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On May 8, Texas Republican Gov. signed legislation that permits police officers to ask about immigration status during stop and punishes law enforcement officials who fail to cooperate with federal immigration agents. The Left is obviously opposed to this legislation. And yes, its drawn protesters out of the woodwork. On the last day of the legislative session, protesters descended into Austin, making their presence known in the capitol. On the House floor, Democratic and Republican state representatives almost had a full-blown brawl after one called Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the protesters (via Texas Tribune):

The normally ceremonial last day of the legislative session briefly descended into chaos on Monday, as proceedings in the House were disrupted by large protests and at least one Republican lawmaker called immigration authorities on the protesters.

State Rep. Matt Rinaldi, R-Irving, said he called U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement while hundreds of people dressed in red T-shirts unfurled banners and chanted in opposition to the states new sanctuary cities law. His action enraged Hispanic legislators nearby, leading to a tussle in which each side accused the other of threats and violence.

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Hispanic Democratic lawmakers involved in the altercation said it wasnt physical but indicated that Rinaldi got into peoples faces and cursed repeatedly. Video shot from the House floor shows both Republicans and Democrats pushing each other.

He came up to us and said, Im glad I just called ICE to have all these people deported,' said state Rep. Csar Blanco, D-El Paso, whose account was echoed by state Reps. Armando Walle, D-Houston, and Ramon Romero, D-Fort Worth.

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Theres no excuse for members making insensitive and disparaging remarks on the floor of the Texas House," Speaker Joe Straus said in a statement.

DPS quickly rushed in to break up the protest. They grabbed the banners from the protesters and pulled some of the people holding them out of the room. Eventually, they decided to clear the gallery of the protesters.

The ordeal became so loud that the House had to take a break from its proceedings for about 20 minutes. A handful of Democratic lawmakers looked up to the gallery and clapped. Thats when the altercation between the lawmakers on the floor started, according to the House Democrats.

Talk about a way to end the session. The video of the incident is below:

See the article here:
Texas Legislature: Democrats And Republicans Almost Come To Blows When One Called ICE On Protesters - Townhall

WASHINGTON Democrats lost a significant number of seats in federal and state elections during former President Barack Obamas two terms and on Sunday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said it would take longer than 2018 to win them all back.

Still, Do I think were going to have a good year in 2018? Yes, Emanuel said, tempering his prediction. Do I think everythings going to be solved in a single cycle? Thats not how we got here, and its not going to be how we get out.

Emanuel looked ahead at the 2018 and 2020 contests when President Donald Trump will be up for re-election during an interview with Dana Bash on CNNs State of the Union.

While in the House of Representatives, Emanuel led the Democratic take-over in 2006, when he chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Now the GOP controls the House, Senate and the White House.

Democrats are optimistic the Trump presidency will help them win back seats but so far Democrats have not claimed any victories in a handful of special elections since Trump took office. In Montana on Thursday, Trump did not prove the liability Democrats have been counting on.

Republican Greg Gianforte, who embraced Trump, kept the Montana at-large seat Republican, winning over Democrat Rob Quist despite facing late breaking assault charges for shoving a reporter.

Last February, Emanuel offered a gloomy prognosis for Democrats during a talk at Stanford Universitys School of Business.

Democrats are at the lowest level since 1928 in the House of Representatives and the lowest level since 1925 in the state houses. It is hard to imagine it getting lower, the mayor said.

It took us a long time to get this low. It aint gonna happen in 2018. Take a chill pill, man. Youve got to be in this for the long haul. And if you think its gonna be a quick turnaround like that, its not. You have to be part of this for the long haul. Youre gonna have a success here and a success here, and then youll build a critical mass. But its worth fighting for. And I think this country is worth fighting for, Emanuel said.

On Sunday, Emanuel was asked if Democrats could take back the House in 2018.

What I disagree with is an approach that assumes its only about one election. Were down, over the last 8 years, about 1,100 Democrats. Youre not going to solve it in 2018.

