As we drifted further and further into the struggle in Vietnam in the late 1960s, there didn’t seem to be any end in sight to the war. We had over half a million soldiers in South Vietnam, and frustration with the conduct of the fight had settled in causing demonstrations and draft dodging at home.
Senator George Aiken (R-VT) simply suggested that the U. S. should “just declare victory and go home”. Richard Daley, the Democratic mayor of Chicago, when asked by President Lyndon Johnson how he could possible withdraw 600,000 troops from the war zone, told him to put them on planes and fly them home. No one took these suggestions seriously, so the war went on and Americans continued to die.
I believe the Democrats find themselves, politically, in the same position as the architects of the Vietnam War were in. They have declared they will resist anything and everything President Trump does. For them, it was to be a continuous war, ending only with the capitulation of the “enemy”, Donald Trump. It seems they have made good on their word. When the Dems awoke on November 9 of last year, it took them some time to adjust to the fact their candidate lost, and the Republicans had held on to majorities in the House and Senate. So began their political war against Trump.
First was the ludicrous attempt at a full recount of votes in three states that were supposed to be part of the Great Blue Wall against the GOP candidate. Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, by small margins, put Trump in as President-elect. After mounting whatever arguments and receiving financial help from stunned Democrats, those who wanted such recounts were soundly rebuffed. In both state and federal courts, such a strategy was struck down, leaving the losers with no more hanging chads to challenge (oops! wrong election!) However, the effect was the same. No recount, the votes stood.
Then came another long-shot — the Electoral College. According to those on Hillary’s side, since the Constitution left the way each Elector voted up to himself or herself, and since candidate Clinton got more popular votes than Trump, these 535 men and women should be persuaded to do the right thing and switch their ballots to Mrs. Clinton. And there was some defection in the Electoral College voters; embarrassing to Mrs. Clinton, more defected from her total than from Mr. Trump’s. Again, a valiant effort was wasted; no change in the outcome was even close.
Since the world was watching, several Congressmen and women decided to show how little respect the new President was receiving from his fellow Americans. To do this, they would stay home and not attend the inauguration of the new President. A lot of noise was made about this, but it had as little effect as trying to dig a hole in a Sahara sandstorm.
Next in line for this war (they called it Resistance!) were the massive demonstrations against the new President. In Washington, D. C., and in cities around the nation, women marched in opposition to the regime on the day after the inauguration. (Of course, no pro-life women were allowed to march with them.) This exercise was to show how unhappy people were with Trump’s election. Many more marches and demonstrations have been held against the policies and pronouncements of the administration — and yet, here we are, almost four months later, and the President’s name is still Trump.
After first claiming he wanted to “work with” the new Commander-in-Chief, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) then set about trying to obstruct every nominee to the Cabinet and to other important offices. Televised hearings gave us strident voices against even the most qualified candidates. Yet, the closest the Democrats came to derailing a nomination was when Betsy de Vos, the Education Secretary, was confirmed when Vice President Pence cast the deciding vote for her.
Then came the scandals that some felt would bring down the President. The loyal opposition have been pushing hard on the several investigations into the Russian meddling in the 2016 election. But after months of looking into this (from July of last year) it seems that no evidence of the administration’s involvement can be found.
In the midst of this daily barrage of negative news about Donald Trump, a poll was taken about the electorate’s ideas. If the election were held again, Trump would win by a larger margin over Secretary Clinton than he did last November. In addition, about 98 percent of Trump’s voters would stick with him, in spite of all the poor press he has been given.
But the Democrats have made some headway. Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security advisor, was forced out. In the budget that lasts until the end of the fiscal year in September, the deal gave the Dems two significant wins. No money was budgeted for the wall between the U. S. and Mexico, and the money for Planned Parenthood was kept in. Also, every gaffe, every misstep and misstatement of the President has been highlighted and parsed to show the weakness of the new leader.
What do the Democrats do now? If the past is prologue, what we can see, that if things go as they have, November 2020 will still see Donald Trump as President. If that is in their future, why not take a page from the past and channel their inner George Aiken — declare victory and proceed from there. Mr. Schumer could go on national television (he is good at that!) and declare they had won the war against Trump. From now on, he would intone in his measured way, the Democrats would work with the Republicans in the Senate and House to serve the American people. Schumer and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the Minority Leader of the House, would find numerous times to have positive photo ops with their Republican counterparts. Of course they would oppose policies they did not agree with, but it would be a principled opposition. By the end of a month or two of this, the public would begin to forget about the bitter invective that was aimed at the new President and his ideas.
In addition, work at the grass roots level would go on at an accelerated pace, as the Democrats would find and groom good candidates for House and Senate offices, as well as state level offices.
Declaring victory and “going home” might seem like a perfect solution to the Washington mud fight, but don’t bet on it. Why? Because it seems to be both reasonable and in the best interests of the American public, I’m betting no good Democrat would sign on to the program.