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Donald Trump is in the White House, and Yahoo News is taking a look at the top stories to watch in his first 100 days. From the unusual role his family members will play as White House advisers, to his promises to aggressively transform U.S. trade policy, and from investigations into Russian interference in the election to his relationship with Paul Ryan, well be rolling out 15 stories over fivedays signposts for the road ahead.

The stakes:Has a major American political party ever been so leaderless? Democrats did not only lose the White House in November and fall short in the House and the Senate. Theyre also bidding adieu to both of their brightest stars: the two Democrats whove sucked up the last decades worth of oxygen; the only two Democrats as famous as Trump. Barack Obama is riding off into the political sunset. Hillary Clinton is already over the horizon. Who has the stature to fill the void to command a spotlight as big as the Donalds? Anybody?

The story:It isnt always imperative for a party to have a new leader waiting in the wings as soon as it loses the presidency. But this time might be different. For one thing, Democratic decimation is near-total. The executive branch belongs to the GOP. So does Capitol Hill. The Supreme Court is about to become a lot more conservative. Republicans now control 33 governors mansions and 32 statehouses; they have complete control in 27 states, which together account for 56 percent of the population. The right hasnt been this dominant since at least 1928. For the next few years, Democrats cant really do much of anything in terms of policy. All they can really do is send a message.

This brings us to the partys second problem. Thanks to technology and celebrity, no messenger in the history of American politics has ever had a megaphone as deafening as Trumps. If Democrats want to compete for voters attention if they dont want Trumps latest tweet to be the only message Americans are hearing, day after day they need to find a way to fight back. Finding someone to fight back is a good place to start.

The players:So who will it be? IndependentSen. Bernie Sandersof Vermont last years primary runner-up is an obvious contender. Hes got the street cred. Hes got the followers. And hes shown that he knows how to tango with Trump. When Sanders displayed a giant printout of an @realDonaldTrump tweet on the Senate floor earlier this month, the image immediately went viral. Ultimately, however, Sanders is a party of one, and he isnt likely to put Democrats interests ahead of his own.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is just as popular and progressive as Bernie; she also happens to be a Democrat, and shes an even sharper communicator, as she has shown during her ferocious Twitter wars with Trump. The same goes for former Vice President Joe Biden, who clearly relishes an opportunity to beat the incoming president at his own populist game. Both Warren and Biden have hinted at possible White House runs in 2020, even though theyd be septuagenarians; whatever happens four years from now, such speculation could help them position themselves as the partys top anti-Trumps in the weeks and months ahead.

On Capitol Hill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has replaced Nevadas Harry Reid as the official head of the legislative opposition, and he may well score some parliamentary points against the Trump agenda. (His recent revisions of an old Mitch McConnell letter proved to be Twitter gold.) But theres a reason why Senate leaders rarely become party leaders. Their aims are narrower and more institutional: protecting vulnerable members, amending bills, striking deals. On top of that, Schumer is much less defiant by nature than Reid. As one senior Democratic Senate aide recently told New York magazine, Chuck will go to the ramparts on an issue when its polling at 60 percent, but as soon as it gets hairy, hes gone. Compromise isnt going to cut it.

In California, pretty much every Democrat of note state Senate President Kevin de Leon, incoming Attorney General Xavier Becerra, gubernatorial wannabe Gavin Newsom has vowed to block the Trump administration from imposing its agenda on the Golden State. But only Gov. Jerry Brown who has been equally defiant has any sort of national profile. If Brown succeeds in making California the center of the resistance, its possible that hell become as a spiritual figurehead of sorts the movements Yoda, if you will.

What about a Luke Skywalker, though? What about the next generation of Democrats? Beltway pundits are already busying themselves with lists of 2020 hopefuls. The same names keep popping up in every outlet: new California Sen. Kamala Harris, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. All of these pols are still so unfamiliar, however, that its hard to imagine them commanding the same sort of national attention as Trump or wanting to. More likely theyll choose their battles, build their profiles and focus on laying the groundwork for future runs instead.

