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For a year or so DonaldTrump has left little doubt of his authoritarian impulses. He has attacked the independent press, defamed Judge Gonzalo Curiel, consistently praised dictators, tried to discredit our electoral system and, when it suited him, threatened to lock up his political opponent. He has made a mockery of Republicans claim to be the party of constitutional rectitude. And now he has abandoned any pretense that he understands or respects our constitutional system.

The Post reports:

President Trump denounced arguments against his immigration order as disgraceful on Wednesday, a day after three federal appellate judges lobbed critical inquiries at those challenging and defending the plan, and suggested a ruling against his administration would be based on politics and not a fair reading of the law.

In a speech to law enforcement officials in Washington, Trump argued his executive action is clearly legal and read aloud the relevant part of the law, which he called so simple and so beautifully written and so perfectly written.

I watched last night, in amazement, and I heard things that I couldnt believe, things that really had nothing to do with what I just read, he said. And I dont ever want to call a court biased, so I wont call it biased. And we havent had a decision yet. But courts seem to be so political and it would be so great for our justice system if they would be able to read a statement and do whats right.

He clearly threatened to blame the judiciary for any future attacks if he didnt get the ruling he wants. He tweeted, If the U.S. does not win this case as it so obviously should, we can never have the security and safety to which we are entitled. Politics! This comes after he singled out the trial court judge for the initial ruling. (He tweeted, Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad! He claimed, The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!

When President Obama mildly urged the Supreme Court to uphold Obamacare, conservatives had a meltdown, accusing him of disrespecting the judiciary. Aside from a few mild rebukes of the presidents initial comments about District Court Judge James Robart they no surprise have been mute.

One would expect the 9th Circuit to rule on the merits of the case, but a defense of judicial independence would be in order. (In normal litigation a party might be held in contempt for such invective, but the court surely wont go that far.) And where is the Federalist Society? Former Supreme Court advocate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.)?

Democrats would be wise to take two steps. First, if they introduce a resolution censuring the presidents outbursts they can force Republicans to own the comments. The spectacle of Republicans defending the presidents right to bully judges would be impressive, especially in the context of the Supreme Court confirmation fight. And thats the second move for Democrats: They must demand Gorsuch rebuke the comments and defend the independence of the judiciary. Thats the essence of the argument (to the extent there is one beyond the stolen seat claim) against Gorsuch, namely that he will do Trumps bidding once on the court. (We think Gorsuchs intellectual integrity is such that he would never buckle, but thats the Democrats argument.) If he cannot rebuke the president for blatantly inappropriate remarks which bring dishonor on the executive and demean the judiciary, Democrats will have a legitimate concern about the politicization of the court.

Lets see what Democrats and Republicans do. As with Republicans muzzling of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) Trumps outburst gives Democrats an opening to expose Trump and his apologists as authoritarian bullies.

Read this article:
Democrats and Gorsuch must counter Trump's attacks on the judiciary - Washington Post (blog)

The election of President Donald Trump, along with the GOPs success in keeping control of Congress and their big wins at the state level in recent years, have left Democrats without a clear leader. And until one emerges, the role of most powerful Democrat will be a topic of some debate. Still, its obvious that some Democrats have attempted to fill the void in various ways, including a couple who have formally retired from politics.

Here are seven Democrats who could helplead their party through the wilderness.

Just 10 days before leaving office, former President Barack Obama returned to Chicago to deliver his farewell address in front of thousands of supporters, staffers and former volunteers. He ended the speech -- a defense of American democracy and a call to action against forces that may challenge it -- with the line that characterized his 2008 campaign, to cheers and tears from the audience: Yes we can. Yes we did. Yes we can.

It was proof of Obamas staying power both as a symbol for Democrats and as a voice in the party. The fact of the matter is, Obama left office with the highest approval ratings hed had in years: he remains immensely popular among Democrats, and likely will continue to do so.

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President Trump commented on his relationship with former President Obama Monday night. He spoke with Bill O'Reilly on Fox News. See the clip her...

Combined with the inherent power former presidents have in influencing the political discussion, Obama could be a powerful voice against Mr. Trump. There were hints that hes willing to speak out when he deems it necessary: his statement in support of the protesters after Mr. Trump signed his travel ban, which said citizens like the protesters are the guardians of our democracy, indicated he is unlikely to stay silent when Mr. Trump takes things too far.

Obamas next act is still unclear: it seems unlikely that hell go the route of his predecessor, George W. Bush, and step back from public life almost entirely. And at 55, hes among the countrys youngest ex-presidents, so he has plenty of time for his post-presidency. Kitesurfing is bound to get old.

