.
The free world will quake in its aftershock. The beginning of authoritarian rule will be upon us.
-That is the day a terrible, soulless man, who has already attacked America once, will get his chance to finish us off for good.
-That is the day a convicted felon, who gleefully brags of assaulting women, and was found guilty of rape, will now have proxy over what they do with their bodies.
-That is the day, a man who has absolutely no regard for the most pressing issue of our times, the climate crisis, will be begin ripping apart our environment bit by bit until he can wring out all the coal and oil he possibly can from the defenseless Mother Earth.
-That is the day, a tax cheat and serial liar, will once again do everything in his near limitless powers afforded to him by his bought-off Supreme Court, to reward the fascists, oligarchs and lifeless billionaires who helped install him in office.
Nothing less is headed our way.
I did not paint this brutal picture to upset you, my friends, I really didn't. But I did put the vivid accent colors behind it to remind the people who represent us in office that everything must be done to mitigate the hurt and damage that they damn well better know is coming our way next month.
Except right now I am not all convinced they do, and that should scare the s--- out of us at least as much as the day the America-attacking Trump plants his two-ton ass in his oversized throne.
Consider what happened very, very quietly during a closed-door meeting Tuesday morning in some hallowed office buried deep inside our Capitol Building that was attacked only four years before.
That’s where the now minority Democrats in the United States Senate got together and basically let us know nothing had changed from November 4th to November 5th in their foggy view. Nope, it was going to be business as usual for us Democrats, and if you, dear reader, don’t like it, well, that’s just tough shit.
Just 28 days after the most consequential election in American history, the 47 members of the Democratic Senate voted to stay the course with the leadership team that will be representing us through some of the most terrifying times in our nation’s history.
At a time we’ve never needed inspirational leaders who can connect with the voters more, they read the board, and decided to stay with the same pieces in power.
Here’s what the makeup of the Democratic Senate will look like:
Be honest, before this happened Tuesday were you, their bosses, even aware they were choosing the squad that would be tasked with taking on the America-attacking Trump and his lawless posse the next two years?
I didn’t think so.
There’s a reason this was done so quietly, and it smells rancid to me. It smells like a group of people who don’t give a damn what we really think while looking down at us from their lofty perches inside the Beltway.
Given the enormity of what just occurred, could they not have at least explained their reasoning for once again turning over our Senate to a couple of old, white guys, which from outside the Beltway looks like just more of the same?
-Did they not get the vital memo that Democrats and all the good they are trying to do are not connecting with the majority of the American voters?
-Did they not see that millions of Democrats stayed home and didn’t even bother showing up to vote in this past election?
-Did they not think it at all prudent to shore things up and at bare minimum at least give serious thought to putting bold, new leadership with new ideas at the top to let us know they were were not only ready for the fight, but would take that fight to the bastards who attacked us?
Because if they think that Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer are the inspirational leaders we need right now, I am beyond insulted.
I am furious.
Appearances are everything, and it appears to me, we haven’t learned a damn thing from what went down last month.
Oh sure, a few chairs were moved around to dress up the outdated arrangement. Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar was given the No. 3 post with Debbie Stabenow's (Mich.) decision to retire, and New Jersey’s Cory Booker was elected to the fourth-ranking post.
Glimmers of hope both, but if I were king, Booker would be the face of the Democratic Party right now. And what about the rest of the truly inspirational Democratic senators like Georgia’s Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff? And what about newbies like Elissa Slotkin, Angela Alsobrooks, and Ruben Gallego?
I’d like to hear a helluva lot more out of them. Look, I’m no Bernie Sanders hater, but the man is 83 years old for crying out loud. If nothing else couldn’t the dude have stepped aside to allow some fresh air in the room?
Instead, we are basically trotting out the same old-ass lineup to get clobbered again. It’s absurd, but much more than that, it’s insulting.
Right now my party looks stale and out of touch. What happened behind closed doors on Tuesday morning only confirms that we aren’t interested in a new start with new ideas and new leaders, and that is terribly concerning.
After the secret vote was over, Schumer emerged from the dark Democratic den to give this riveting account:
“I’m honored and humbled to be chosen by my colleagues to continue leading Senate Democrats during this crucial period for our country. Our preference is to secure bipartisan solutions wherever possible and look for ways to collaborate with our Republican colleagues to help working families. However, our Republican colleagues should make no mistake about it, we will always stand up for our values.”
I’m sure they are quaking in their boots, Chuck.
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D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here.