One last option to consider. Typically, ex-presidents retreat from the political fray. They write books. They build houses. They start foundations. They clear brush. Barack Obama has signaled that he wants to do the same, more or less. But what if he followed Trumps lead and broke all the rules instead? At 55, Obama is one of the youngest ex-presidents in U.S. history. Hes also one of the most popular, with approval ratings currently hovering above 55 percent. He has no obvious Democratic successor. And the man who is replacing him in the Oval Office has vowed to undo his entire legacy. Could Obama step away for a few weeks or months, then reemerge in response to some particularly egregious offense on Trumps part? As Michael Corleone once put it, Just when I thought I was out they pull me back in.

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Originally posted here:
Stories to watch: The search for new Democratic leadership - Yahoo News

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) (C), speaks while flanked by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA),(L), and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), during a news conference on Capitol Hill, January 5, 2017 in Washington, DC.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii won his race in November with nearly 74 percent of the vote. He had the biggest margin of victory of any senator on the ballot in 2016, in a state that gave Hillary Clinton her biggest margin. He is ensconced. By all rights he should be, if not a leader, at least a foot soldier in the Democratic resistance to President Trump.

It was perhaps with these things in mind that the Huffington Post interviewed him on Tuesday over his votes in favor of Donald Trumps nomineesfive in all thus far. The Democratic Party, Schatz explained, should work to approve reasonable Trump appointments. The door swings both ways in Washington, he said. At some point were going to want a Democratic president to stand up a Cabinet. So were trying to be reasonable when the nominees are reasonable.

Leave aside for a moment Schatzs evident willingness to support as reasonable the nomination of Mike Pompeo, a man who thinks the CIAs torturers are patriots, as the agencys director. As anyone who has been awake for the past eight years should be well aware, the notion that the Republican Party will reward Democrats in the future for their deference now is utterly laughable.

So just what the hell is going on in the Senate?

One can understand, perhaps, the ease with which Defense Secretary James Mattis won the support of Senate Democrats given the possibility that hell be a moderating influence on Trumps foreign policy. The same is true, for similar reasons, of Nikki Haleys confirmation as ambassador to the United Nations. Wilbur Ross and Elaine Chaos fairly uncontroversial nominations sailed through the Senate Commerce Committee on voice votesone can also understand, perhaps, Democrats having a hard time getting worked up over those two. But 37 Democrats in the Senate voting to confirm John Kelly as secretary of Homeland Security, even though he has pledged to go after sanctuary cities and declined to give a clear answer as to how he would deal with DREAMers? Fourteen Democrats voting to confirm Mike Pompeo, a man who said that Islamic leaders in America were generally complicit in terrorism, as CIA director? All 11 of the Senate Banking Committees Democrats voting unanimouslyunanimouslyto advance the nomination of Ben Grain Silo Carsona man who has stated that he could not, in good conscience, vote for a Muslim president and is, by his own reported admission, unqualified to run any federal agency? What gives? The answer, as always, is the Democratic Party.

Part of the acquiescence may be explained by the electoral calendar. During Carsons hearing, two of the Senates leading progressives, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, grilled Carson on the minimum wage, fair housing, and Trumps conflicts of interest. But both voted for Carson anyway. Jennifer Bendery and Sam Stein of the Huffington Post suggest that Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown did so in part because both face re-election next year. Warren has been criticized back home for being oppositional to Trump, and Brown, like nine other Democrats trying to hang on to their seats in two years, hails from a state that Trump carried in 2016, they wrote. For those members, there is some political upside to demonstrating willingness to work with Trump when the time and conditions allow it.

But that explanation only goes so far, as Schatz demonstrates. The broader truth is this:the Democrats, unlike the Republican Party, havent a clue how to build and wield power. As ThinkProgresss Ned Resinkoff noted recently on Twitter, the GOP realized early on in the Obama administration that obstruction could have a strategically important galvanizing effect:

Trump is unprecedentedly unpopular for an incoming president. The political risks of opposing him are minimal and certainly dwarfed by the risks to weak-willed Democrats of alienating a newly energized base. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has opposed almost all of Trumps nominees, is shrewd enough to see the writing on the wall. She will get a leg up as a leader of the #resistance should she run in 2020 despite her record of wobbly, Clintonesque centrism, simply for doing what should have been elementary for the rest of her colleagues.

