I had high hopes for state Senator Chris Murphy when he first ran for Congress in 2006 against mainstream conservative Nancy Johnson in northwest Connecticut’s 5th district. Blue America interpreted his state House and Senate records as promisingly progressive and we endorsed him and got Rickie Lee Jones and the Squirrel Nut Zippers to record this campaign song for him:
The song helped him beat Johnson by a whopping 12 points. But when he got to Congress, he joined the New Dems and moved right… supporting GOP energy policies and for extending the fascist Patriot Act. Blue America stopped supporting him and wrote him off as just another middle of the road careerist Democrat. Today, out of 47 Democrats in the Senate, he has the 34th best lifetime voting record, not very impressive. ProgressivePunch rates him “B.” Interesting, though, just for this year’s votes he’s tied for # 1, which doesn’t really tell an awful lot other than his opposition to Trumpism.
Yesterday he explained what he’s doing to his supporters. “In the last 24 hours or so,” he wrote, “I’ve voted against all three of Trump’s cabinet nominees that have come to the floor— including Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. Tulsi and RFK Jr. are unmitigated disasters, and even if a Democrat had nominated either one, I would’ve voted no.”
Every Democrat, even John Fetterman, Jeanne Shaheen and Elissa Slotkin, the worst of the Senate Dems— voted against Gabbard and Junior. The third nominee who Murphy voted against was Brooke Rollins to be Secretary of Agriculture. 27 other Democrats joined him but 19 Democrats voted for confirmation, including the usual suspects like Fetterman, Shaheen, Slotkin, Hassan and Gallego.
“But I want to be clear, right now,” Murphy continued, “it does not matter what cabinet nominee Republicans put on the floor, I will vote against them. I will not vote for any Trump cabinet nominee who is willing to implement his blatantly unconstitutional seizure of government for the billionaire class.” Shouldn’t every Democrat be taking that position? I think so. But they’re not.
“In normal times,” he wrote, “nominees like Pete Hegseth, RFK Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard never would’ve made it to the floor. Republicans would’ve sunk their nominations and forced Trump to pull their nominations before we ever voted on them. Let me be clear: Republicans know they are dangerously unqualified. They know people will die because today they voted to confirm RFK Jr.
Republicans are rubber-stamping every nominee because they are in a cult. Trump is testing them, and to a person, they are all falling in line. Every one of them has made the choice to let everything proceed as normal. In a cult, you do whatever the leader tells you to do— even when it’s ridiculous, dangerous or risks harm to your own family.
So I don’t think we have any choice other than to wage a daily, loud, urgent fight against the takeover of government by the billionaire class.
It’s probably clear to you that not everyone is there. Some Democrats believe you should reserve power, wait in the bushes, maybe once a week fight. I vehemently disagree.
We are watching a Constitutional crisis unfold and staring the end of democracy in the face. But you’re telling me that the best strategy, the strategy that will appeal to the majority of Americans, is if we just stand down, let it happen, and hope at some point everyone in Washington overnight pivots on a dime to stop it at the last minute… seriously?
How the heck does that work? There is no chance of stopping and reversing what’s happened if we don’t build the mass public opposition now. We did not save the Affordable Care Act because of one day of protest. It took ten years of protests, movement building and mass shootings to pass the first gun safety law in three decades.
Change requires building power— and no, we do not have ten years. But in the face of a crisis like this, I don’t believe it will require ten years. But the level of opposition required to stop Trump and Musk’s constitutional crisis can’t be built overnight. They believe they are invincible and a cult of Republican senators who privately disagree are publicly allowing themselves to be steamrolled and humiliated.
The only way that changes is if enough of us come together to be as loud and visible as possible. We cannot be silent as Trump and Musk seize control of government. I’m doing everything I can to lead that effort— including putting significant resources from my campaign in to building this movement and being ready for whatever Elon Musk and his corporate and billionaire friends throw at me.
Murphy hopes to run for president in 2028. Given his track record in Congress, I have some doubts— he’s been a careerist before, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he tacks back to the center when it suits him. But for now, he’s saying the right things, and more importantly, he’s voting the right way. He's showing some real leadership when it's very much needed. That’s more than we can say for far too many of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate. So, I’m keeping an open mind and hoping I can come around to support him again.
I am all in for Chris Murphy at this point. He is handsome, white, male, charismatic and eloquent, all necessary in these times. Above all he appears to have CHARACTER and compassion. Will he continue towards being progressive? Will he come forward as a new outspoken FDR? We will see if he has it in him because that's what we need.
In this desperate hour, ANY Dem who's willing to fight fascism should be supported. Hell, the likes of Danielle Sasoon should be supported, too.
Party "leadership" remains an embarrassment:
To some groups' frustration, the message has sometimes been muddled by Democratic politicians reluctant to sever themselves from the party's corporate class.
Days after the Treasury Department protest, Jeffries was mending fences with Silicon Valley donors, many of whom are "pissed, watching former and current colleagues have unlimited, unchecked power, and getting richer off of this and they’re not," according to one attendee of the fundraiser. Shortly afterwards, Jeffries told a reporter that among the "lessons learned from the 2017 tax fight" was that "House Democrats are the common sense caucus ...…