By Alec Pruchnicki
If you think President Trump’s performance in Helsinki was great, and the direction of the nation is just peachy, this article is not for you. This is for people who consider Trump a danger to the country and the world, and are desperately looking for a way to resist. There is a way. Take Democratic control of the House of Representatives.
As long as the large majority of Republican voters fanatically support Trump, neither the Republican-controlled Senate or House will stop his reckless actions, other than a symbolic resolution at times. A string of recent Supreme Court decisions have also supported right-wing Republican doctrine, and this will get worse if Brett Kavanaugh, or someone like him, gets put on the Court with the philosophy that the president is above the law.
Some people believe that the Mueller investigation will unearth enough scandal that Republicans will come to their senses and turn against Trump. But, this is not guaranteed and the legal fights over Mueller’s findings could take a long time. The most immediate way to block irresponsible actions by Trump, or just the Republicans in general, is to turn the House Democratic on November 6th.
Locally, there are two races that are relevant to this fight. Republican John Faso represents the 19th District in the Hudson Valley, and Republican Dan Donovan the 11th District covering Staten Island and Western Brooklyn. These districts are sometimes considered solidly Republican, but that might not be true. For example, the 11th includes “solidly” Republican Staten Island. But the district is mixed, with one third of its population in Western Brooklyn. There, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans, 200,000 to 110,000; it voted for Obama twice; and Democrats hold two of the four New York City council districts within the 11th House District. The Democratic candidate here is Max Rose. A former combat veteran in Afghanistan, he attended the London School of Economics, worked in the non-profit healthcare sector and in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office.
In the 19th District, the Democratic candidate is Antonio Delgado, who, after a brief stint as a young rapper (for which the Republicans have attacked him), attended Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and Harvard as a law student.
Although elections in Manhattan overwhelmingly favor Democrats, involvement with these two races is still possible and very much needed. Delgado’s campaign is being aided by the Village Independent Democrats here in the West Village, and Rose’s campaign by the Lexington Democratic Club on the East Side. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has a website covering many national races, even in Utah! There are also numerous independent groups such as Swing Left and Indivisible. Each organization has a wide variety of activities people can fit into (voter registration and turnout, phone banking, door to door canvassing, fund raising, etc.).
The choice is to get involved or get ready for another two years of uncontrolled Trump and Republican disasters. Yelling at your TV or computer screen after each outrage does not count as getting involved. Electing people is what counts.
Contact information for the groups referenced above is as follows:
