Don’t poke the bear: Democrats would be wise to find common ground with Trump

Bear-baiting was popular in 16th and 17th century England. A bear would be led into an arena and chained to a stake. Then a pack of bulldogs or mastiffs would be released into the arena to torment the bear. Apparently, the crowds enjoyed subjecting such a powerful animal to abuse.

Donald Trump is not a bear, but he was the president of the United States when his political opponents started tormenting him, which arguably made him the most powerful man in the world.

And while Democrats in the House of Representatives, the ACLU, liberal advocacy groups and his other opponents didn’t chain him to a stake, they put him through endless oversight hearings, impeachment proceedings, lawsuits to prevent him from implementing his policies, and character assassinations.

When he finished his term in office, Democrats began a campaign to prevent him from running again. But despite their efforts, Trump persevered and was elected for a second term in the White House.

In some ways, they are worse than the people who delighted in seeing a bear attacked by a pack of ferocious dogs. At least the bear-baiting audiences weren’t motivated by hate — they just enjoyed violence. They were also patrons of arenas where dogs, bulls, chimps and other creatures fought to the death in front of cheering crowds.

Trump’s tormentors are motivated by animosity. They have stoked fear and hatred toward him with inflammatory rhetoric, which included comparing him to Hitler, calling him a fascist, and claiming that he is a threat to democracy. And they didn’t dial the rhetoric down when an assassin’s bullet almost killed him, or when a second assassin was apprehended.

They are the threat to democracy, not Trump. Instead of accepting the results of the election that put Trump him in the White House for his first term as president, they did everything they could to undermine his presidency and tried to force him out of the White House.

Apparently, most Americans realized what they were doing and were alienated by it. Trump won a second term with a popular vote majority and 312 electoral votes — 42 more than he needed to win. This is a strong mandate for him and his policies.

The ACLU filed 434 legal actions against Trump’s administration during his first presidency, successfully blocking some of his policies and delaying the implementation of others.

Moreover, Democratic congressmen were advocating Trump’s impeachment “since the moment of his election.” They “launched multiple investigations into his business dealings and his campaign's ties to Russian hackers who targeted his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton.”

Former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opposed impeachment proceedings initially, but that changed in September 2019, when a whistleblower reported an allegedly improper phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The whistleblower claimed that “Trump had threatened to withhold U.S. foreign aid money until Zelensky promised to investigate Hunter Biden, son of leading Democratic 2020 candidate Joe Biden, for suspicious dealings in Ukraine.”

Impeachment proceedings were held and the resulting impeachment articles were approved in the House and sent to the Senate for a trial. But the Senate acquitted Trump. 

The January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol provided them with another opportunity to impeach Trump. They charged him with "incitement of insurrection." The Senate didn’t convict him this time either.

Then, when elections were on the horizon, they brought civil suits and criminal charges against the former president, the most serious of which alleged that Trump “falsified business records as part of a scheme to pay hush money to women who said they’d had sexual relationships with Trump.” On May 30, he was convicted on the bookkeeping charges, which were felonies.

Pelosi issued a press release after Trump’s reelection, saying, “We all pray for America’s success under the next Administration. The peaceful transfer of power is the cornerstone of our democracy. After every election, we all have a responsibility to come together and find common ground.”

But even in her concession speech Vice President Harris vows to fight. “I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign — the fight: the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness, and the dignity of all people. … That is a fight I will never give up.”

The ACLU vowed to fight, too, preparing “a roadmap to combat his administration head-on.”

“As soon as the 119th Congress is sworn in, we will urge members to use their constitutional powers to provide oversight, investigate wrongdoing, and reject restrictive executive branch policies. At the state level, we’ll work with lawmakers to build a firewall for freedom and enact laws that protect people from government abuse,” they said. 

It would be better to do what Pelosi recommended and find common ground. Democrats weren’t able to remove Trump from the White House before or stop him from getting a second term. Moreover, he might be willing to put aside any anger he feels over the way he has been treated, knowing that vengeance would be bad for the country. He also views himself as “a master dealmaker” and will need Democratic support to overcome filibusters in the Senate.

One thing the Democrats should be able to negotiate is a DREAM Act — if they don’t make unreasonable demands. During his first term in office, Trump offered a legalization program for 1.8 million DACA participants, but the offer had a deal killer; one of his conditions was an end to chain-migration.

His program might be acceptable to both parties if he eliminates that problematic demand and substitutes a proposal to amend the Special Immigrant Juvenile provisions to include DACA participants, instead of making an unrestricted grant of legalization. These provisions provide legalization with the limitation that a participant cannot confer immigration benefits on his parents when he becomes a lawful permanent resident.

But I don’t see cooperation in my crystal ball. I fear we're in for four more years of bear-baiting.

Nolan Rappaport was detailed to the House Judiciary Committee as an Executive Branch Immigration Law Expert for three years. He subsequently served as an immigration counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims for four years. Prior to working on the Judiciary Committee, he wrote decisions for the Board of Immigration Appeals for 20 years.