The Republicans didnt do what they did with just one election cycle. You have to have a long horizon, obviously, and work towards that, electing people at the local level, state houses, into Congress, Emanuel said.

The next showdown is June 20 in Georgia, for the vacancy created when Trump tapped now former Rep. Tom Price to be the Health and Human Services Secretary. Democrat Jon Ossoff is battling Republican Karen Handel.

As for Hillary Clinton running for president again in 2020 Emanuel said, I happen to love Hillary, and I think shes full of energy, and I happen to think theres a lot of time between now and the presidential election. She has to decide whether thats in her heart. We have a lot of time between now and the presidential election of 2020.

Hillary has a lot of offer. The core question is not whether I think she would be a good candidate. Its whether she wants to run.

Link:
Rahm: Democrats will have good year in 2018 but tough road ahead - Chicago Sun-Times

Donald Trump may be off to the worst start in presidential history, but recent polls and election results show Democrats are even more unpopular than he is. Whats wrong with the Democrats?

Recently I ran into a Democratic operative who was adamant that his dispirited partys stock is rising.

Its looking good, for example, that with all Trumps troubles, the donkey party finally will win enough seats in special elections this fall to take control of our states Legislature from the Republicans.

If Democrats cant win this year, he vowed, we should be abolished as a political party.

Might not be as far-fetched as it sounds.

I have written a lot in this space about the Republicans severe political problems. Locally, the GOP seems on the verge of going extinct in King County, which would all but assure the party couldnt win a race for statewide office such as governor.

Weve also covered at length President Donald Trumps unpopularity, with polls at record lows for a president in the first six months of his term.

But this past week the Democrats showed how they excel, above all, at eluding victory. Once again they demonstrated how theyre the party that never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

Somehow the Democrats lost a special election in Montana to a disliked interloper millionaire from New Jersey who body-slammed a reporter on the eve of election. Republican Charged with Assault Wins Montana Seat read the humiliating headlines.

Yes, Montana is a red state, but it has a Democratic governor and one Democratic U.S. senator. While half the vote or more was cast before the body-slamming incident, the Democrats shouldnt fool themselves: They would have lost anyway.

The bigger question is: Why are the Democrats, in this Terrible Time of Trump, still losing?

Recently a poll showed the Democrats have a favorability rating 9 points lowerthan Trumps. Another poll, by ABC News, found that 67 percent think Democrats are out of touch with regular people. Thats 10 points worse than Trump who himself is about as irregular of a person as you can get.

I havent seen Democrats doing much soul-searching about this. Marooned at sea, the plan seems to be to just ride the anti-Trump fervor wave all the way back into shore.

Warning: In Montana, this didnt work. The Republican candidate campaigned like he was Trumps mini-me, from appearing with Vice President Mike Pence to his attacks, in his case literally, on the press. The Democrat, for his part, barnstormed with Bernie Sanders.

Now, in Seattle, everyone loves Bernie. But who thought it was a good idea to parade around in a Montana general election with the socialist?

Democrats nevertheless seem pleased they lost Montana by less than expected which also is classic Democrat-think. No Republican ever says, Yay, we lost but we sure came close!

I dont know what ails the Democrats exactly. Most of their policy positions are more popular than the Republicans on budget issues, on health care, on about everything but fighting terrorism. Yet policy increasingly doesnt seem to matter in elections.

Last year when I wrote about how some longtime Democratic counties on the Washington coast had flipped to Republican for the first time in nearly a century, the former publisher of The Aberdeen Daily World, John Hughes, said Trumps success was due to radiating fear and loathing against Seattle liberals.

OK, I pushed back, but these counties are helped by the Democratic social programs the most.

He wrote back: Im not saying it makes any sense. Its all visceral.

