Amy Klobuchar Says She’s Not Worried About Trump’s Latest Threat. Is She Not Paying Attention?

My respect for Senator Amy Klobuchar’s political acumen never has been vast. She’s had her moments. (She did light a fire under Brett Kavanaugh in one memorable moment during his confirmation hearings.) But her campaign for president was a waste of time and money. Now, in the Senate, with the retirement of Richard Durbin, she would be second in line to be the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. (If form holds, Sheldon Whitehouse would be the ranking Democrat, or the chairman, and wouldn’t that be a hoot?) An invigorated SJC under a Democratic majority potentially could be the administration’s worst nightmare. Which is why Klobuchar’s latest kitchen-table pronouncement is so discouraging.

Over the weekend, on Meet the Press, Klobuchar was asked about Trump advisor Stephen Miller’s threat to suspend habeas corpus, and the threat to judges—unless they “do the right thing”—that came with it. This is what she said. From the Hill:

Klobuchar dismissed the threat, saying Trump has to follow the Constitution, “And in that Constitution there is the right of habeas corpus.” She also noted that “even conservative commentators” have said that only Congress can reverse that basic constitutional principle, which she said is “not going to happen.” “But to me, you know what? That isn’t really the issue. The issue is that Stephen Miller brings that up on a Friday, just to throw it out there,” she said, pointing to an earlier interview with Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who said the issue is not something on which Congress is focused.

“Why is he doing that?” Klobuchar said about Miller. “So you ask me about it on a Sunday show.” Klobuchar said she suspects the Trump administration does not want to talk about the negative economic trends that have emerged since Trump took office or about threats to Medicaid and Social Security. “I’m telling you, right now, he’s doing it because they don’t want to focus on what’s really in front of them, and that they have created havoc in our economy,” Klobuchar said.

Oh, Jesus, take the wheel. Will all Democratic politicians ever finally realize that they can run against both economic chaos and the destruction of American democracy at the same time? Will they ever finally come to grips with the fact that this administration does what it says it will do, that they mean what they say? (In the Senate, sometimes, I think Bernie Sanders and Chris Murphy are the only ones who do.)

Personally, I think that the economic chaos is simply an incompetent and incoherent by-product of the president’s desire to grab as much money as he can while he has the chance to grab it. The assaults on migrants, however, are the real mechanism for installing an authoritarian government. That’s where the street-thug police tactics are located. That’s the source of the contemptuous dismissal of court rulings. That’s the real goal of this crowd. That’s their grand design. And if it’s all the same to the members of the putative opposition party, a trade of the Bill of Rights for cheaper eggs is not a deal I’d care to make.