Senate Democrats who cant shake the partys narcotizing addiction to civility and process can take comfort in the fact that opposition would not do anything materially to stop Trump from assembling a Cabinet. To oppose is simply to take a moral and strategically important stand against an administration already working around the clock to hurt some of the most vulnerable Americans and challenge the values the Democratic Party purports to stand for. All signs indicate that the party will find a spine when Jeff Sessions, Betsy DeVos, and Scott Pruitt's nominations as Attorney General, Education Secretary, and EPA chief respectively come to a vote. That's all well and good. But resistance to Trump, if it is to be effective, ought not to be a part-time effort.

Here, we have listed the Democrats* who have supported Trumps nominees in roll call votes.

Gen. James Mattis for secretary of defense (full Senate vote)

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto

Nikki Haley for U.N. ambassador (full Senate vote)

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto

John Kelly for Homeland Security secretary (full Senate vote)

U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo for C.I.A. director (full Senate vote)

Not Voting: Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Sen. Chris Murphy

Ben Carson for Housing and Urban Development secretary (Senate Banking Committee vote)

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto

*Senators Bernie Sanders and Angus King are independents who caucus with Democrats.

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Here Are the Senate Democrats Who Have Voted for Trump's Nominees - Slate Magazine (blog)

By Adam Jentleson By Adam Jentleson January 27 at 1:43 PM

Adam Jentleson, formerly deputy chief of staff to Sen. Harry Reid, is the senior strategic adviser at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

As a Democratic Senate aide for the past seven years, I had a front-row seat to an impressive show of obstruction. Republicans, under then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, decided they would oppose President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at every turn to limit their power. And it worked: They extorted concessions from Democrats with threats of shutdowns, fiscal cliffs and financial chaos. I know firsthand that Democrats passion for responsible governance can be exploited by Republicans who are willing to blow past all norms and standards.

Now we have a president who exemplifies that willingness in the extreme. Partly, this explains why he faces more questions about his legitimacy than any president in recent history and why he drew three times as many protesters as inauguration attendees last weekend. But in something of a mismatch, Republicans unified control of government means that the most effective tool for popular resistance lies in the Senate the elite, byzantine institution envisioned by the founders as the saucer that cools the teacup of popular opinion.

Senate Democrats have a powerful tool at their disposal, if they choose to use it, for resisting a president who has no mandate and cannot claim to embody the popular will. That tool lies in the simple but fitting act of withholding consent. An organized effort to do so on the Senate floor can bring the body to its knees and block or severely slow down the agenda of a president who does not represent the majority of Americans.

The procedure for withholding consent is straightforward, but deploying it is tricky. For the Senate to move in a timely fashion on any order of business, it must obtain unanimous support from its members. But if a single senator objects to a consent agreement, McConnell, now majority leader, will be forced to resort to time-consuming procedural steps through the cloture process, which takes four days to confirm nominees and seven days to advance any piece of legislation and thats without amendment votes, each of which can be subjected to a several-day cloture process as well.

McConnell can ask for consent at any time, and if no objection is heard, the Senate assumes that consent is granted. So the 48 senators in the Democratic caucus must work together along with any Republicans who arent afraid of being targeted by an angry tweet to ensure that there is always a senator on the floor to withhold consent.

Because every Senate action requires the unanimous consent of members from all parties, everything it does is a leverage point for Democrats. For instance, each of the 1,000-plus nominees requiring Senate confirmation including President Trumps Cabinet choices can be delayed for four days each.

While the tactic works well, as weve seen for the past eight years, there remains the question of strategy. Should Democrats be pragmatic and let Trump have his nominees on a reasonable timetable, so as not to appear obstructionist? So far, this has been their approach to some of Trumps Cabinet picks.