It is all visceral these days. Something is culturally off about the way Democrats are communicating with large swaths of the American public. Must be frustrating, because nobody seems worse at communicating than Trump. Yet so far this year, in the federal campaigns, the Democrats keep right on losing.

Democrats probably will win control of our state Legislature this fall. But the partys problems outside of urban areas are deepening. Meanwhile Republicans arent even making a stab at contesting the most influential position this year in our urban area, King County executive.

That thing the Democratic operative said about his party being abolished? That was a joke. But in a sense, to both parties, its already started happening.

More:
Democrats are supposed to be fighting back, but they just keep losing - The Seattle Times

National Democratic leaders called on a group of breakaway Democrats in the New York state senate to stop caucusing with Republicans after a special election upheld the partys majority in the chamber.

Democrats have 32 seats in the state senate, but eight senators in the Independent Democratic Conference have chosen to caucus with the Republicans. An additional senator who does not belong to the IDC, Simcha Felder, has also chosen to caucus with Republicans. The defections have handed the GOP control of the chamber.

The mainline senate Democrats have long prioritized the return of the IDC to the party fold because they say it would help win back Felder and allow Democrats to claim their rightful majority.

What was unusual this week was just how many nationally prominent Democrats joined in these calls. The catalyzing event was Democrat Brian Benjamins victoryTuesday in a special election for a Harlem senate seat. The win restored Democrats numerical majority after a brief vacancy in the seat for a few months.

Benjamins election gives New York the opportunity to become the seventh state in the nation with a completely Democratic state government, said Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, in a statement. To accomplish that, the Democratic Party, which stands for working families, must unite in New York and everywhere.

For years after an internal party dispute prompted the formation of the IDC in 2011, the breakaway faction lingered in relative obscurity.

But since the November elections in which Democrats regained their numerical majority in the chamber, scrutiny on the IDC has grown. Perhaps more importantly, President Donald Trumps victory energized the states progressive activists who were shocked to learn that Republicans control a legislative body in deep-blue New York due to an anomalous divide.

Grassroots liberals have organized protests against the IDCs eight members since January, which have at times drawn upwards of 100 people.

New York state assemblyman Michael Blake, a DNC vice chair, emphasized the importance of Democratic state governments in blocking Trumps agenda in a statement calling on the IDC and Felder to rejoin the mainstream party.

For New Yorkers to have policies that create jobs with better wages and promote equity in all that we do; for the good of the country that needs us united as a party, it is time for Sen. Simcha Felder and members of the Independent Democratic Conference to end their alliance with the GOP and rejoin the mainline State Senate Democratic Coalition, Blake said.

Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), another DNC vice chair, joined him in a separate statement. Meng also co-signed a letter from all 18 of New Yorks Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives calling on all of the breakaway Democrats to return to the Democratic Conference.

And the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democratic state legislators, called on the IDC specifically to rejoin the rest of the party following Benjamins election on Tuesday.

On Monday, the IDC launched its own appeal for unity with a Call the Roll letter asking all 32 Senate Democrats to commit themselves to fight for seven key progressive issues, including single-payer health care, expanding abortion rights, and adopting public campaign financing.

IDC spokeswoman Candice Giove referred HuffPost to Call the Roll in response to questions about the national pressure on the IDC.

Thirty two is not a magic number unless there are 32 Democrats who are ready to stand up and unite on policies that combat Donald Trump, Giove said. Until we achieve unity and stand up for women, immigrants, and the most vulnerable New Yorkers, all talk about a majority is nothing more than meaningless rhetoric on the part of failed leadership.

John Lamparski/Getty Images

But for state Sen. Mike Gianaris, deputy leader of the 23-member mainline Democratic conference, the individual views of senators is besides the point.

They are giving power to the Republicans to decide whether those issues get brought up at all, he said. Things that do get done, get done much later than they should or get watered down.

Gianaris considers recent legislation raising New Yorks age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18 an example of the latter.

Until the reform passed in April, New York had been one of just two states to charge 16- and 17-year-olds as adults.