The most popular politician in America is also the leader of the Democrats surging left wing. After his surprisingly strong run for the nomination of a party he is not even technically a member of, Sanders is now the most successful socialist politician in American history. Hes also the one best-positioned to talk to the youth of the party, which is increasingly critical of capitalism and disdainful of the wealthy.

At 75, its unlikely Sanders will ever be the Democrats pick for president. But that doesnt mean other aspirants wont be lining up to kiss his ring as we get closer to 2020. When New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, for example, recently unveiled his plan to eliminate tuition payments for low-income students at state universities, he asked the Vermont senator to co-headline the announcement.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, challenges President Trump to stand by his campaign promise to keep Medicare and Medicaid. "Send out a tweet," Sa...

We dont normally associate septuagenarian socialists with energy and charisma, but if Democratic politics has one rock star right now, its almost certainly Sanders. Hillary Clintons failure to win the presidency damaged her party, but not Sanders, the man who his supporters wouldve easily beaten Mr. Trump if he had only been given a chance.

Sanders and his advocates say that theyre the future of a new and uncompromisingly leftist Democratic Party. And right now, in the age of Trump, its looking more and more like they might be right.

The de facto leader of the Democratic Party is in an uncomfortable position. On the one hand, the liberal base is demanding he do everything possible to stop Mr. Trumps nominees. On the other, he has political realities to consider, like the fact that Republicans control both houses of Congress and the White House.

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In the wake of president Trump's ban from people traveling from 7 Muslim majority countries, Nancy Cordes spoke with minority leader and New York...

But Schumer is nothing if not a strategic thinker, which is why he was the obvious candidate to take over following Sen. Harry Reids retirement. Plus, Schumer has the benefit of knowing Mr. Trump better and longer than perhaps any politician in Washington the two outer-borough New Yorkers have a longstanding friendship, and Mr. Trump has given Schumer plenty of cash over the years. Perhaps thats the kind of knowledge that can pay serious dividends at the negotiating table.

Or not. Either way, Schumers role as the leader of the opposition in the Senate means hes a force for both Republicans and Democrats to reckon with.

The ex-VP still commands a lot of love and loyalty from the Democratic faithful, and his endorsement in intraparty contests will still be sought for years to come. For liberals who will always look back fondly on the halcyon days of the Obama administration, the attraction is even more powerful. Uncle Joe was the loveable mascot of Democratic politics during some of the best years of the party, and will remain beloved among it ranks for as long as he lives.

Plus, Biden speaks the language of the demographic considered most responsible for declining Democratic fortunes: the white working class, which abandoned them in droves for Mr. Trump in 2016. Thats because to many, Biden is a throwback to the golden age of liberalism, a time when unions were strong and filled with reliable Democratic voters.

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Vice president Joe Biden spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Monday, where he discuss his "Cancer Moonshot" initiative. V...

Hes also arguably one of the few remaining examples of old-school politicians ones who worked their way through state schools and remained middle class and plainspoken even as they ascended to the peak of power. They dont make em like Joe anymore, and they never will again.

Plus, is there any Democratic politician, with the exception of Obama, who enjoys such broad support and affection within the partys fractious base? Biden can walk with kings but keep the common touch, gliding throughout the world as a senior statesman while still knowing how to talk to every group in the Democratic coalition. A utility player if there ever was one, expect Biden to be drafted to speak to everyone from African-Americans to Midwestern whites to northeastern millionaires in 2018 and 2020. They all know Joe, and they all like him.

The Democratic base is consumed by anger, and one Minnesota senator has given them an acerbic and entertaining voice. Franken has been in Congress for nearly a decade, but hes eschewed the limelight until only recently. His breakout moment came during the hearings for President Trumps cabinet nominees, where he was quick to draw blood.

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Senator Al Franken (D-MN) questions Donald Trump's education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos' statistics on student debt during her confirmation he...

Sen. Jeff Sessions, Mr. Trumps pick for attorney general, was embarrassed by Frankens questioning, which showed the Alabaman embellished his resume when it came to prosecuting civil rights cases. Betsy DeVos also came out damaged by Frankens questioning, which showed her to be somewhat ignorant in matters of education policy. And Tom Price, the nominee for health and human services secretary, was unprepared when Franken brought up his investments in Big Tobacco.

All of this has lead to chatter that Franken, having finally shed the image of a comedian who plays at politics, might be a credible contender for the presidency in 2020. Franken says hes not interested but then again, thats what presidential aspirants often say this far out from Election Day.

