“Where Are The Incentives in Congress to Be Brave? There Aren’t Any”

Jake Tapper said it and it is devastating

My regular readers know that beyond my disgust with the Republicans under Donald Trump, there’s not much respect for Democrats either. Complaisance these days is a crime in my view. But I also know there is not a lot they can do with Trump majorities in both houses of Congress. But those majorities are razor thin.

The Big Beautiful Bill, aka the Republican budget, passed the House with one vote. That’s a frail lead, to say the least. But in Trumpworld any majority is a mandate from heaven to do anything their great leader desires. Because you know, he might do something bad to any dissenters.

The threats are dire. Trump might back another person to primary them, and pour Elon Musk’s bottomless budget into their political pockets. Except Musk is now out and Trump’s primary candidates have a dismal record, partly because they are often extremist and incompetent ideologues. Despite Trump being the embodiment of that description, his voters have not been very tolerant of others that extreme.

If you do the math, Trump’s actual power on the Hill is far more limited, but the Democrats are not taking advantages of that. They are not taking advantage of anything, including the one power they retain, the power of public opinion. Why? They appear to be priortizing protecting their jobs over preserving the democracy.