Things are not going well for Democrats. Well, things aren't going well for anyone except the weirdos in Trumpworld, basking in the joy of forcing their friends and enemies into submission. It's a mix of cope and despair as the Democrats give up on any pretense of actually protecting their constituents from the genuine threat of fascism they campaigned against. So, as is his curse, tonight on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart, once again, played the role of the self-described "utterly ineffective hypocrisy finder," which does wonders for viewers at home but very little for the overall mess we're about to get stuck in.
Stewart watched in horror as the Republicans played chess and the Democrats "[glued] their balls to their thigh." There's not a lot of fight in the finger-wagging Dems, who urge Republicans who don't give a shit to play by the rules. To paraphrase the late, great Garry Shandling, what planet are these guys from? As Trump and his cronies headed to MSG for UFC and a late-night round of humiliating Robert F. Kennedy, the Democrats were on Capitol Hill coping with their massive loss by pointing to the small election wins. That's not to say some of these wins weren't downright historic. The first trans member of Congress (who faced immediate discrimination from her co-workers) and the first Iranian-American elected to Congress are significant wins for a more equitable society. A 38-year-old New Jerseyan being hailed as the youngest member ever elected to the House from New Jersey is not. Even Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, the Morning Joe hosts who insisted Trump was a fascist before the election, have visited Mar-a-Lago to play nice with a guy they've been calling Hitler for months. Is this an effective strategy against an openly authoritarian government? Jon Stewart doesn't seem to think so.
Ultimately, Stewart's point is that Democrats should not be wandering into the rainforest or trying to convince Trump to follow the rules. These tactics have failed, especially the rainforest thing. They should be using the loopholes within the system to get something, anything, done. While we all love the idea of Robert F. Kennedy being fed a Fish Delight under duress, it won't have a meaningful effect on the measles outbreak we face if a "vaccine skeptic" goes wild on health.
"Government is theoretically a constitutional system of checks and balances between equally powerful branches," Stewart said. "But what government actually is is an overly complicated, Byzantine, bureaucratic maze of rules, loopholes to those rules, and norms. Complex enough that A) If you want to find a rule that keeps you from doing something, you'll find it, and B) If you actually want to do something, you can find a loophole to get around said rule. The norms are just how often you've had to pull any of this shit."
By the end of his monologue, Stewart had the Grimace in some very uncomfortable positions, put his fist through a donut, and left Democrats with a plan and a warning:
"You guys be the loophole guys that figure out how to get shit done because they don't give a fuck about your norms. They will exploit any loophole if they have to clearly closed windows to do it."