Bernie Sanders may have finished the 2016 campaign as the newest hero of progressive Democrats, but Warren was the progressive icon who originally rose to prominence on a platform of anti-Wall Street, anti-income inequality frustration.

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Dr. Ben Carson and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren clashed during his confirmation hearing for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. El...

In addition to maintaining her sway with progressives, Warren has also presented herself as one of the parties most vicious Trump attack dog, delivering some of Democrats most scathing comments on Mr. Trump throughout the campaign and making it clear since Election Day that she would oppose him at every turn. At a Womens March in Boston, she fired up the crowd: Im here to fight back.

Still, even Warren has her limits among the partys progressive base. When she voted in committee for Ben Carson as secretary of housing and urban development -- just days after grilling him during his confirmation hearing -- she got major blowback from the left wing of the Democratic Party and found herself on defense with the progressives who normally adore her.

There arent many fresh faces on the Democratic scene after 2016, a relatively dismal year for Democrats at the ballot box that quite literally produced few major new Democratic officeholders. But of the newcomers, one stands out as a potential new powerful voice in the party: Californias junior senator, Kamala Harris.

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President Obama is getting flack for a comment he made about California's Attorney General Kamala Harris, calling her the "best looking attorney ...

Harris, formerly the attorney general of California, has long been considered a rising star in the Democratic Party and cemented that reputation by easily winning her Senate race in November. In the weeks since shes taken office, Harris has only bolstered her spot on lists of potential Democratic presidential candidates for 2020 and beyond.

She has been a vocal and visible part of the opposition to the new president: she grilled Cabinet nominees on issues of LGBT discrimination and climate change, held a prime speaking slot at the Womens March on Washington and turned up in front of the White House the following weekend to protest Mr. Trumps travel ban.

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Seven Democrats to watch in Washington - CBS News

Senate Democrats stayed-up for a second consecutive late-night session Tuesday to highlight their opposition to another one of President Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees. And this time the target is one of their own colleagues, attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions.

Democrats spoke on the Senate floor late into the night, one day after they staged an all-night talkathon against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos a tactic that failed to derail her nomination but succeeded in highlighting the divisiveness of her appointment and slowing the overall confirmation process.

The vote of Sessions, R-Alabama, was critical to DeVos' confirmation, meaning he could not be confirmed until after her.

Unlike DeVos, Sessions faces no Republican opposition, but Democrats are largely united in fighting his nomination. A procedural vote necessary to consider Sessions' nomination got the support of only 52 senators, with Sessions voting "present." The only Democrat to support it was Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

"I do not have confidence that Sessions can fairly and independently safeguard the freedoms" provided in the United States, Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on the Senate floor Tuesday.

Senate Republicans, growing frustrated by the delay tactics, have said the Democrats need to accept that Trump is president.

"This level of obstruction at the beginning of an administration is really record setting in a very unfortunate way. It's really time for our friends on the other side to get over the election, let this administration get up and get running," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky.

But Democrats defended their approach.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said that despite DeVos' confirmation, the delay tactic is working.

"When you get millions of calls and demonstrations and a nominee is exposed for being who they are, it's going to have a profound and positive effect, even if she gains office. So, we're very we're very happy with the results, and we're going to continue them," he said.

"We're going to have long debates on Sessions, and we're going to have debates on [health and human services nominee Tom] Price. These nominees are so far afield from what President-elect Trump promised, from what candidate Trump promised and even President Trump promised defend the average person," he added.

More:
Democrats Pull All-Nighter at Senate to Oppose AG Nominee Sessions - NBCNews.com

Democrats will hold a pair of soul-searching meetings in Baltimore this week as the party looks for an approach to President Donald Trump that can unite supporters still bruised by his upset victory last fall.

House Democrats open their annual retreat Wednesday at the Inner Harbor, a closed-door gathering Democratic leaders will use to craft messaging and strategy for the months ahead. Later this week, 10 candidates running to lead the Democratic National Committee will take part in a public forum to discuss their visions for the party's future.

The meetings this year take on added significance for Democrats a party that is leaderless and still reeling from the November election as they grapple with Trump's whirlwind of executive orders and a running battle over his Cabinet nominees.

Democrats remain divided over whether to embrace steadfast, united opposition, the approach the tea party-driven Republican Party took with President Barack Obama, or to look for common ground.

"Donald Trump is so unpredictable," said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a Baltimore Democrat. "I don't think anybody thought he would move as fast as he's moving with as much as he's doing."

