Well, he’s absolutely had time to look at things from the Democratic Congress side. That’s certainly true. Now he is telling us what we should look forward to and plan to do after the midterms, if we flip Congress. It certainly looks like we’ll be able to flip the House, but it’s still a definite maybe for the Senate, and we need that one too, because we won’t be able to get much done if we’re only halfway. Respect to Raw Story:
Rep. Jamie Raskin laid out an ambitious agenda for Democratic reforms if the party regains control of Congress, describing the Trump administration’s dismantling of DOJ functions as so extensive that restoring the department will require years of sustained effort.
Appearing on MS NOW, the Maryland Democrat and constitutional expert outlined the scale of what he characterized as institutional destruction. “We need a sweeping de-Trumpification of the Department of Justice.
There are huge parts of the DOJ that have just been dismantled,” Raskin said.
Raskin detailed specific capabilities the Justice Department has abandoned under Trump:
“When they started off, they said they’re no longer going to enforce the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
They’ve stopped monitoring foreign subversion of American elections. In other words, they want to facilitate all of that,” he explained, suggesting the administration has actively worked to enable foreign interference rather than prevent it.
Yes, the DoJ is a gargantuan mess. It’s turned into Trump’s personal law form. They don’t care about the people of America anymore. Isn’t that one of their functions? To work for the people? Please correct me if needed. Clarification is always appreciated. Now, foreign subversion. They certainly don’t want to track that, and the reason is simple. They want to use it to support their candidates because they don’t want Democrats to take Congress, like they worked to help Trump. We don’t need that *again*. Yes, that’s simplistic, but the possibility is there.
He also highlighted the politicization of the pardon process.
“The pardon office was dismantled so it could become a totally political operation run out of the White House and Donald Trump’s brain and the political operatives,” Raskin stated.
When asked whether Democrats should prioritize impeaching Trump if they retake the House, Raskin aligned with Democratic leadership in rejecting that approach as a distraction.
“Our problem isn’t Trump anymore.
Our problem is Trumpism and the whole MAGA domination of the government and the conversion of the government into an instrument of money making and profit taking for the corporations and the people who surround Donald Trump,” Raskin said.
He acknowledged that while “almost daily impeachable offenses” are occurring, Democrats cannot waste political capital on impeachment when Republicans control Congress.
“It doesn’t make sense to talk about something right now that we couldn’t accomplish, because obviously the Republicans control the house and the senate,” he explained.
Yes, as much as we want Trump out, now is certainly not the time. We can’t do any of that to his cabinet, either. Jumping back to the beginning of the quote, the abuse of the pardon process? We saw that on his very first day, with his very first act being freeing all the J6 rioters who should have stayed in jail. Trump has wielded it like a weapon. It’s all about who has been put in prison and who Trump wants to be a supporter. It’s not only the J6 people who shouldn’t have been let out.
Raskin framed the Democratic mission as far more expansive than holding Trump personally accountable.
“We need to deTrumpify this government and restore it as an instrument for the common good and for American constitutional democracy, rather than the private self-enrichment of one guy and his family,” he said.
Most strikingly, Raskin characterized the restoration work as generational in scope.
“That’s the work of a generation.
That’s not going to happen in three months or six months when we get the House, the Senate and the White House back,” he said, tempering expectations about how quickly institutional damage can be repaired.
Raskin emphasized that Democrats are currently winning electoral battles in states like Virginia, New Jersey, California, and Texas, suggesting momentum exists for a broader reclamation effort.
“We are in a mass movement to reclaim American government and to defend and rehabilitate our constitution against these people,” he concluded.
That’s the most stable thing anyone has said about anything. We have a lot to work on, and it’s going to take longer than a few months. Trump has torn it down very, very quickly. It’s going to be substantially harder to get it back. We had a decent administration under former President Biden. It’s achievable when we get to cleaning up Trump’s mess. More than that is going to take longer. Yet if we have this vision clear in our heads, we can do this. Just a few months to wait to start.
[I have gone to a different method of quotes to prevent word salads on the page. If it’s not working, please let me know, and I’ll go back to the usual one.]
See you soon!
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that of all of the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to continue our quest to tell the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
This is why I say we need people who know, to put together a Project 2028 for the dems.
And wouldn’t that be a marvelous thing to see?
On the button, don’t talk in revenge terms (they dun it, our turn now). Highlight their abuses and our proposed actions to prevent them happening again: make the Supreme Court more nationally representative, independently determined voting districts for fairer voting; a nationally determined franchise for the same; the tax regime, health… Definitely a generational thing but with a defined caring for thee not we purpose.
As for revenge, be not vengeful but make it an ongoing sideshow with a commission to weed out, charge or, at least, expose the quislings (trumplings) and focusing on the (at worst) actual or constitutional criminality and, where it falls short, where they have failed the people they were supposed to serve.
In Macbeth’s words: “We have scotched the snake, not killed it”. Forget Trump. He’ll be history soon enough but the infection remains and needs to be eradicated.
Well, okay then. You have given me a *lot* to think about. I’m going to have to go back and re-read the piece and then look at this again. Wow.
13 members for SCOTUS would be an excellent start. Back to one for each court district.
Then, the great undoing can begin.