The Cringy Posturing of the Democratic Party

It has been one year since the Trump Administration and the feverish MAGAt fanbase attempted to overthrow the results of an election after several dozen failed lawsuits and dozens of other braindead ideas that have never been attempted in the history of American presidential elections. We ended up looking like the very countries we invade whenever there is a political upheaval of such intensity.

People died, the U.S. Capitol police squad ended up in tatters, politicians were inches from meeting very bad fates. the global reputation of the United States dipped even further, and as of today’s writing, the fragments of the failed coup has produced dozens of election-based laws that not only restrict voters, but they also are giving extra power to all the wrong people. So of course, to battle this, we need strong election reform, and what better time to publicly and loudly exclaim that change is coming than the one-year anniversary of when the Capitol was invaded and smeared with shit (literally and figuratively)?

But one year later, we still haven’t seen that election reform. One year later, the same politicians that voted -against- certifying the election remain in the House and the Senate without any type of punishment. One year later, we still have dirtbags and hags like Matt Gaetz, Ted Cruz, and Majorie Taylor Green conjuring up millions in donations by continuing the narrative that somehow Biden was involved in the coup attempt, that somehow the FBI was trying to make the Trump Administration look bad (despite the fact that the FBI was still under Trump’s control when the attack happened). One year later, and we’ve seen zero progress in expanding voting rights via statehood, important bill passage, or even executive orders from Joe Biden himself.

What did we see one year later instead? Nancy Pelosi invite Lin-Manuel Miranda the cast of Hamilton to perform a song from the popular musical…for…whatever reason.

Instead of simply performing strong speeches ending with strong promises and actions, we see this anniversary treated as some random event to commemorate and not a breaking point which reveals that changes are needed immediately. I know the Republican Party are complaining that the Dems are treating this day like “Christmas” because they can (and they should) remind everyone about how morally bankrupt the Republican Party has become in the last several generations, but with the way the events were presented, it almost appears that they have a point.

Let’s be honest, if intense actions aren’t being taken, are the Democrats truly upset at what took place? If what they saw can be considered a terrorist attack, an attack on our democracy, and a terrible warning about the ugliness that still exists in the country, why isn’t more being attempted to fully thwart all this nonsense? Why are we a year since the last gasp of the MAGA movement, and Mo Brooks can still be in the House of Representatives? Why aren’t we seeing what happened in Bolivia, where arrests occurred the instant the political party that was illegally ousted from power made their comeback? Even if they can’t be fully eliminated because of the two-thirds vote clause, why isn’t Pelosi and Schumer at least attempting to publicly expel the members of the Senate and the House that helped create this mess? And lastly, why aren’t we seeing Joe Biden threaten hell on earth towards Sinema and Manchin to convince them to destroy the filibuster once and for all?

Instead, all we are seeing is just more dumb postering from Pelosi and the centrists, whose old-school methods of displaying solidarity is just not cutting it in a modern United States that has seen the worst behavior from a political party since the damn Civil War. Remember when Pelosi didn’t pursue impeachment after the multi-year Mueller Report? Remember when Pelosi also ignored the progressive branch of the House and split the bills and now we’re losing the child tax credits thanks to the stupid Senate? Her actions here mean nothing if she doesn’t actually fight for what the majority of Americans actually want.

To make things even stupider, we had Dick Chaney being congratulated for his solidarity with the Democrats about how we should view the events of January 6th. The same Dick Chaney that helped lead the U.S. to multiple wars that cost trillions and killed thousands and displaced millions is suddenly getting handshakes and smiles from the political party that had spent the last decade (rightfully) ripping him apart for Iraq/Afghanistan. So now the Cheneys are allies? After everything we’ve gone through this century thanks to the Bush Jr. Administration suddenly we’re accepting their appearance just because they aren’t MAGAts? Just add this to the list of stupid posturing actions alongside when Pelosi did her sarcastic clapping towards Trump or when she tore up the paperwork after the state of the union speech. Add this to the list alongside when the Democrats took the knee while wearing African garb (yuck).  

Side-Note: This never happens under a Bernie Sanders administration, Bernie doesn’t enjoy these types of shenanigans, with his infamous pose during Biden’s inauguration being the funniest and most heart-breaking example.

All these moments where the Democrats are trying to -prove- that they are on the right side of history just makes us cringe, and gives the Republicans more fuel to their claims that all the blue team does is talk, pose, and nothing more. We don’t want these moments of visual solidarity; the American public wants more actual actions to improve the deplorable conditions we find ourselves in. We’re in a pandemic, we’re in a polarizing time that sees a white supremacist movement that remains feeling empowered, we’re seeing constant threats against voting rights and individual rights overall. Inviting Lin-Manuel to sing does nothing to combat the political chaos we’ve been seeing from politicians that despite their obvious corruption and their obvious traitorous ways still have a position and are still raising funds.

Democrats, please, actually do something, otherwise we’re going to see MAGA and Nazi flags ending up inside the Capitol once again.