Trump shows little sign of taking his foot off the gas or bowing to pressure from Capitol Hill. Calling the executive order to temporarily ban travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries "common sense," the president said Tuesday he is prepared to fight the legal battle over its implementation at the Supreme Court.

"We're going to take it through the system," said Trump, who also reiterated his promise to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. "It's very important for the country."

Trump dismissed efforts by Senate Democrats to hold up his Cabinet appointments as "all politics."

Rep. Andy Harris was asked Wednesday whether he thinks Democrats are treating Trump any differently than Republicans treated Obama during his first weeks in office.

The Baltimore County Republican paused before responding.

"Republicans gave President Obama a hard time, disagreed with some of his policies," Harris said. "Very clearly, the opposite is true with the shoe being on the other foot now."

Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Government and Oversight Reform Committee, has straddled the tactical debate within the party he has criticized the new president while also reaching out.

He condemned Trump for not shedding his ownership of his real estate empire and was among the first lawmakers standing at Baltimore's airport with protesters upset with Trump's temporary travel ban.

But Cummings has also pursued a meeting with the new president to discuss prescription drug prices, an issue on which Cummings believes Democrats can work with the White House. That meeting may now take place as early as next week, Cummings said.

"My position has been, let me dialogue with him about the things that we may have agreement on and, in the course of that conversation, bring up things like voting rights," he said.

Still, efforts to tread carefully are running into large crowds of protesters and organizers eager to pull the party to the left.

Protesters have quickened the outrage metabolism among members of Congress and encouraged disruptive tactics, including boycotts of Senate hearings on Trump's nominees.

The Senate has confirmed seven of Trump's top-level nominees. On Tuesday the chamber barely approved Education Secretary Betsy DeVos after all Democrats and two Republicans voted against her. Vice President Mike Pence was brought in to break a tie and put DeVos over the line.

Democrats have come under immense pressure from some within the party to block Trump's picks at all costs.

"Among the grass roots, there's a feeling that we should be in 'nothin' left to lose' mode, throwing everything we can at the president," said Christy Setzer, a Democratic strategist who advised for Al Gore, Chris Dodd and Howard Dean.

"If there's not perceived intensity in our opposition to Trump," she said, "you'll see a 'throw the bums out' mentality."

The debate over tactics is clearly on display in the nomination of Neil Gorsuch, Trump's choice to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. Some Democrats have pressed their party's senators to filibuster the conservative appeals court judge a move that would likely backfire and further minimize the power of the filibuster.

It is also not clear that Senate Democrats have the votes to adopt a more radical strategy. As it looks toward the 2018 midterm election, 10 Democratic incumbents are running for re-election in states that Trump won.

"The fight that Democrats picked on DeVos was a good fight," said Pat Murray, a former executive director of the Maryland Democratic Party. "Senate Democrats are going to have opportunities to elevate certain people in certain moments to make a point."

But given Gorsuch's credentials and background, Murray said, it's likely he would ordinarily have had an easy path to confirmation.

"Gorsuch is tough" for Democrats, he said.

House Democrats have frequently held their annual retreat in Baltimore, a heavily Democratic city in a state that gave Hillary Clinton one of her largest margins in the country. Outside the policy discussions, lawmakers are set to hear from NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and comedian Chelsea Handler.

On Saturday, Sen. Ben Cardin, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy are among a long list of Democrats set to speak at the party's public forum. But the main event will be an afternoon discussion among candidates running to chair the national party, including former U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez of Maryland and Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota.

Both candidates are progressive. Perez is considered by some to be more of an insider, having served in Obama's administration.

Former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, meanwhile, faces three challengers in her bid to be re-elected as the party's secretary.

Though Democrats lost the White House and failed to make major gains in Congress, the party has plenty to work with. A Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday showed that 51 percent of voters disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job an unusually high percentage so early in a presidency. Forty-two percent approve.

Just over half of the respondents said they oppose Trump's travel restrictions.

Rep. Anthony G. Brown, one of two Democratic lawmakers elected from Maryland in November, said he hopes the caucus comes out of the retreat this week with a coherent message.

Read more here:
Democrats meet in Baltimore to assess future, plan of attack - Baltimore Sun

ALBANY, N.Y.

Until recently, the acid rain of dissent that has nagged the young presidency of Donald Trump the rallies and marches, the town-hall heckling, the phone lines jammed with calls from irate constituents was aimed mostly at those in Washington, with no room to duck, even for the likes of Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

On Friday, it found a far more obscure target.