But as the result of compromises with the Republicans who control the senate, the new legislation would still require those charged with nonviolent felonies to begin their case in criminal court. After 30 days, they would automatically be sent to family court unless the district attorney demonstrates that there are extraordinary circumstances that require them to stay in criminal court.

And New Yorkers at those ages accused of violent felonies would have to meet three criteria assessing the severity of the crime before they could proceed.

The limitations of the Raise the Age legislation rankle many progressive Senate Democrats, including Gianaris, who maintains that a simpler increase would have been possible without Republican Senate control.

Giove pointed to civil rights advocates praise for the role of the IDC and its leader, Sen. Jeffrey Klein, in helping broker the deal that ensured the legislations passage.

Senator Klein and the IDC deserve enormous credit for their exceptional leadership in this effort, said Judge Jonathan Lippman, former Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals, in a statement at the time.

Mainline Democrats accuse the IDC of caucusing with Republicans because of the power it gives them as a crucial lynchpin in the ruling Republican caucus.

Some of the perks are quite literal. Senate Republicans have distributed generous financial stipends normally reserved for committee chairs to IDC members who serve on these committees as well, often as the second-highest ranking member.

New Yorks attorney general and the U.S. Attorneys office in Brooklyn have opened investigations into the legality of the practice since The New York Times first reported it this month.

The IDC members are quick to note that even if they rejoined the mainline Democratic Party, it would still not have a majority unless Simcha Felder caucused with the party as well.

In a Wednesday letter to IDC leader Klein, Felderlashed outat the IDCs Call the Roll initiative.

Although I am no longer a practicing CPA, it would make more sense for your 25 percent [of Democrats] to rejoin the rest of the Democrats, rather than everyone else join you and support issues you deem a priority, he wrote. Who are you to decide what the legislative priorities are for loyal Democrats across New York State?

Felder went on to ask the IDC to publicly unite with Democrats, if they truly seek unity. He stopped short of promising to join them if they did so, claiming only that he would welcome unity if it effectuates my priority to have the greatest positive impact on my constituents and all New Yorkers.

Its telling that Simcha Felder didnt sign the pledge, Giove said, referring to the Call the Roll letter. We now see where he stands on these seven crucial issues.

Read the original post:
New York's Renegade Democrats Face Growing Calls To Rejoin Party Fold - HuffPost

Since lastyears presidential election, progressives have consistently stated that President Donald Trumps election was not a victory for right-wing politics over progressive politics, but a victory for populism over the status quo. This, many have argued, is the key takeaway from 2016, which saw the Democratic Party lose control of all three branches of government, along with the majority of state legislatures and governorships.

Not surprisingly, the party establishment has yet to fully accept this verdict, and there remains an obstinateresistanceto populism within the Democratic Partys ranks. Indeed, many continue to insist that the 2016 election was a disaster because Democrats were too progressive, rather than beingtoo much in line with the Establishment.

This perspective was dealt yet another blow this week, however, when two relatively minor elections in the Northeast provided further confirmation that populism is the pragmatic way forward for Democrats.

The first was in New Yorks Long Island, where Christine Pellegrino, a progressive and Bernie Sanders delegate at last years Democratic National Convention, was elected to the New York State Assemblyon Tuesday. The significance here is that just six months ago, Donald Trump won by a whopping 23 points in this Republican-leaning suburban district, where Pellegrino becomes the first Democrat to hold the Assembly seat, according to Newsday. In the Nation, John Nicholssummed up this Berniecrat candidate and her successful populist campaign:

Pellegrino, a founding member of the group Long Island Activists, which was born out of the Bernie Sanders movement, ran an edgy anti-corruption campaign that recognized the mood of voters who are frustrated with politicians of both major parties. [And] it worked. The progressive won 58 percent of the vote her conservative foes 42 percent.

