A list of items Democrats must focus on now that they have returned to power in a big way

By Megan Pickett

Megan is a former NASA scientist and a professor of physics at Lawrence University.

Nobody asked, but I've never let that stop me before.  My reflections on this last week: 

*Listen to people who are fed up. I first learned this when I was canvassing for the Gore campaign (would have been my third presidential campaign I worked for). In my bright-eyed enthusiasm and utter class and race cluelessness, I wandered the South Side of Chicago in a crisp three-piece suit, going door to door for the GOTV effort. In one exchange I'll never forget, someone told me he wasn't voting, and I casually said, "Sitting out means you don't get a voice."  

The guy stopped in his tracks, turned around, walked up to me and said, "You don't get it, do you? You stand there in your fancy suit, and you think it matters to me who is in charge at the top? I can't get a job. I can't feed my family. You white folks come into my neighborhood and complain and tell us to vote for one more white guy, and it has never made a difference to me.  Fuck you and fuck your party."  

It was a hard lesson, but the first time I genuinely started examining my role in racism in this country, and the smug self-righteousness that comes with the white supremacy we all are harmed by and many of us participate in even if we are the most liberal we hope to be.  I've never forgotten that interaction in 26 years.

*Don't give in to cynicism. Tuesday was historic. We have little idea how deeply this rebuked the forces at work in power quite yet, but they are slowly shrinking into the shadows and jumping ship. This was a generational change, and much like ’74 and ’06, the wave will continue into ’28 and ’30 – if we keep it up. Do not fall for false leftist bullshit. I am sick to my eyeteeth of macho white guys telling me we should be on the streets in revolution. Well, in 10-plus years of Trumpism, I've not seen these Weekend Hunter Thompson wannabes do jack. It's all talk: third-party this, armed-resistance that, national-strike whenever. 

It's all bullshit.  Work with what you have, or start burning cars, you cowards. Enough. We have a real opportunity here to put MAGA in its place the way we did with the Tea Party and the Do Nothings.

*The message was as clear a rebuke to old Dems as it was to MAGA.  We cannot have Schumer and Jeffries or Booker, or any of the performative bullshit that accomplishes nothing. We need to pass something new every day and investigate the hell out of everyone.  From day one, I begged the Dems to form a Shadow Government, learn something from England, and have progressive policies ready to go on day one.  Don't miss your shot.  We want affordability and accountability.  Right now.

*Democrats want progressive change.  Swing as big as you can, and make the coward veto everything. Keep a running tally and, if you like that performative thing, put up a clock outside the East Wing with a countdown to Trump's eviction. Get moving on health care. Tax the ever-loving hell out of billionaires but do it smartly – you need to go after dividends for the super wealthy without even the whiff you are going after retirement.  

Wipe out student debt. Cut off aid to any country engaged in genocide.  Restore USAID.  Keep passing the John Lewis Act until we get a President who signs it.  Reduce the filibuster to 55 or nuke it.  Go after vertical integration of insurance companies at least. Haul United Health care and others before congress and have them explain what the hell they are doing.  Help Ukraine.  Stop the Iran War.  End the tariffs.  Rip the goddamned tarp off the Kennedy Center. Legalize weed FFS. Protect trans folks. Do things big and small, every damn day.

*No more throwing trans folks away.  A Democrat who goes that direction, you disavow them. It's not a central narrative, but with the political will we have, stop it. Turek and Fetterman do not drive the politics. The days of Manchin are over.

*Go after the made men. Do not waste your time impeaching Trump.  Investigate the hell out of him, impeach his viziers, go after his family.  Garcia and Raskin: build that RICO case, put every committee all in while other wings are moving legislation forward. Anybody who suggests we impeach Trump is unserious and needs to shut up.  We do not have time for your bullshit.

*If you want to find the monuments and give genuine gratitude for how this happened, look to the state Democratic parties. The Wisconsin Democrats, as I've said all along, get shit done.  Ben Wikler should be a national force in Democratic politics, should have been the chair of the party, and deserves a Presidential medal once we have someone who isn't a war criminal in office.  

Acknowledge that, once again, Black Women saved our asses from ourselves. Pour money into Florida for the next cycle.

*The next time a Minnesota happens, all our Democratic leaders should get to Minnesota. All of them. I wanted to see all the Governors (JB tried to do this, but people wussed out) and Senators form human walls, and not performative ones. Walk up right into the fascists and take the physical blows meant for the least of us. It should not have taken the murder of a mom and the execution of a nurse in the streets for white liberals to wake up.

*Do all these things but have a positive plan in place for 2028.  We cannot be "Not Trump" in a presidential election. We have to be Project 2029 that looks to a generational change, especially when we have a federal trifecta. Then a) rip up all his executive orders and b) stop using executive orders. 

*And finally, once more: Hold them all to account.  Be realistic about it.  They will stonewall. Let them. While they delay, hold a hearing with a cardboard cutout and present the evidence. Go after their money. Go after state laws. 

Don't screw this up. We need results and that means we are not going to be on the steps in Kente stoles. We're going after these monsters and their collaborators.  

Which reminds me: Businesses, law firms, media companies, and universities who bent the knee? You are next.

My name is Meg Pickett, I endorse this message, and I am only getting started. Get involved in local and state politics, but don't be a lunatic. Be strategic, be tactical, listen to people who don't have your experience, and speak from the heart about yours.  Don't make it about you. Make it about how you are going to help.

Get moving.