View this email in your browser

 

**NOVEMBER 19, 2020**

Meyerson on TAP

Enough With the 'Please Be Centrist, Joe' Op-Eds

It takes extraordinary good fortune these days for opinion-piece readers
to miss the flood of articles calling on Joe Biden to be a down-the-line
moderate.

**The Wall Street Journal**featured two such pieces on Wednesday, one
from longtime Democratic moderate Bill Galston
,
the other from Mike Solon and Phil Gramm
,
the latter a former Republican senator known for his vehement opposition
to every piece of economic regulation dating back to the biblical
injunction that workers should be paid. (Who's this Yahweh telling
employers what they should and shouldn't do?)

The focus on what Biden should do is understandable, but where are the
pieces calling on congressional Republicans to meet him halfway, or
quarter-way, or even tenth-way? The all-too-tacit assumption of many who
counsel prudential centrism to Biden is that Republicans will then
welcome such a chastened perspective with open arms.

Ya wanna bet?

The fact that the Republican leadership in the House and Senate have
stuck with President Trump as he seeks to blatantly overturn Biden's
election should give these counselors of centrism among Democrats some
pause. They might also factor in today's Washington Examiner article

by Byron York-a right-wing columnist in a right-wing paper-which
reports that some 30 to 40 Republican House members believe that there
was substantial voter fraud perpetrated by the Democrats. How else, they
struggle to understand, could Trump have lost, given that they picked up
House seats? Of course, if there actually had been substantial
Democratic fraud, they wouldn't have picked up those House seats, but
that must require a level of reasoning that has mysteriously eluded
them.

With polls showing that at least half of self-identified Republicans
believe that Trump would have won absent Democratic chicanery, it's a
safe bet that a sizable number of Republican senators and
representatives won't regard the Biden administration as legitimate.
(An early indication will be their absentee rate at Biden's
inaugural.) That doesn't augur well for Republican receptivity to
anything Biden proposes, no matter how bland and anodyne.

It would be nice if we saw more columns about how Republicans should
behave once Biden takes office. It would also be nice if Biden ignored
these counsels of timidity to put before Congress such widely popular
measures as a $15 minimum wage, paid sick leave, a public option for
health insurance, and a massive investment in green infrastructure.
Republicans will vote down (or if they hold the Senate, refuse to
consider) these proposals. Let 'em. That's fine. That's what
Democrats can run against in 2022 and 2024. By so doing, Biden can set a
lot of the agenda for those elections-to his advantage, the
Democrats', and the nation's.

~ HAROLD MEYERSON

Follow Harold Meyerson on Twitter

[link removed]

What a Biden Labor Board Could Do

Although even getting a Democratic majority on the National Labor
Relations Board is no sure thing. BY HAROLD MEYERSON

Will Biden Name a Deficit Hawk to Head OMB?

There is a big risk that he will-at a time when we need massive public
investment. BY ROBERT KUTTNER

The Pandemic's Horrifying Climax

To get through this dark winter, we will need leadership, fortitude, and
hope. BY PAUL STARR

Now Chuck Schumer Wants to Cancel Student Debt

Once considered a fringe theory, Senate leadership has adopted an
aggressive posture on executive authority. BY MARCIA BROWN

David Dayen Shares How Biden Could Fix Health Care on Rising Up with
Sonali

Watch Prospect executive editor David Dayen speak with Sonali Kolhatkar
about the Day One Agenda, specifically, how Joe Biden could fix health
care all on his own. BY PROSPECT STAFF

Unsanitized: Populist Moment Reappears Amid Tyson Gambling Scandal

Plant managers bet on how many workers would contract the virus. This is
The COVID-19 Daily Report for November 19, 2020. BY DAVID DAYEN

To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to
subscribe. 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

Copyright (C) 2020 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

The American Prospect, Inc., 1225 I Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC xxxxxx, United States