Thread by @ezralevin

It's a disastrous day for our democracy. Forgive the long thread. Short version: any candidate who thinks we can just go back to how things were pre-Trump is dangerously deluded.

This vote is both devastating & unsurprising. Republicans aren't interested in truth. They're interested in saving their own political hides. What this sham trial demonstrates is a clear and terrible truth: the threat to our democracy is much, much bigger than just Donald Trump.

That shouldn’t be a surprise. We’ve seen the warning signs for a long time. We saw Mitch McConnell stonewall President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.

We saw it when McConnell went on the floor of the U.S. Senate to call voting rights “socialism” and a “power grab.” msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-…

We saw it when House Republicans worked in lock step to oppose all election security legislation. thehill.com/policy/technol…

We saw it when Republicans demanded congress haul Biden’s own son into the impeachment proceedings. reuters.com/article/us-usa…

But what more proof do you need than this senate impeachment "trial." Republican Senators are voting not just to acquit an obviously guilty Trump, but against even allowing witnesses in the trial?? It's f'ing astonishing.

Trump isn’t the problem. The problem is much worse.

I can't watch these events without seeing how two significantly different world views are being debated in the Dem presidential primary right now.

I started the week with Jill Lepore's piece in the @NewYorker. Lepore covers the last world-wide crisis in democracy in the 1930s. Mussolini and Hitler were rising, young democracies were crumbling, and America was confronting its own crisis of confidence. newyorker.com/magazine/2020/…

My favorite part is this line. We can all debate whether and how democracy is is dying. But politics isn't something that just happens. Politics is what WE DO. We shouldn't just complain about the political storms - it's up to us to go out and stop the rain.

Just like during the 1930s democracy crisis, today books on democracy are everywhere. We published ours in November but we're not alone. For other new democracy books, check @dziblatt @ProfCAnderson @leedrutman @astradisastra @danpfeiffer & @ezraklein. indiebound.org/book/978198212…

After we launched the Indivisible Pledge (which all major candidates have signed!), we started asking how Indivisibles should move forward with the primary. We landed on candidate Scorecard, which we launched in December. scorecard.indivisible.org

To score candidates, we worked up a lengthy questionnaire with a big emphasis on democracy. What are candidates’ plans for reforming our democracy? How bold are their solutions? How high on their priority list are these reforms?

Warren scores highest overall and in the democracy category. Makes sense given her campaign’s focus on corruption. Unsurprisingly, she’s spent her time at the impeachment trial drawing the same connections.

https://twitter.com/MotherJones/status/1223029818888986624

As for other candidates, Buttigieg is lower overall but not far behind on democracy. Sanders, Steyer, & Klobuchar all have less expansive visions for democracy or place less of a priority on it - but they still get a 70+ score on this metric.

Way down at the bottom of the democracy ranking is Biden. When asked in a recent New York Times interview which of the big democracy reforms proposed by other candidates he supported, he gave a simple direct response: “None.”

Biden is also the only major candidate to decline to respond to Indivisible’s questionnaire at all. Every single other candidate put their thoughts down on paper when asked how they would save our democracy. Biden wouldn't.

Biden has a pretty simple analysis: the problem is Trump. Once we get rid of him, all will go back to normal. Just a couple weeks ago, Biden predicted that McConnell would become “mildly cooperative” once Trump is gone.

All due respect, but there’s not a mildly cooperative bone in Mitch’s body. huffpost.com/entry/joe-bide…

The impeachment trial vote should shake everyone out of any illusion that we can go back to the way things were. Don't listen to me, listen to a former senior GOP staffer on this:

https://twitter.com/EvanMcMullin/status/1222901696826789888

One side is rigging the rules to entrench their power. They’re rigging it against an increasingly diverse, unequal electorate that wants policies that actually reflect the will of the people. They were rigging it before Trump and they will continue rigging it after him.

I'll work my ass off to elect whoever the nominee ends up being. And we've got several candidates who are well positioned to beat Trump. I'd just encourage you if you get a chance to ask your top picks about their plans for saving democracy after Trump. /end