Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

Why is the Democratic Party ghosting us?

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A spirited conversation with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

By Anand Giridharadas

I just had a very…animated discussion with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island. I began by asking if he believed Donald Trump will be committing an impeachable offense if he accepts the Qatari 747 and takes it home in a doggy bag.

A longtime crusader against the distorting force of dark money in American politics, Whitehouse has had a front-row seat at the critical arguments of the Trump era. We talked about the open corruption of the Trump regime, whether the Democratic Party has failed to meet the moment, and whether the old guard should bow out for the new.

The conversation became animated when I challenged the senator on whether Democrats are willing to actually change as a party in order to meet this crisis. Why do so many Democratic voters feel so totally undefended? Are they all wrong? Who are some leaders the senator looks to? Are there any fighters he sees on the horizon?

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WATCH THE INTERVIEW: Why is the Democratic Party ghosting us?

HCR: Republicans attempt to rewrite the story of January 6 insurrection

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Heather Cox Richardson | Letters from an American | March 17

HCR
Heather Cox Richardson

Today the House of Representatives approved awarding Congressional Gold Medals to members of the Capitol Police for their defense of the Capitol on January 6. Four hundred and thirteen members voted in favor, and 12 Republicans opposed the measure. A number of party members took offense at the language in the bill, which referred to the Capitol as “the temple of our American Democracy” and called the rioters “a mob of insurrectionists.”

Part of their objection comes from their eagerness to downplay what happened on January 6 and to redefine it as a much less important event than it was.

Last week, six top Republican senators expressed dismay to the acting chief of the Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, over the continued presence of nearly 2300 National Guardsmen and a fence topped with razor wire around the Capitol. While security experts are concerned about ongoing threats, especially around the time of Biden’s expected address to a joint session of Congress, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says the security is “overdone.” In a letter to Pittman, the five say it is “entirely unclear” why the fencing remains. They say it “sends a terrible message to American citizens, as well as to our allies and adversaries.”

The fencing reminds Americans of what happened on January 6 and the Republicans’ complicity in that attack, refusing, as they did, to hold Trump accountable for inciting the insurrection. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) did not sign the letter to Pittman, but he told a right-wing talk radio host that he was not frightened by the rioters on January 6 because they were “people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law.” In contrast, though, he said he would have been worried if the rioters were “Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters.”

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HCR: Sheldon Whitehouse asks AG to look at Justice Brett Kavanaugh and dark money

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Heather Cox Richardson | Letters from an American | March 16

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Heather Cox Richardson

Today, I’m watching some stories that have immediate significance, but also indicate larger trends.

First, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has asked the Justice Department, now overseen by Attorney General Merrick Garland, to look into the unusual circumstances through which Brett Kavanaugh’s large debts disappeared before his nomination to the Supreme Court. While this question is important to understanding Kavanaugh’s position on our Supreme Court, it is more than that: it is part of a larger investigation into the role of big money in our justice system.

Last May, Whitehouse, along with Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), released a report titled “Captured Courts: The GOP’s Big Money Assault On The Constitution, Our Independent Judiciary, And The Rule of Law.” It outlined how the “Conservative Legal Movement has rewritten federal law to favor the rich and powerful,” how the Federalist Society and special-interest money control our courts, and how the system benefits the big-money donors behind the Republicans

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