I wrote this accidentally, mostly as a frustrated email to my local branch of Indivisible.

They send daily emails about what can be done against Trump and Musk — upcoming protests, letters to your Congresscritter, etc — and this morning’s email was headlined “Thank Senator Murray for Holding the Floor against Vought.” It asked everyone to call Senator Patty Murray’s office and thank her, because…

On Wednesday night Senator Murray helped Democrats hold the floor for 30 hours to delay the confirmation of Russell Vought, an architect of Project 2025 and Trump’s unconstitutional power grab, to the Office of Management and Budget. Call her office and thank her for her leadership.

Patty Murray: 202-224-2621 or http://www.murray.senate.gov/write-to-patty/

CALL SCRIPT:

“My name is [NAME] from [ZIP]. I am calling to thank Senator Murray for holding the floor to delay the confirmation of Russell Vought. We need your leadership in this moment — please keep sounding the alarm and making good trouble.”

After “making good trouble,” the Dems of course yielded the floor, and the Senate’s Republican majority approved the nomination.

A day’s delay made no difference at all. It was just some Dem Senators clocking in and doing their job, then sending press releases about it. That’s not leadership. It’s performance art.

No, I’m not calling my Senator’s office to thank her for a photo op that kept her up past bedtime.

Even in a minority position, elected officeholders have a bully pulpit, and any US Senator is among the most politically powerful people in America. A Senator could call up the local TV station, ask for an interview, and they’d gladly put her on the air, where she could actually “sound the alarm.” A Senator could speak up and it would be heard — come to a rally, post a video to YouTube. Walk into one of the Musk-captured bureaucracies and refuse to leave until you’re arrested. Doing anything like that would get people’s attention, and might matter in some small but genuine degree.

That would be leadership. That would be resistance. That would be something, but blocking a nomination overnight is nothing. Nothing.

2/7/2025

itsdougholland.com 
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