Rolling Stone - Inside the Democrats' Plan to Fight Trump

[TomCADem]

I know the media tends to focus on Trump's most recent lies, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does sometimes overshadow the hard work of Democratic leaders and activists in resisting Trump's anti-American agenda.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/inside-the-democrats-plan-to-fight-trump-w470711

As they squared up to the reality of a President Trump, House and Senate Democrats struck a wary if open stance toward the new president. Perhaps, they said, he would turn out to be a dealmaker, even an ally of Democrats in Congress on trade or infrastructure. Party leaders urged cooperation with the new president. "You won blue-collar voters, President-elect Trump, because you happened to support a lot of Democratic issues," soon-to-be Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said on Fox News in late November. "Don't break your promise to the blue-collar voter. Work with us."

But Democrats soon realized Trump would not be bound by his populist campaign rhetoric. For his cabinet, Trump picked a hedge fund investor who profited off the foreclosure crisis for Treasury secretary; a Republican mega-donor with no experience in public schools for Education secretary; and a multibillionaire corporate raider for Commerce secretary. Members of the Goldman Sachs universe were tapped to lead the National Economic Council and the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Trump did not run on, 'I will hand economic policy in the United States over to Goldman Sachs,'" Sen. Elizabeth Warren tells me, "and yet he has now brought enough Goldman Sachs bankers into the White House to open up a new branch office for Goldman."

Democrats had to get creative to expose and undermine Trump's nominees. They held shadow confirmation hearings that featured witnesses Republicans refused to allow testify in the formal confirmation process. At one such hearing, homeowners testified about the shoddy foreclosure practices at OneWest, the troubled bank that Steven Mnuchin and other investors bought and later flipped for $3.4 billion. "The OneWest model was terrible for homeowners," Warren said, "but it was great for Mr. Mnuchin" who made a reported $200 million on the deal.

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The Mnuchin attacks highlighted an inside-outside strategy that has been essential to Democrats' early anti-Trump efforts. Liberal grassroots groups like Our Revolution, the spin-off from Bernie Sanders' presidential bid, have helped draw huge crowds for rallies in support of the Affordable Care Act. Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which sponsored the Mnuchin ad, told me it's been a decade since he last saw such strong collaboration between congressional Democrats and outside groups. "The grassroots is going to rise up and apply a lot of pressure here," says Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), a leading progressive. "That needs to be a key part of our strategy."

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