Democrats Shouldn't Take The Trump Train To Chump Town

'Do Not Congratulate!'

President Joe Biden welcomed the convicted felon-elect Donald Trump back to the White House last week. He even literally used the words “welcome back” as he prepares to hand power over to someone he’s told Americans repeatedly is a threat to democracy.

“Congratulations,” Biden said, reminding me of when Trump’s own briefing papers told him “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” Vladimir Putin after his 2018 re-election. He did so anyway.

Biden’s graciousness in defeat was intended as a celebration of democratic norms but instead it resembled a joyful surrender. His supporters aren’t smiling, especially the most vulnerable who will live with the consequences of Trump’s victory far longer than Biden himself.

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What is a peaceful transfer of power?

Biden told Trump he was “looking forward to having, like we said, a smooth transition.” Trump didn’t share this sentiment in 2020. He actively blocked Biden’s transition, refusing to concede a race he clearly lost. He filed lawsuits claiming election fraud that were as grounded in reality as any similarly baseless claims Kamala Harris could make but won’t.

The Trump administration refused to brief Biden’s transition team on the coronavirus pandemic, jeopardizing the vaccine rollout, and the scheduled Afghanistan withdrawal, which later blew up in Biden’s face specifically because Trump actively sabotaged him.

Biden fulfilled his constitutional obligation when he didn’t stand in the way of the second Trump administration’s transition. Everything else is absurdity.

There is no reason that Biden should’ve met with Trump, who denied him the same courtesy. There’s certainly no political benefit. Voters didn’t punish Trump for his anti-democratic tantrums. He’s only gained political strength since the 2020 election.

Last December, Biden said, “Let’s be clear about what’s at stake in 2020 ... Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican determined to destroy American democracy … Don't take my word for it: Listen to what he’s actually saying these days. He said it out loud. He says 2024 is the ‘final battle.’”

This remains true, even if Trump won the election. Reality isn’t determined by the popular vote. When Biden and other Democrats stand on ceremony, they present the message that everything they said during the campaign was just talk. It was all hysterical political blather designed to raise money from people who believe gas prices are too high.

If Trump had lost, Republicans were fully prepared to break their emergency coup glass. Sure, their actions are anti-democratic, but they actually match their rhetoric and the stakes that were raised.

Harris shouldn’t falsely declare election fraud and demand that Democratic governors in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin refuse to certify the results — even if voters don’t find attempting to overturn elections disqualifying. Trump just won six states he tried to steal in 2020.

Like Al Gore in 2000, Harris will preside over her own Electoral College loss on January 6. But that’s it. Neither she nor Biden should dignify Trump’s victory by appearing at his inauguration, where they’ll sit in the cold and watch as Trump declares war on everything decent. Democracy demands that we honor the election results. There is no moral requirement that we celebrate them, especially when Republicans would never reciprocate. One-handed democracy is not particularly satisfying.

Trump ran an explicitly dishonest and bigoted campaign. He lied about trans people. He lied about immigrants. He didn’t just disagree politically with Harris but he disparaged her in openly sexist and racist ways. Republicans were fine with this. Democrats shouldn’t just shrug that all off, shake Trump’s sleazy hand, and say “good game.” That just cements these repulsive tactics as both effective and acceptable.

It’s why callow opportunists like Rep. Nancy Mace, fresh in the afterglow of victory, are bashing trans people like the piñata at a MAGA party with way more Latino guests than expected. Their bigotry hasn’t ended with the campaign. It’s only grown bolder.

Profiles in chumpness

Upholding ceremonial norms only helps Trump and thus hurts democracy, but Democrats are clutching to this Titanic life raft while slowly freezing to death. Last week, Chuck Schumer, soon to be the Senate minority leader, said, “I hope that after last week we can put to rest the fantasy of stolen elections and rigged outcomes. Four years ago, the losing side refused to accept the will of the people, and it led to a violent insurrection at the US Capitol. This year we will not go down that dark and violent path.”

This is silly on its face, as the only reason everyone’s accepting the will of the people this time is because Trump won. Peace through liberal submission isn’t a strategy. It’s appeasement. Voters won’t reward Democrats for playing nice. They just believe everything runs more smoothly when Republicans win.

Schumer even proactively declared his desire for good, old-fashioned bipartisan cooperation with the incoming fascist regime. (Watch below.)

“The American people have spoken, I congratulate Pres. Elect Trump on his victory and I look forward to speaking with him soon,” Schumer announced from the Senate floor. Sure, maybe Trump will get his own infrastructure week. You need solid roads and bridges for all those mass deportations.

Schumer offered what he probably assumed were encouraging words, but just seemed liked conclusive proof that he’s had this job for too damn long.

“To Democrats who were back around in 2004. Remember the grief we felt back then? It was a tough election for sure. But what happened afterward? We got back to work to regain the trust of the American people. I was proud to be part of that process as chair of the DSCC. And just two years later, the tide turned in a dramatic way.”

We’d rightly mock a network TV executive who tried comparing 2024 to 2004. “Hey, remember when ABC was struggling but then Grey’s Anatomy changed everything? No, I have no idea what ‘streaming’ means.”

Schumer’s flat-out wrong: George W. Bush winning re-election was an umitigated disaster for many reasons, but specifically because he was able to nominate both John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. I also don’t recall a single Democratic fundraising message this cycle that said, “Hey, if we lose, we’ll have the next Obama in four years. Send us money or nah. It’ll work out.”

Democratic leaders shouldn’t reassure us about Trump’s victory. We didn’t just have a bad nightmare. This is real. Fascism thrives under the illusion of normality. Yet, Schumer’s not the only one who wants to maintain a false peace. Bernie Sanders said he’s willing to work with Trump on lowering credit card interest fees. I can’t believe I have to say this, but providing Trump with any tangible victories is like loading an electoral rifle and pointing it at ourselves.

Republicans have long understood this. They didn’t lift a finger to help Biden and Democrats during the covid recovery. (Republicans all voted against the American Rescue Plan before shamelessly taking credit for it.) GOP House leadership whipped votes against the bipartisan infrastructure bill. They pushed misleading narratives about the economy, absurdly comparing Biden-era gas prices to the last months of 2020 when gas was cheap because no one left the house.

By December 2008, Republicans had resolved to uniformly obstruct Barack Obama’s presidency. “If he was for it,” former Sen. George Voinovich explained, “we had to be against it.” This wasn’t done simply to pacify their extremist base, who loathed Obama. No, Republicans knew that keeping Obama from delivering would demoralize his own supporters. It’s a cynical strategy but it’s worked consistently. Worse, Trump botched the pandemic response and yet benefitted from every negative aspect of the recovery. This was not a respectable victory.

Republicans have won the levers of power. We must accept that. However, they can’t win our respect and smiling cooperation unless we willingly surrender it.