Indivisible’s First True Test — Infrastructure
Trump’s Infrastructure Week poses the first test for Indivisible, a group founded on the Tea Party tactic of opposing the President’s agenda on all fronts.
Until now, Indivisible’s job of obstructing the Trump agenda has been made easy because everything that Trump has proposed since his election has been some combination of horrible. Inside the movement, we’ve had no need for long internal conversations about whether kicking 23 million Americans off of health insurance was a good idea, or if being one of three countries to not be part of the Paris Climate Accord was a good idea, or whether Russia’s influence over the election should just be swept under the rug. However, the White House, chomping at the bit for a political win, has named this week “Infrastructure Week”, aiming to unveil a plan for a $1 trillion plan to rebuild the nation’s roads, railways, airports, and waterways. This plan could have bipartisan support, and poses the first test for Indivisible, a group founded on the Tea Party tactic of opposing the President’s agenda on all fronts.
You wouldn’t know it because everything Trump has done to date is worthy of all-out opposition, but the basic theory behind Indivisible is that because Trump’s agenda includes unconscionable efforts that attack the basic foundations of what America stands for, we must oppose any and all policy proposals or actions coming from his administration. Starting with his campaign and bleeding into his administration, Trump has attacked our democracy and judicial system, promoted racism and prejudice towards Muslims and other minority groups, defunded the EPA and denied climate science, proposed upending the structure of public education towards privatization, and treated women’s health as an an option. All this was easy to oppose, and we yelled at our Republican members of congress and praised our Democratic ones. All is well.
Infrastructure is different. It’s arguably the first issue that we’ve seen come out of this administration that could have bipartisan support. Its undeniable that our infrastructure is in desperate need of repair, both sides of the aisle agree on that. Despite this, those in Indivisible need to urge their members of congress to oppose Trump’s infrastructure bill because supporting part of the Trump agenda is giving legitimacy to all of it.
Bipartisan support for the plan may be a mute point because Trump is taking a widely popular idea and, per usual, putting his infeasible and politically unpopular signature on it. As reported in the NY Times, it looks like this infrastructure investment will end up shifting the cost and responsibility for infrastructure projects from the federal government to state budgets or other private partnerships. While we haven’t seen the plan yet, its hard to imagine bipartisan support for this. But, in case it isn’t as bad as it sounds, we need to insist on its opposition.
Why is it important for Indivisible and all other groups wishing to stop Trump to oppose Trump’s infrastructure proposal? It gives him a win. It softens the overwhelming evidence that he’s a dangerous leader looking out for a specific subset of our country. It makes him look less opposed.
I should admit that I’m uncomfortable with this stance because it doesn’t allow for evaluation and processing of each proposal or piece of legislation coming from the administration and independently assessing their value. But, Trump and his administration have broken so many political, cultural, and societal norms, have undone progress (while still incomplete) in science, health, human dignity, and environmental restoration, and proposed policies that will put more American’s in harms way, that we must urge all of our members of congress to oppose Trump’s infrastructure bill to all ends.
History has an interesting antidote that we must remember about the role of infrastructure spending in giving rise to dictators. In 1933, Hitler began taking credit for the construction of the Autobahn in Germany. Historical election data shows that the rise in support for Hilter accelerated in the communities near the new highway. Hitler used the Autobahn to successfully build political support for his otherwise deplorable agenda. I cannot compare the severity of Hitler’s atrocities to Trump’s, but I do believe them to be cut from the same cloth, using similar tactics of public manipulation and deceit to advance their dangerous agenda.
Trump is using his infrastructure announcement this week to score political points, a well-timed strategy as James Comey is testifying in front of Congress about Russia’s involvement in the election and allegations of obstruction of justice. Infrastructure Week is a distraction. Trump knows that investing in infrastructure is something we can all rally behind. Depending on the details of the plan, some of our Democratic members of congress are going to be tempted to tout its benefits. Some may see this leading to more jobs for their electorate or much needed projects in their district, or some are getting sizable contributions from companies and other entities that will profit from the plan. Let us not allow Trump this win, let us continue the strength of the resistance by doing all we can do to voice our complete opposition to Trump. We must demand opposition because supporting, or even not opposing, this infrastructure plan strengthens Trump and his administration, and makes undoing his damage that much harder.
