This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for

American democracy

Stacey Abrams addresses the NAACP convention in Detroit in July. (Carlos Osorio/AP)

By Dana Milbank
Columnist
August 30 at 5:33 PM
This is no time to be on the sidelines.

Stacey Abrams: Stand up and be counted. “I do not want to serve in

the Senate,” says the hugely popular former Georgia Democratic
gubernatorial nominee.

Steve Bullock: Stand up and be counted. “My talents are best suited”
to an executive role, says Montana’s well-liked Democratic governor.

Beto O’Rourke: Stand up and be counted. “That would not be good

enough” to serve in the Senate, says the gifted former Democratic
congressman from Texas.

Sorry, but what’s not “good enough” are those answers. The three
could make all the difference in Democrats’ uphill quest to take the
Senate next year. Instead, they choose to run vanity campaigns for
president (or in Abrams’s case, await a vice presidential nod) or put
themselves in line for a Cabinet post. Ordinarily, I’d respect their
wishes to do what fulfills them or works best for their families or
positions them for future success.

But these are not ordinary times. This is an all-hands-on-deck

moment not just for Democrats but for American democracy. If the
anti-Trump majority doesn’t prevail next year and resoundingly
repudiate the hatred, isolation and drift toward autocracy, it won’t
much matter what happens later. Abrams, Bullock and O’Rourke
owe it to the country to end the reign of President Trump’s enablers
in the Senate.

It’s easy to see why they’d prefer not to run for Senate. The Senate
has become a toxic workplace, and service there unrewarding. That’s
thanks in large part to the amorality of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
The majority leader and his caucus could have stood up to Trump’s
indecency. Instead, he, and it, pursued power with no principles:
breaking Senate rules, allowing Russia’s ongoing interference in U.S.
elections, refusing to even consider legislation that could stop the
mass shootings that are terrorizing America’s children. They have
shown that they are too cowardly and too self-interested to be a
check on Trump’s abuses.

But that’s all the more reason to run. If Trump somehow prevails
next year, it’s crucial he not have a McConnell-led Senate to ratify his
ruinous ways. And if Trump is to be defeated next year, it will be
because the most capable people stepped up to challenge him — at
all levels. Trumpism must be defeated resoundingly, and that means
holding to account Republicans who failed to follow their
conscience.

Even now, with still-strong employment numbers, polls show

Trump’s Democratic challengers defeating him. If the economy tanks
before the election (it’s only a matter of time because of the damage
Trump has added to the nation’s finances, his politicization of
monetary policy and his destabilization of international trade), there
is the possibility of a thunderous repudiation of Trump — but only if
Trump’s opposition goes all-in.

This isn’t just about Abrams, Bullock and O’Rourke; Democrats need
to mount fierce challenges everywhere in case an electoral wave
comes. Democrats, like-minded independents and disillusioned
Republicans should be giving whatever small-dollar contributions
they can to candidates, party committees and get-out-the-vote
efforts, and volunteering to knock on doors or make calls or
whatever else is needed.

And it isn’t just about Democrats. Government workers should

remain at their posts regardless of how unpleasant the job has
become to prevent yet more damage to federal agencies. Judges
should postpone retirement rather than let Trump fill the judiciary
with incompetents. And weary journalists and watchdog groups
must keep up relentless scrutiny of the administration.
Some sunshine soldiers have already let down the cause, declining
Democratic entreaties to run for the Senate in states such as Iowa
and North Carolina, where Trump-enablers Joni Ernst and Thom
Tillis, respectively, seek reelection. But none of those prospects had
the potential to transform races in the way Bullock, Abrams and
possibly O’Rourke could.

There’s still some hope that Bullock and O’Rourke, despite their
disavowals of interest, will run for the Senate after they scratch their
presidential itches. The case of Abrams is more perplexing. She has
said it would be “arrogant” to think she’s the only Democrat who
could win a Senate seat in Georgia. Yet it appears she’s holding out
for a vice-presidential nomination. “I would be honored,” she told
WBUR’s “On Point” on Tuesday.

With the retirement of the ailing Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), both
Georgia Senate seats will be on the ballot next year. And the
Democrats’ best candidate won’t run for either? That’s a gift to
Trump’s enablers.

Why? For the “honor” of a vice- presidential nomination? Preserving

herself for another office, another time? I hope Abrams reconsiders.
History won’t be kind to those who stepped aside in democracy’s
time of need.
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