But its also fair to say that, by nominating a poorly qualified and ethically challenged Cabinet, Trump forfeited his right to a speedy confirmation process, and Democrats should therefore slow it down to facilitate the adequate vetting that Trump and Senate Republicans are determined to avoid by rushing the process before all the questionnaires and filings are submitted. Four days of scrutiny on the Senate floor per nominee, even after the committee hearings, is a reasonable standard for fulfilling the Senates constitutional responsibility of advice and consent.

Democrats can also withhold their consent from every piece of objectionable legislation McConnell tries to advance. With 48 senators in their caucus, they have the votes to block most bills. But even when Democrats dont have the votes, they can force McConnell to spend time jumping through procedural hoops. This is the insight McConnell deployed against Reid to manufacture the appearance of gridlock, forcing him to use the cloture process more than 600 times.

Finally, Democrats can withhold their consent from Trump until they feel confident that foreign governments are not interfering in our elections. Credible reports hold that U.S. intelligence agencies are investigating whether Trumps campaign cooperated with the Russian government on Vladimir Putins personally directed meddling. Withholding consent from Trumps agenda until an independent, bipartisan probe provides answers is not just reasonable; its responsible. If Democrats withhold consent from everything the Senate does until such a process is established, they can stall Trumps agenda and confirmation of his nominees indefinitely. Sen. Richard Durbin has been a leader in demanding an independent investigation. But unless Democrats back their calls with the threat of action, McConnell will steamroll them and never look back.

Of course, it would be unwise to deploy this strategy blindly. The kind of universal obstruction pioneered by McConnell during Obamas presidency is not in Democrats nature: They believe in the smooth functioning of government.

But Democrats concern with delivering results for their constituents is also part of who we are and something we should embrace. Even for innately cautious Democrats, some issues demand dramatic action. If Trump wants to put their concerns about his legitimacy to rest, he can reach out with consensus nominees and policies, and come clean about his ties to Russia and his tax returns (which may show whether he has compromising financial debts to Russian interests). Until then, Democrats can stand up for America by withholding their consent.

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Senate Democrats have the power to stop Trump. All they have to do is use it. - Washington Post

As a young man, Sen. Larry Robinsons father decided to go into the sheep business. He and a partner found a place, bought the animals and settled in for the winter. It was a tough one. Each day, the elder Robinson counted the sheep and reported to his partner. One day, the partner said, At this rate, pretty soon we wont have any sheep.

That, says the Valley City lawmaker, is how it feels to be a Democrat in the North Dakota Legislature.

Robinson entered the Senate in 1987. His election pushed the Democrats to 27 members, giving the party a one-seat majority that year. In 1989, the states centennial year, Democrats held 32 of 53 seats in the state Senate. They held on to a majority through 1993.

This session, their caucus totals just nine of 47 senators.

Thats not a record low, though. In 1967, the Senate had five Democrats. As a gimmick, they caucused in a phone booth. The following year, there were six Democratic senators.

In the state House, the numbers are grimmer: There are 13 Democrats among the 94 House members. In 1965, House Democrats had their only majority in the states history; in 1977, they held exactly half the seats.

Rep. Tracy Boe, D-Mylo, is philosophical about all this. First elected in 2002, hes never been in the majority. About the only difference it makes, he says, is you never get to chair a committee.

In many ways, Boe, who farms near Mylo in the north-central part of the state, represents the historic Democratic coalition. Hes a member of both the Farmers Union a traditional cornerstone of Democratic power in the state and the Farm Bureau, a more conservative organization. Hes also a board member of a rural electric cooperative. In an interview, he said hes probably the most conservative Democrat in the Legislature.

He also concedes that hes probably lucky. He represents District 9, an odd-numbered district, so he didnt face re-election in 2016, which brought a tidal wave of Republicans into the Legislature.

District 9 is perhaps the most dependably Democratic in the state. Its second House member is Marvin Nelson, of Rolla, the Democrats unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate last year; and its senator is Richard Marcellais, of Belcourt, former chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.

