Ever since President Trump took office barely more than a month ago, Democrats seem not just outnumbered in Washington but outmaneuvered. In a flurry of activity, Trump, Elon Musk, and associates shattered any hope of a more restrained, mainstream MAGA movement.
Trump didn’t just pardon some of the January 6th rioters, he pardoned all of them, including the most violent, including those who used violence against police officers, including the white supremacist leaders who directed the violence against police officers.
Trump didn’t just appoint some of his most radical supporters to high office, he announced the most unqualified, in-your-face nominees in American history — from Kash Patel to Tulsi Gabbard to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — and put them at precisely those agencies where they could do the greatest damage.
Trump didn’t just announce reforms of the federal bureaucracy, he took a chainsaw to huge swaths of the government — freezing funding and canceling contracts at USAID, firing hundreds of air traffic control experts at FAA, launching layoffs of food safety employees at FDA and cancer researchers at NIH.
Democrats have objected, protested, sued, even (infamously) shaken their cane at the Trump onslaught. What they haven’t done is actually stop much of the madness. To that criticism, liberal leaders in Washington have their reply: wait until March 14.
That is the day when the deal struck last December to extend government funding expires. Congress has three options: 1) it could act as it is supposed to and pass the 12 appropriations bills that set spending at different agencies for the remainder of the fiscal year, 2) it could act as Congress usually does and pass a continuing resolution that mostly sustains spending at current levels, or 3) it could act as Congress occasionally has, fail to pass appropriations or a CR, and the government would shut down.
In that case, government employees would either be furloughed without pay, or — if they are deemed essential — forced to work without pay. During previous government shutdowns, some essential workers, like air traffic controllers, refused to show up for work, wrecking havoc on air travel. National parks closed down. On-base healthcare and child care can be canceled for the military. Assistance for veterans can be curtailed. Immigration enforcement can be suspended. FDA inspections of food and medicine can be stopped. Environmental cleanups can be delayed.
Because the GOP’s 218-215 House majority is so narrow — indeed, Republicans are delaying Rep. Elise Stefanik’s confirmation as UN ambassador to avoid losing her vote — Democrats believe the majority party won’t be able to pass any kind of funding bill, and will have to negotiate with them to prevent a shutdown.
This all assumes that Trump won’t be able to bully or cajole virtually every House Republican into supporting his position (which is how Mike Johnson secured the speakership, even after several Freedom Caucus members said they would oppose him).
It also assumes that our existing legal and constitutional order applies — which would be a foolish assumption. If there is anything we have learned since Trump took power, it is that his opposition cannot keep up.
It can’t keep up with the sheer quantity of executive orders, policy changes, and personnel announcements. “Muzzle velocity,” to use the phrase Steve Bannon likes, refers literally to the speed at which a bullet leaves a gun. Once the trigger is pulled, a victim is shot faster than people are capable of reacting.
Beyond the pace of events, Democrats can’t wrap our minds around the kinds of actions Trump is taking. The billions in breathtaking personal corruption, the disregard of federal courts, the politicization of the military and FBI, the extortion of media and technology companies, the casual destruction of an 80-year alliance of Western democracies.
What we need now is fresh thinking that meets this moment. In the new Trump era, old rules no longer apply. Democrats should not keep failing because we fail to imagine what the White House will do — and therefore fail to plan an appropriate response. We have to widen our intellectual aperture, to imagine not what a right wing American president would do, but what an authoritarian foreign leader might do.
It is hard to conceive of Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush claiming that a 50-year-old law that explicitly forces the executive branch to spend the money Congress appropriates is unconstitutional, and therefore, the president has the power of the purse. But that is the position Trump is taking. Courts have ordered that spending freezes should end; a few of those rulings have been followed — more often, they are ignored.
Where should the imagination go from there? How about this: March 14 arrives but without a consensus among Congressional Republicans on spending. They can’t pass appropriations or even a CR. Washington braces for a shutdown — but it doesn’t happen. Trump claims that, just as he can turn off spending he doesn’t like, he can keep spending even in the face of Congressional inaction. Lawsuits are filed, federal judges rule against him. Trump takes the line that Congress wants a shutdown but he won’t let them.
Or, how about this: The U.S. Treasury is currently using “extraordinary measures” — essentially moving money between accounts, and delaying the payment of certain bills — because last month, the federal government hit the debt ceiling Congress established in 2023. That ceiling (the maximum level of debt the Treasury is allowed to carry) must be raised by legislation that passes the House and Senate. But what if the legislation fails to pass? What if Trump starts “renegotiating” U.S. treasuries held by the Chinese, the Saudis, and other major sovereign bondholders? They agree to reduce the interest they are owed, and we agree to…something. Maybe the concessions are public; maybe some of them are secret. The art of the deal! The only thing lost is the “full faith and credit” of the United States, the foundation of the global economy.
As challenging as it is to imagine these scenarios — and their aftermath — it is even harder to plan what Democrats should do to fight back. But the first step in solving a problem is seeing it. Trump and GOP leaders are barreling forward like Orban and Erdogan. They are quickly, systematically using a democratic victory to undermine the institutions of democracy — from the civil service to the free press, from the courts to Congress. Too many Democrats are responding like it’s Reagan or Bush on the other side.
Brian Goldsmith, a former adviser to Pete Buttigieg and Katie Couric, is a Democratic media consultant based in Los Angeles.
