What do Democrats need to do when they regain power?

[kentuck]

To fix this mess created by Trump and the Republicans?

First of all, Republicans are against "big government". They see the destruction of the different Departments of government as a success. Their concern is not for the people or any programs that might help the people. They live in a utopian America where everyone that works hard, pulls themselves up by the bootstraps, and lives independently from the government, is the best way for Americans to live. To steal from the "big government" is an honorable thing for them to do. That is one reason why they love Donald Trump.

But, in the real world, Americans are dependent on each other, and on our government, to make our lives better. This is anathema to Republicans.

So we inherit the mess they have created. Where do we begin to repair the system that has been decimated?

In my opinion, we start with the Preamble to our Constitution. "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Make no mistake. They have done great damage to our democracy and to our Constitution. It will not be an easy task to rebuild.

However, we should work from the premise that we cannot trust or work with this present Party of Republicans. They have shown their true colors.

[Ars Longa]

1. There is SO much to go after........what to do first?

Maybe first (in my book) would be cutting off funding for the ICE goons
and the detention centers, then cutting off/clawing back funding for all his
vanity projects.....then trying to restore medicare/medicaid funding
then .... wow, everything else......

[kentuck]

2. It's over-whelming just to think about, isn't it?

I hope the Democrats that are running for President are thinking about this. It is not enough just to win the election. There have to be fixes and solutions. We can never return to the Democratic Party of the past, in my opinion.

[Ars Longa]

4. I guess the main thing to addresss is Affordability... I guess

Dems leading the House & Senate could immediately roll-back the
various Tarriffs trump has around the world?? Maybe get a tarriff
rebate underway?
Also there is the obvious Impeachment stuff.........

[Melon]

3. Cut the budget to the military.

Pull back troops from antiquated global outposts. Put that money back into programs primarily to re fund social security. Focus on the realities of modern warfare and the realities that nations are also responsible for their own defense. Balance spending ie Bill Clinton to lower future burdens of interest payments to debt.

Rebuild international relationships that have suffered but not by borrowing money to support military infrastructure.


Announce our own war on fraud against government programs. Cut waste. Take away threat card from the GOP to play against us in future races. This is a continual hammer used against us.

Protect our environment and national parks system.

Restore woman’s rights to abortion.

[Fiendish Thingy]

5. Nothing will change until the court is expanded and the filibuster dies.

Whatever items are on anybody’s wish list of priorities, none of them can happen without first expanding the court and killing the filibuster to do so.

Any politician who says they can restore lost rights and repair the damage of the Trump era without first expanding the court and killing the filibuster is lying and unfit for office,

[lees1975]

18. That's a priority.

It is something we could have done in 2021. There was no vision, no boldness, no willingness to take a risk to do something that would have completely prevented Trump from being able to run for President, and which would, in fact, have led to his imprisonment for the crimes he had committed while in office. He'd have gotten his ass blistered for the seditious attack on the Capitol, at least.

Had we achieved that, and gained a liberal court that would have overturned Citizens United, restored Roe, and gotten rid of the ridiculous immunity ruling, there would not be a President Trump now. And in spite of Garland's incompetence and deliberate foot dragging, one of those liberal justices could have plucked those charges of sedition, and stealing documents right out of Aileen Cannon's hands, and into their own, nullifying Trump's delays, getting him tried, convicted and imprisoned.

And while you are exactly right about this having to happen, of course not until 2028 when there's also a Democrat in the White House, what do you think the odds are that there is enough bold risk taking spirit among Democrats to get this done? If the members of the party in Congress are genuinely serious about their claims that Trump is an existential threat to American Democracy, then they will step up. The fact that they didn't when we had a previous chance concerns me. They are putting a high priority on raising money, so I know they think that's important. But this other thing, we'll just have to wait and see.

[Niagara]

6. Where to begin?

Codify Roe v. Wade.


Codify the Assault Weapons Ban. We had an Assault Weapons Ban in 1994 and it expired in 2004 due to a 10-year provision.


I believe it's imperative to amend an amendment (is the legal term ratifying an amendment?) of qualifying for a Presidential run. There's only two requirements and I think it's outdated IMO.


Eliminate the EC. This is also outdated IMO.


This would be a start anyways.

[Initech]

7. Bring back the Fairness Doctrine!

Kick Fox News out of the White House, Congress, the Senate. Also make it so they can't air blatantly religious programming.

[Celerity]

21. The Fairness Doctrine has no effect on cable, sattelite, or internet (incl. social media) programmes/shows/sites/apps

DU is mired in a wholy outdated paradigm and lens when it comes to this. I have seen it countless times in my soon-to-be 8 years here.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. Repeal the Comstock Act.

It's way past its pull date. Think how upset Clarence would be.

[John Farmer]

9. So much to ask of a single post!

It could be a tome of dos and undoes to just fix what has been damaged or destroyed. Some things will be impossible to get back: our international reputation and the soft power that went with it, for example. And that's just for the first third of his remaining tenure.

[Bettie]

10. The big one for me is something they SHOULD NOT do

and that is putting out a hand in friendship and forgiveness to Republicans, talk about "working across the aisle with our friends on the other side!"...um, if these guys are your friends, you either have terrible friends or no idea of what a friend is.

[sakabatou]

11. There's so much broken... just so much

I'm not even sure if things can be fixed.

[GoodRaisin]

12. We can't make a lot of change if we only have a majority in one chamber; i.e., the House.

We need to make voters understand that a democratic majority is needed in both the House and Senate if they want to see real change. I think making voters aware of that is the first thing we need to do. We can campaign on ways to arrest inflation and make changes to improve cost of living, but we need to present that as a two step process winning both in 2026 and 2028 to actually make things happen.

My fear is to campaign on making cost of living more affordable and then get blamed in 2028 for not making that happen after winning the House in 2026 because we didn’t have all the necessary votes in Congress to make that happen.

[Jersey Devil]

13. Even if we retake both houses it will be endless vetoes

Oversight is the only thing that will be accomplished because Krasnov will veto anything and everything that Congress passes.

[mcar]

14. First, any time an R says they are against big government,

laugh in their faces. The party that wants to nationalize elections and destroyed women's rights? Sure, asshats.

[doc03]

15. The very first thing remove all Trump loyalists from their

jobs.

[hamsterjill]

16. The first thing, which shouldn't take too long, needs to be to reinstate the Kennedy Center as it was before Trump

It's symbolic. I know there are many pertinent things listed in this thread, and more than one thing can be done at a time. But America needs to be reminded that we ARE America and we are going to have to take steps to heal from Trump's stupid, egotistical crap, and get back to normal running a country like it should be run.

Shove that in his orange face, and tell his followers that it's also still the Gulf of Mexico!

[Emile]

17. Increase the Supreme Court to 13.

[kentuck]

19. I agree that they need to seriously consider that...

We were dependent on the Court to protect our rights. They failed. There should be some reform.

[bigtree]

20. I'm sure each of us has something that's been affected that we need 'fixed'

...and there's no reason not to pursue everything that's been broken, stolen, or rapey.

[Orrex]

22. Honestly? I'll fear that they'll push to "put this chapter behind us and look instead to the future"

[canetoad]

23. Now that you've seen

The gaping holes in the system, you must work to plug the holes and ensure that a monster like trump never again occupies the highest office.

How - I don't know. but trump, with help, has written the playbook for a facist takeover.