President Donald Trump can threaten to take over Washington, D.C., New York City and any governmental agency, but that won’t help Democrats regain both legislative chambers, only political unity and people power will, Representative Danny Davis (D-7th) warned.
“Trump can do these things and Elon Musk can start another party if he wants to, but I don’t think none of it is going to help Democrats,” Davis told the Chicago Crusader late Tuesday, July 8.
“What’s going to help Democrats is Democrats organizing, educating, being creative, coming up with thoughts and ideas, being engaged with citizens all over the country, said Davis.
He stressed that Democrats must continue to remind people that, “They have power potential that they had not used and that they must be registered to vote and they must scrutinize every move that Trump and his associates and supporters are making but tell them to stay on the case every day, every hour all the time and keep getting the message out,” he stated.
The Congressman’s remarks came a day after Trump ordered about 100 federal agents and military to descend on MacArthur Park in Los Angeles as part of his escalating illegal immigration deportation plan.
“They were riding horses and some of them had vests on that said U.S. Customs and Border Protection and they were in tanks. Some of them were ICE Agents,” said one man, asking not to be named. “Trump is declaring war on Americans, and it doesn’t make sense.”
Agreeing was an irate former Congresswoman, Karen Bass, who is now mayor of Los Angeles and who for years worked closely with Davis. She posted a video of the military action on social media.
During a press conference, Bass blasted Trump for ordering the military back to L.A. under the guise of protecting federal agents when she said there were no protests occurring.
Bass was outraged when the military, including armed soldiers on horseback and some hanging on to tanks, entered the park in the presence of children. “The children’s summer camp was in that park and they disrupted their activities,” Bass said angrily.
She accused Trump of using the U.S. military, with his continued “political agenda of provoking fear and terror” and strong show of force, to “intimidate” immigrants in that area. “It looked like a city under siege, under armed occupation.”
Bass’ remarks came after a weekend of violent clashes between protesters and federal agents. Vehicles were smashed and torched by angry protesters upset by the presence of the military in L.A.
A Chicago Crusader source in California said though at times he wants to give up, “I can’t do that. I will keep fighting, but we all must do the same thing. That’s what they want us to do, roll over and give up. I’m calling my Senator again and let him know I don’t like what’s going on….”
Recognizing what Trump is doing to the immigrants is wrong, Rep. Davis said no matter what the president is doing, “We must keep getting the message out. We must keep expressing hope and let people know that while we’ve come a long way, we still have much further to go.
“Darkness may be at night but joy cometh in the morning. Stay on the case. We got to keep pushing, keep on organizing at the block club and neighborhood levels and let people know they got to be registered to vote. We got to vote like it’s going out of style,” said Davis.
Reminded that Greg Palast, an investigative reporter, confirmed that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris would have defeated Donald Trump by 1.2 million votes in 2024, if not for widespread, organized, pro-Trump voter suppressants who challenged mostly Black voters in swing states, Davis said Democrats must step up and fight back.
“Every time they organize a voter vigilante group, we have to organize another voter group,” said Davis. “When war is going on, you can’t take a rest period. You got to keep fighting. You not only respond to what others are doing, you also have to create for yourselves.”
“There are some people who don’t believe we’re at war, but we are at war. If we can just get people to vote appropriately, put people in offices in all of the places, enough to be a majority, we can put a stop to a lot of this.
“But if we are not voting and just talking smack, just talking about what we ought to do but are not doing it…, what are we doing? Trump and his Trumpeteers will only rise for a while, but my daddy used to sing a song, ‘My God Almighty’s going to cut you down.’
“Giving up or losing hope is capitulation. It’s giving in, saying, ‘Here I am. Take me out’,” warned Davis.
“We’ve got to get backed up against the wall and say like Claude McKay said, “If we must die, let it not be like a hog…. We must fight like the heroes, Nat Turner…the Harriet Tubmans…fight back. That is what we must do to keep Trump and his other Trumpeteers at bay. We keep fighting.”
“Y’all, when Donald Trump was running for president, he said the following:
“Vote for me and you’ll never have to vote again.”
“We’re now just a few months into his second term, and it’s starting to become clear what he meant by that.
• He’s unleashed an unelected, sociopathic billionaire to take a wrecking ball to our democracy and our government.
• He’s pushed our institutions and democratic norms to their breaking point.
• He’s attacked our most vulnerable communities nationwide.
• He’s illegally deported people to a foreign prison camp.
“The bottom line is that Trump 2.0 is worse than we could have imagined — and when Trump said he wanted to be a dictator, he meant it.
“But as long as I walk this earth and serve in the United States Congress, I will fight to stop that from happening if it’s the last thing I do. And at such a defining moment for our country, every day, I get to come into work and fight for a better future and a better home for my community.
“But MAGA Republicans want to give up the power that comes with being a member of Congress… and hand it over to their wannabe dictator, Donald Trump!
“Not on my watch.
“I’m fighting to protect our system of checks and balances from MAGA sabotage.
“But the first and most important step in that process is winning back control of Congress from these spineless MAGA Republicans who would prefer to make Trump a dictator than defend our democracy.”