Nelson and Boe are the only Democrats in the House from districts outside the Red River Valley. Of the other 11 Democratic House members, seven are from Fargo, two are from Grand Forks, and one each is from Wahpeton and Mayville.

In the Senate, Merrill Piepkorn, elected from a Fargo district in 2016, says he figures its a little harder for Democrats to get bills passed.

Itd be good to have a little more balance, he said.

Democrats in the Senate are more geographically dispersed. Besides Marcellais, two others are from rural districts: James Dotzenrod, of Wyndmere, in southeastern North Dakota; and the caucus leader, Joan Heckaman, of New Rockford, in the center of the state. Others are one each from Bismarck, Jamestown and Valley City and three from Fargo.

The Democrats are a fairly feisty bunch, despite their small numbers. Heckaman said her goal is to hold Republicans accountable. Her response to GOP moves to change the states process for initiated measures is an example. She held a news conference to attack the idea and introduced amendments to broaden the membership of a committee that would study the issue.

In the House, Caucus Leader Corey Mock, of Grand Forks, has taken an equally defiant position. Hes asked Democrats to resist retrenchment in the state codes.

I hate repealers, he said, because once provisions areremoved from the law, they are rarely reinstated.

This is significant because Republicans have introduced bills this session to repeal a range of laws, from licensing for hay sales to certification for online education courses.

Excerpt from:
Democrats pose philosophical on reduced numbers - Bismarck Tribune

Democrats resoundingly condemned Trumps executive action on refugees and U.S. entry from several predominantly Muslim countries Friday.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck SchumerCharles SchumerTrump faces pressure to keep sanctions from GOP Democrats denounce Trump's actions barring refugees Warren goes on tweetstorm over refugee ban MORE (D-N.Y.) said tears are running down the checks of the Statue of Liberty and called the order backward and nasty.

Trump's executive order bans Syrian refugees "until such time as I have determined that sufficient changes have been made to the [U.S. Refugee Admissions Program] to ensure that admission of Syrian refugees is consistent with the national interest."

Warren called the move a betrayal of American values.

Sen. Chris MurphyChris MurphyDem senator hits colleagues silent on Trump's refugee ban Democrats denounce Trump's actions barring refugees Dem rep on Trump's refugee order: 'I am ashamed that he is our president' MORE (D-Conn.) wrote in an Huffington Post op-ed that Trump has now handed ISIS a path to rebirth."

On Twitter, he shared a widely spread photo of a 3-year-old Syrian boy who drowned as his family attempted to migrate to Europe, along with the message: To my colleagues: dont ever again lecture me on American moral leadership if you chose to be silent today.

Sen. Dianne FeinsteinDianne FeinsteinDemocrats denounce Trump's actions barring refugees Intel Committee Dems to Trump: Read torture report Senators move to nix Trump's ban on funding NGOs that provide abortions MORE (D-Calif.) invoked the same image.

There is no legitimate national security reason to ban refugees the vast majority of whom are women and children who have experienced absolute horror, she wrote in a statement.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), whose name often comes up in 2020 speculation, called the order fundamentally un-American.

President Trumps fundamentally un-American executive order today stands in painful contrast to our ideals: pic.twitter.com/ynDLwRgqrW

Sen. Jeanne ShaheenJeanne ShaheenDemocrats denounce Trump's actions barring refugees Sheryl Sandberg blasts Trump's revival of ban on abortion funding Overnight Healthcare: Ryan maps out GOP timeline on ObamaCare MORE called it grossly inhumane.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) wrote on Twitter: Shame. Shame. Shame. Today is a dark day. I feel sick.

Trump's action earned support from top Republicans like Speaker Paul RyanPaul RyanTrump faces pressure to keep sanctions from GOP Democrats denounce Trump's actions barring refugees Ryan: Building border wall 'urgent' MORE, who wrote in a statement:"President Trump is right to make sure wearedoingeverything possible to know exactly who is entering our country."

The rest is here:
Democrats denounce Trump's actions barring refugees - The Hill (blog)