A New/Old Strategy: The Power of Persuasion

Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, co-chair of his party's Congressional Hispanic Conference, led a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson highlighting concerns about potential cuts.

Right now, it may seem like Democrats have no power. Some Dems have even uttered those words.

But it's not true that they have no power.

While they may not be in the majority, they have very close to half of the votes. In the past election, Kamala Harris lost by 1.5%, one of the closet races in history. 1.5% means she got about 48.5% of the votes - not 0%! In the House of Representatives, the Republican majority is only a few votes.

One possible way to effectively start opposing the catastrophic Trump agenda, may be that Democrats in Congress should start appealing to their Republican colleagues to reject the Trump agenda.

That may sound impossible and futile, and a waste of effort. But consider, for one thing, that doing nothing has no chance of succeeding. More importantly though, with the razor-thin Republican margin, especially in the House, only a few Republicans would be needed to be persuaded in order to halt progress.

Dems might want to focus on a few specific Congress members, the ones most likely to cave. Democrats could appeal to their conscience, to their sense of duty to their constituents, and yes, some Republicans still have a sense of duty - it's just in hiding right now. If all else fails, they can appeal to the Republican reps' need to be re-elected at some point.

Consider the upcoming budget debates, over a Trump budget with Draconian cuts in benefits. A lot of Hispanic voters voted for Trump last November. But now, in his budget, Trump is betraying them, by cutting programs that benefit many Hispanics, including Republican Hispanics who voted for Trump. They are having buyer's remorse after only a month, and their Congressional reps are feeling the heat from their constituents.

Republican Rep. Bresnahan said “If a bill is put in front of me that guts the benefits my neighbors rely on, I will not vote for it."

"House leadership can only afford to lose one vote and muster the support needed to adopt the budget."1

In the upcoming budget debates, Democrats just need to persuade one Republican out of 6 on the Republican Congressional Hispanic Conference, led by Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, co-chair. And it appears there are at least half a dozen who are ready to oppose the Trump cuts in the budget. Why not talk to those reps? Why not aggressively "persuade" them? Why not remind them of their constituents, who will vote for or against them in the next election?

It's time for the Dems in Congress to stop saying they have no power, and start using their powers of persuasion in Congress on their Republican colleagues. After all, isn't the power of persuasion the whole nature of being a politician?

1.) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/house-gop-group-wants-to-pump-brakes-on-big-spending-cuts/ar-AA1zpe9q?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=DCTS&cvid=3bf6c7735f5d407ca453798de634b97a&ei=19&fbclid=IwY2xjawIkwPxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHY9AguOZeKZ_mLJs4pzgahcrK0mn4glHu2P65sLWviaYz9ccacfnOE02dQ_aem_eQFL13jIcsWtK61eRnmzkg