Traitor! Traitor! a crowd of more than 100 protesters screamed outside a town-hall meeting held by state Sen. Jose R. Peralta of Queens. They were loudly venting at an assiduously uncontroversial state legislator who, as a Democrat in New York City, had been accustomed to cozier treatment.

You are empowering the Republicans everyone in this room knows it, one woman inside told Peralta as protesters shut out of the meeting banged on the windows. Your constituents are angry. We are probably going to vote you out.

The mathematics of power in Albany resists simple divisions. There are Democrats. There are Republicans. There are the Independent Democrats, a breakaway group of eight legislators who control the state Senate in partnership with Republicans an arrangement the Independent Democrats say empowers them to sway legislative priorities to the left, but that mainstream Democrats blame for blocking a more uniformly progressive agenda. And there is state Sen. Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn Democrat whose alignment with the Republicans has supplied them with a fragile majority.

For many liberal New Yorkers who assumed their state was thoroughly blue, the Independent Democratic Conferences very existence has come as a nasty, if galvanizing, surprise.

Though the next elections for the state Legislature will not arrive until fall 2018, liberal activists are already pledging to mount primary challenges to the conferences three most recent additions, Peralta, Sen. Jesse Hamilton of central Brooklyn and Sen. Marisol Alcantara of Manhattans West Side.

The mainstream Democrats, who have raged against the defectors at great and ineffectual length, are also eyeing the 2018 races.

Part of the protest is educating people on what is happening in Albany, said Harris Doran, a filmmaker from Washington Heights who is organizing protests at each of the eight conference members offices, starting this Friday with Hamilton. He said he had not known about the Independent Democrats quid pro quo with Republicans until getting involved in anti-Trump organizing efforts.

There is even a website, noIDCny.org, that describes the conference in terms more befitting a grubby conspiracy than a political deal.

If the Independent Democrats hoped they could hold liberal wrath at bay by fervently protesting Trump (Alcantara was arrested outside Trump Tower on Inauguration Day), listing all the bills they have passed (Peralta) or blaming Felder for enabling Republican control (Hamilton), they have been disappointed.

Just weeks ago, Albany insiders were all but taking bets on which mainstream Democratic senator might fall to the independents next. Such talk has dissipated.

For the first time in a very long time, people are paying attention, Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the leader of the mainstream Democrats, said Monday. We are in an awakening moment.

One political player who seems to have outrun the eruption so far is Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whom liberal activists have accused in the past of stumping only halfheartedly for a Democratic majority. (Cuomos aides have always insisted that this is untrue.)

On Friday night, Peralta tried to explain to his constituents that he had joined the independent conference after a lot of soul-searching about what he called the failed leadership of the mainstream Democrats and the new presidency. He later accused mainstream Democrats of inciting some protesters.

Denying this, Stewart-Cousins suggested that the defectors were pursuing perks like larger offices, staffs and committee memberships.

Sen. Jeffrey Klein, the leader of the independent Democrats, said Monday that the idea that his group was siding with Trump couldnt be further from the truth, adding that his members had voiced opposition to many Trump policies.

Any assertion that his members were merely after perks were, he said, nonsense.

I think its a real problem, and I think its sort of a problem with leadership, that all of the sudden when a Jesse Hamilton or a Jose Peralta or a Marisol Alcantara want to be part of the Independent Democratic Conference because they want to get things done and they want to get things from their districts, somehow its some unsavory trade, he said.

Alcantara has said that she joined the conference after it offered support that was not coming from the mainstream Democrats. Over the weekend, she called the backlash racist: She and Peralta are Hispanic, and Hamilton is black.

They also represent districts in New York City that are more liberal than those of the five other members of the conference.

While no protests against Alcantara have emerged, constituents have met with her to press her to fight for liberal legislation on abortion rights and education funding, among other issues.

People have sort of this nascent political awakening happening now after President Trump was elected, and theyre learning these things, and theyre really unhappy about it, said Lisa DellAquila, an Inwood lawyer and activist who has urged Alcantara to join the mainstream Democrats. I think shes got a lot to prove to her district.

One of Alcantaras opponents in last years Democratic primary, Robert Jackson, may challenge her in 2018, according to a person close to him.

Asked Monday whether he had heard any complaints about his defection, Hamilton said no. He then began listing his accomplishments, like stints on the school board and his local block association.

Ive been on the ground for a long period of time and getting things done, he said.

He hastened to add, I have problems with the Trump administration.

Read more:
Breakaway Democrats in New York feel Trump backlash - MyStatesman.com