The second noteworthy election for Democrats took place in New Hampshire, where Edie DesMarais became the first Democrat to win astate House seat in Wolfeboro,a longtime Republican stronghold in the rural swing state.This successful effort is the first crack in the Republican majority, and the initial sign of Democratic energy translating into electoral victory in the aftermath of the 2016 election, declared the New Hampshire branch of the Democratic Party on its official website.

At first glance these two local elections may appear inconsequential, but their implications should be clear enough. These Democratic victories in Trump country obviously signal that a big electoral backlash reminiscent of 2010 may be upon us and that Trumps toxic brand is beginning to contaminate other Republican candidates. The presidents approval rating continues to drop to historic lows, and even his base about 30 percent of the electorate, give or take appears to be shrinking.The chaotic and scandal-ridden first months of Trumps presidency have generated widespread discontent, and there is no telling how big Democrats could win in the 2018 midterm elections.

Of course, it would be quite a gamble for Democrats to rely solely on Trumps repellent nature to propel them to victory next year. If we learned anything about political strategy from 2016, it is that going after a deplorable figure like Trump for being deplorablewill only get you so far, and that victory is doubtful without a compelling message that appeals to the populist spirit of today. (Though many Hillary Clinton loyalists have maintained that hercampaign had a strong and progressive message, consider this: The vast majority of Clinton campaign ads focused exclusively on personality rather than policy more so than for any other candidate going back to at least 2000.)

No matter how unpopular Trump gets and at this rate it wouldnt be surprising if his approval rating in the future dips below Congress notoriously low rating Democrats would be foolish to think they can revert to business as usual and still lead a successful resistance. If there is anything more anathema to the American electorate than the boorish president, it is the corrupt and arrogant Washington establishment.

The election of a Berniecrat like Pellegrino in a district that went overwhelmingly forTrump reveals the potential and popular appeal of left-wing populism. If the Democratic Party is smart, it will embrace Pellegrinos style of politics. Bold populism that puts working families issues front and center. This is how we win in Trump country, declared Bill Lipton, the state director of the Working Families Party, on Tuesday while commenting on Pellegrinos big win. This is the lesson for Democrats around the country.

Liptons views are supported by the facts. Progressive populism is the path to victory for Democrats in 2018 and 2020.And though populism on the right triumphed in 2016, more and more Americans are coming to see it as the political sham it is, without any real ideas about how to confront the problems we face today. With any luck, the disastrous Trump administration will serve to discredit reactionary populism for a generation. But anti-Establishment anger is unlikely to die down, as many Beltway insiders doubtless hope. As long as the government is dominated by big money and special interests, it seems likely that the Establishment will have to keep fending off popular revolt.

The week concludedwith a special election for the sole congressional seat in Montana between Republican Greg Gianforte and progressive Democrat Rob Quist. The race entered the national spotlight after Gianforte assaulted a reporter for the Guardian the day before the election. (This unlikely had much of an impact, however, as 70 percent of votes were cast early.) Gianforte came out on top, winning a seat Republicans have held for 24 years and counting, but it took millions of dollars in outside spending,and his victory was hardly decisive compared with Trumps 20-point win in the state last November. As the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committees chairman, Rep. Ben Lujn,put it after the election, Republicans should be worried that theyve had to dump so many dollars in to try to defend a district that they shouldnt have had to spend a penny in.

Trump was elected six months ago because he had the perfect opponent in Hillary Clinton, who personified the Washington establishment. Had the billionaire faced a genuine populist on the left, he would probably be at Trump Tower today, still tweeting impulsively about how the election had been rigged. This past week has signaled an approachingelectoral backlash that could dwarf the Tea Party backlash of2010.

But if Democrats hope to retake control of Congress and send Trump packing, they will have to do much more than point out the well-known characterflaws of the president, and galvanize millions of Americans into taking action with a bold,populist and progressive platform.

Go here to read the rest:
Berniecrats are winning in Trump country: Why populism is the pragmatic way forward for Democrats - Salon