What Democrats should not do is impeach the Republican president, at least not right off the bat.

The Democrats need to show the voters that they can do things that are popular, and if the Republican president vetoes them, then that’s an argument for electing a Democrat when the 2028 election comes around.

So what are some examples of popular legislation?

As a matter of fact, Paul Krugman has addressed that very issue:

What kind of laws do I have in mind? They shouldn’t shy away from really ambitious plans, like Medicare-for-All, even though they have no chance of becoming law for now: Democrats need to be clear that they stand for real change. But they should also offer more modest initiatives, like a buy-in to Medicare for Americans under 65. And they should offer legislation immediately restoring the Affordable Care Act subsidies that Trump and his allies killed, leading to soaring premiums for health insurance and plunging enrollment.

On foreign policy, they should pass legislation strengthening sanctions on Russia and restoring aid to Ukraine. A significant number of Republicans might even join them in overriding Trump’s veto. Bear in mind that only 3 percent of the U.S. public sympathizes with Russia more than with Ukraine; only 4 percent of Republicans sympathize with Russia. And I believe that many Republicans in Congress are privately ashamed to see Trump so obviously siding with Vladimir Putin.

Other obvious examples are:

· Refusal to spend more billions of dollars on a failed war with Iran

· Ending the Trump tariffs

· Policies to safeguard Americans against the dangers of AI and data center hegemony

· Reforming tax policy so that it no longer benefits the wealthy and enables corporate tax evasion

· Ending ICE abuses

There’s a lot more here.

I’ve been an Elon Musk hater for years before it became fashionable to hate Elon Musk, so I’d like to see the Democrats take action against that creep.

Let’s assume that in 2028 the voters elect a Democratic president. What could he or she do?

If a Democratic president in 2029 wants to take Musk down a peg or two, he or she could strip Musk of his U.S. citizenship and deport him. The motto could be: I support deporting immigrants who have committed crimes. Musk was admitted to the U.S. from his native South Africa on a student visa. Student visas ban working. He worked anyway, which is a violation of immigration law. Suppose the president just sent armed marshals to Musk’s house with an order to seize his passport and put him on a plane to South Africa. Didn’t ask the courts, just did it. There is a strong legal case. Eventually the Supreme Court would have to decide. Traditionally, the Court has given the president wide discretion on foreign policy and immigration. Would it in this case? Even if it didn’t, that would set a precedent clipping a president’s wings in the future, which might not be a bad thing. And Musk might be out of the country for years while this played out. During that time, the president might ask Congress to nationalize SpaceX, since ownership by a foreigner is a danger to national security. It might just send Musk a message that he is better off building cars and rockets—getting rich, but staying out of politics. In any case, by getting into politics and betting on the wrong horses big time, he has made himself a huge target for the Democrats.

Sounds good to me.

Meanwhile, this country might finally have the votes to end the Electoral College!

State lawmakers could circumvent the Electoral College by enacting what’s known as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Under the current system, each state gets a set number of electors, and the candidate who wins enough states to accumulate at least 270 electoral votes becomes president. This system allows the winner of the popular vote to lose, as Al Gore did in 2000 and Hillary Clinton again in 2016. But the NPVIC would bypass the Electoral College, with each state that enacts the compact awarding its electors to the winner of the national popular vote. The compact would only take effect once states representing a majority of electoral votes sign on, ensuring that the winner of the national popular vote becomes president.

“Every voter should be politically relevant. Under the current system, they are not.”
In April, Virginia became the 18th state to join the compact, bringing the total number of electoral votes pledged under the proposal to 222. On Tuesday, Democrats took trifecta control of state governments in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Nevada. That’s 61 electoral votes. Add in Alaska, where late-arriving votes are still being counted, and that’s 64. With Virginia on board, only 48 more votes are needed for the compact to reach 270 votes and take effect. The emerging math means there is a real chance that the next president is selected based on the national popular vote.

That would represent a sea change in American politics. The current Electoral College system violates the basic principle of one person, one vote. Instead of candidates being forced to campaign for every vote, millions of presidential votes in uncompetitive states are effectively wasted in a winner-take-all system. Politicians and donors pour billions of dollars into a handful of battlegrounds, while the votes—and concerns—of most of the country are ignored. “Under the current system, four out of five American voters are on the sidelines,” says Patrick Rosenstiel, a Republican strategist who is advocating for the compact. “Every voter should be politically relevant. Under the current system, they are not.”

Read the whole article.

And finally, the Religious News Service reports:

Exit polls showed nonreligious voters were instrumental in securing key Senate victories for Democrats whose faith was central to their campaign. CNN found that megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton lost both Protestants (37%) and Catholics (47%) in the Kansas Senate race, but he won support from 82% of religious nones. In Texas, James Talarico won the support of 58% of Catholics and 77% of nones. And in Michigan, CNN found that Democrat Abdul El-Sayed lost both Protestants (38%) and Catholics (41%) to Republican Mike Rogers, but won among nones (76%).

Let’s hear it for the nones!