The 2018 midterm elections are just days away, and the choice is rather simple. Republicans want to stay on today’s strong economic path to even greater prosperity. The Democrats want to return to ineffective, big-government policies.
If Democrats win the House, they won’t get their way in big policy matters because Republicans will hold the Senate and/or President Trump will veto their bad bills. At that point, the Democrats will get desperate. Very desperate.
Their base will demand action right then and there, not after the 2020 presidential election. Of course, part of the Democrats’ mission is to keep Trump from getting re-elected and, as now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate hearings proved, the Democrats in D.C. will not be limited to fair play in the process.
When the Democrats get desperate, here are the top three things they will do.
1. Endlessly investigate Trump. The Democrats will make every effort to shut down any existing investigation into the actions of the FBI and DOJ. And they will turn their attention to subpoenaing every aspect of the Trump administration, warranted or not. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has already said she will use subpoena power as a bargaining tool. Her colleagues will reopen the Russia investigation, and just before the presidential election, or sooner, they will come out with a report that will undoubtedly be a hit job on Trump.
2. Shut down the government. Get ready for two years of government shutdowns. Yes, the Democrats will vote to increase taxes and pass a myriad of other bills. The Senate can sit on those bills, or the president can veto them. But when it comes to funding the government, that is a different issue altogether.
The normal process of passing a budget has turned into a high-stakes game of brinkmanship in this divided era. Budgets weren’t passed at all under the leadership of former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Instead, continuing resolutions, or short-term government funding, became the norm.
If Democrats take control of the House, government shutdowns will be their main legislative weapon, especially since they are well aware that many media blame Republicans every time government shuts down. They will use the threat of a shutdown at every turn to gain leverage, particularly ahead of the 2020 election.
3. Impeach Trump. Yes, impeachment. Numbers one and two above will not be enough for the far left. They covet power. They want to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court with a liberal, and they currently lack the power to do it. They want — and must have — the presidency.
That means undermining Trump is their first priority. Impeachment proceedings will be their ultimate act of frustration. Never mind that there are no legal or factual grounds for such proceedings. They need to satisfy their base, not the truth.
Beyond Pelosi and her House members, you also have the donor competition on the Left. Billionaire donor Tom Steyer continues to demand impeachment and is already funding the fight. George Soros wants the same fight, and Michael Bloomberg, who likely will run for president, will too. It will be hard for Democrats to say no to those donors.
There is also the prospect of a crowded field of Democrats running for president, each trying to be louder and go further to the left than the rest. Today, there is absolutely no platform for a moderate Democrat.
You saw how Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., acted during the Kavanaugh hearings. Those two have started a socialist bidding war, promising government handouts to Americans. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and others haven’t even made their big-government plans known, but you can expect an all-out competition among them to be the biggest government spender.
That, however, will not be enough.
As Rep. Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas, discovered, there will be a litmus test to pass for anyone trying to move up the ranks in Democratic politics: a commitment to voting for impeachment.
In other words, the desperate Democrats will turn the next two years into a political slog unlike anything the Internet age has ever seen. The divisions of today, as serious as they are, will be amplified once Democrats are empowered.
And that is the choice we face in this election: private sector growth or political gridlock. Choose wisely.
Thomas Del Beccaro (@tomdelbeccaro) is former chairman of the California Republican Party and author of That Divided Era: How We Got Here and the Keys to America’s Reconciliation.
