Irish Examiner view: Democrats are responding too slowly

The political opposition and the judicial system are finally getting to grips with the whirlwind of chaos sown by Trump and his allies

Tue, 11 Feb, 2025 - 01:00

As the Trump administration lays waste to swathes of the US federal government, opposition has been visibly and audibly lacking from Democratic Party grandees.

The past weekend saw some stirring within the Democrats as several senior party members threatened to back away from co-operating with Republicans on a government funding deal because of the actions of the US president — and his sidekick Elon Musk — to unilaterally downsize various government agencies and bodies. Democrats are beginning to find their voice and realise the power of their leverage as the Republicans struggle to craft a compromise that would continue government spending after March 14.

Until recently, the GOP had to depend on Democrat votes to beat spending deadlines as far-right members of their own caucus opposed to their plans. But with the right wing of the party now delighting in the lawlessness being displayed by Trump and Musk, Democratic support is no longer a given.

Senator Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, said at the weekend he would not back any actions that supported government funding only to see the Republicans dismantling government. “We are at the point where we are basically on the cusp of a constitutional crisis,” he said.

If some Democrats have suddenly realised someone has to stand up to the White House and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) guru, their stance is at least being supported in the many courtrooms where the White House is being questioned about the legitimacy of what it is doing.

The political opposition and the judicial system are finally getting to grips with the whirlwind of chaos sown by Trump and his allies’ blitzkrieg on various government departments and are also focussing on the damage being done — without any official authority — by Musk and his cohorts.

Musk’s role in DOGE as the harbinger of doom for USAid and as many as 15 other government agencies is finally coming under proper scrutiny. The Democrats and the courts cannot act quickly enough.

Tried and tested found wanting

The photographs that emerged over the weekend of people sleeping in their cars for days as they queued for first refusal on 31 new homes in a development in Kildare was another stark reminder, if one were needed, of the enormity of the housing crisis facing the new government.

On Saturday, Taoiseach Michael Martin told this newspaper that the Government would explore the possible ending of rent pressure zones and said encouragement would be provided to institutional investors to build houses.

Mr Martin said the Government would “fundamentally” look at everything again and that “nothing should be off the table” in the battle to build higher volumes of houses.

His intervention comes days after it was revealed there had been ‘unfortunate’ and ‘mistaken’ analysis of house build figures in the run-up to the general election which saw some 10,000 fewer completions last year than the Government had predicted. Ironically, while Mr Martin acknowledges the need for fresh thinking, the continued uncertainty and lack of a medium- to long-term strategy will do little to soothe the concerns of private and institutional investors who tend to put their money where stability is.

Predictably, the opposition parties have latched on to the Taoiseach’s comments and focused on his insistence that the private sector has a big part to play in solving the crisis. That he sees attracting institutional investment into the private rental sector as a solution has drawn particular opprobrium.

This crisis, we know, is one which is bedevilling nations and economies the world over. But the Government needs to act quickly and decisively because the tried and tested has thus far been found to be wasteful and wanting.

Defying Putin

That Azerbaijan’s government, itself no stranger to authoritarian behaviour, has decided to take on Vladimir Putin’s Russia by demanding it take responsibility for the shooting down of one of its civilian aircraft does not bode well for the previously cosy relationship between the two.

The Kremlin’s idealised ties between an ‘imperial centre’ and ‘satellite’ countries under its influence have become completely unglued since the downing of the Azerbaijan Airlines flight with the loss of 38 lives on December 25.

Although Moscow gave an evasive apology for the tragedy, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev has refused to let the Russians off the hook, stating firmly that the plane was shot down by a Russian land-based missile system and demanding it should admit its guilt, launch a transparent investigation, and punish those at fault.

Putin tried to put the matter to bed with an apologetic phone call to Aliyev but the Azerbaijanis were having none of it and, at a meeting with relatives of those killed in the tragedy, Aliyev once more stated that the responsibility for the catastrophe lay “with representatives of Russia”.

Such was the public indignation within Azerbaijan over the shooting down of the airliner, Aliyev was left with little choice but to abandon his country’s previous cap-in-hand relationship with Moscow. He was left with a choice: Side with his own people or lose their support by siding with Russia.

He chose the former. His position has been strengthened by the fact that the Kremlin is almost solely focussed on Ukraine. The fact too that he is insisting on referring the matter to an international court, is not sitting well with Putin.

This spat has highlighted Russia’s diminishing power across what was previously regarded as its sphere of influence and many countries are now emboldened to speak publicly about reassessing their ties with Moscow. For once, Putin is not having his own way.

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