U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle, was preaching to the choir at Town Hall this week, and the packed house choir was singing her praises.
“Don’t you think the resistance is alive and well in Seattle?” She asked, rallying the troops against the Trump-Musk wrecking crew and its dismantling of our federal government. The audience was frequently on its feet. Hallmarks of Town Hall audiences are heads nodding in agreement and standing ovations for progressive advocates.
Jayapal laid out a resistance defined by identity politics. Rather than court moderate suburban Republicans, said she, “The biggest source of swing voters is our base.” The base was represented by a trio of guest speakers, a transgender advocate from the Lavender Rights Project, an ACLU executive, and the director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.
In listening to questions, however, a question came to mind: Have the Cascades sealed off Seattle from the political reality of America? There was a call to impeach Trump. “Is it possible?” Jayapal was asked. Another call was to abolish the Electoral College.
Seventy-seven million Americans voted for Trump last November. They didn’t vote for Elon Musk, but the MAGA movement has captured America between the coasts. A sizeable chunk of its support is in reaction to identity politics.
Jayapal occupies the country’s safest House seat, but would have a helluva time getting elected anywhere else. She has written New York Times op-ed pieces discussing her abortion and the gender identity of her offspring. She champions the demonized. She would forgive student loans.
As well, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which she formerly headed, has overreached. It “demanded,” a favorite word for the American left, sweeping reforms such as Medicare for all. It blocked House passage of the infrastructure package at a time when Joe Biden’s popularity was hemmorhaging, and “Build Back Better” proved to be a bust.
A majority of Americans reject radical reform. Incremental change has been the rule in recent years. Over the past half-century, demonstrators have marched down Pine Street into downtown Seattle chanting, “What do we want! (Name of cause). When do we want it? Now.”
“Now” isn’t possible, but playing the long game produces results — even if long overdue. The feminist movement has shattered glass ceilings, witness our law and medical school classes and Supreme Court justices. Native American leader Billy Frank, Jr., was arrested some 30 times in fishing rights protests. Today, there’s a national wildlife refuge named for him. Marriage equality was a decades-long cause of the LGBTQ community.
Jayapal is not without ego and basks in praise from the Seattle left. A surprise cameo guest, Gov. Bob Ferguson, said of Jayapal, “I am so thankful for her.” And self-confident people are needed to push back against what Jayapal called a “far right authoritarian … American fascist” government.
But the far right has also learned to play the long game — terrifyingly so. It is backed by billionaires, boosted by the Murdoch empire and a coordinated media, from Sean Hannity to Brandy Kruse. It has flipped voting habits of blue collar workers to the benefit of the very wealthy. The world’s wealthiest man, Elon Musk, is taking away the foreign aid that feeds poor kids in Third World countries.
“They want the American people to turn against each other,” cried Jayapal, adding: “They have been doing everything to control our lives.” Accurately put: just look at efforts in much of southern and middle America to reimpose abortion bans.
The right has also fought human rights by manufacturing demons. If you heard out Trump on the campaign trail, you’d think transgender athletes competing in women’s sports to be a major threat to the Republic. Along with trans teens using girls’ rest rooms. “Religious liberty” is used to justify discrimination. “Far left” activists want to “shut down energy production,” though we are drilling at record levels.
Jayapal brings talent to this battle, and she has a big new target. At Town Hall, she took out after “our unelected shadow president Elon Musk.” The crowd reacted to mention of his name, booing and hissing. “Elon Musk is vastly unpopular . . . I am getting thousands of letters saying, Elon Musk has got to go,” Jayapal told her very appreciative audience.
She may have faults as a strategist but Jayapal has smarts as a tactician. If Trump is bullying from the top, there is a bottom-up response. Put pressure on Republican members. Point out the hurt their president is doing to their voters. “We’re going to have to tell stories to make them real to people,” Jayapal advised.
I admire the quiet causes of Washington’s congressional delegation. Rep. Adam Smith fought against Trump’s efforts to politicize the Pentagon during the Black Lives Matter protests. Rep. Kim Schrier has sought to cap the price of insulin to those with diabetes.
But we also need somebody to stir up a crowd, who knows that anger needs to be harnessed and effectively deployed. “Are you going to give it up and sit it out?” she asked.
As well, she has smarts to point out the good that government does. Nor has Jayapal forgotten the long game, nor where the arc of justice comes down. Jayapal is an immigrant who espouses the American dream of equal opportunity, particularly for those demonized by Trump. She displays a far better grasp of true American values than those running the country.
Jayapal is more the Democratic Party problem than the solution.
Politics is the art of winning elections. As evidenced by the last two Democratic Party conventions, the party has evolved into a patchwork quilt of progressive special interest and identity groups each with its own set of professional staff and motivated donors, all with the hope that specific demographic groups will push them over the line. If they lose their natural reaction is to pound that same nail over again. Well the times are a changing and there aren’t enough progressives across the country to win an election outside the Democratic enclaves.
Trump did not win on the strength of the media’s bete noire MAGA. Trump won because just enough of the middle third of the electorate decided they didn’t really approve of open borders and the high cost of housing and bought Trump’s cultural war nonsense. And Harris couldn’t summon the energy to publicly disagree with militant uber progressives. Despite gloomy media coverage, the election was very close.
Democrats continue to hang their hopes on the mythical Obama majority. But 2024 results show that the makeup of minority voting groups, particularly Hispanic, is changing. Bernie Sander’s image of the working class is outdated. More voters are owners, or work for small businesses, and have an entrepreneurial streak.
Readers of our local metro daily paper might be under the impression there is only one member of Congress in the Puget Sound basin. When in fact there are seven.