Van Hollen Shows the Way

The Senator provides a blueprint for Democratic resistance.

Many Democrats–notably Chuck Schumer—have been timid and useless thus far during the second Trump administration. I’ve criticized them harshly for that.

It only seems fair, then, to highlight moments where Democrats have done better. Yesterday, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to personally check on the well-being of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a kidnapped without charge, without due process, and by the Trump administration and shipped to a horrific prison/slave labor camp in El Salvador. In court documents, the administration admitted that Abrego Garcia was seized despite an order forbidding his deportation because of a clerical error.

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Van Hollen hoped to be able to check on Garcia’s health. Officials refused to let him see his constituent. The Vice President of El Salvador did meet with him, though, and told him that they would not release Abrego Garcia because the Trump administration was paying them to hold him. This undermines the Trump administration’s claim that they cannot make El Salvador release him, to say the least.

Obviously, Van Hollen did not manage to attain his ultimate goal, which was freeing Abrego Garcia. (Update: after this was posted, Van Hollen did meet with Abrego Garcia and confirmed that he was alive and in good health.)

He did, however, get national (and international) media attention focused on the kidnapping. Perhaps just as important, he demonstrated that even Trump’s allies and cronies have to treat high ranking US officials who oppose Trump with a modicum of respect. The El Salvadoran VP in fact seems to have essentially thrown Trump under the bus when confronted by Van Hollen, essentially admitting that Abrego Garcia can be released whenever Trump demands it.

It's easy enough to understand why El Salvador doesn’t want to piss Van Hollen off. Trump wants to and expects to be president indefinitely. But that scheme is at this point just a scheme; Trump has not yet made himself eternal dictator. There is reason to believe that Van Hollen, as a Senator, will be around longer than Trump. Making him an enemy for life could have serious consequences for El Salvador.

But while the dynamics are clear enough, they haven’t necessarily been clear in the US, where despair, fear, and the general spinelessness of our institutions (and of many Democrats) has created an illusion that Trump is all powerful. Van Hollen’s trip demonstrated that Trump’s omnipotence is an illusion. Even his allies recognize that his hold on power is precarious.

More than that, Van Hollen showed Trump, and the US, and his fellow Democrats, that Senators have a great deal of investigatory power if they are willing to make themselves a little uncomfortable. Where Senators go, media follows. And even when Senators are rebuffed, people tend to feel a need to explain the rebuff. Even Senators in the minority potentially can create a lot of problems for those in Trump’s orbit.

Most of those who have set themselves up as leaders of the opposition to Trump—Walz, Booker, Pritzker, AOC— are people who are pretty clearly running for the 2028 nomination. There’s nothing wrong with that. Politicians are ambitious, and ambitious politicians doing good things so that they can get more power to do more good things is how the system is supposed to work.

Van Hollen, though, doesn’t seem to be positioning himself for a run for higher office. Instead, his trip seems motivated by a desire to help his constituent, and, crucially, by a desire to assert the independent power of the Senate.

This is a crucial, important goal. Republicans in Congress have largely ceded their role in government to Trump, concluding that it’s easier and more fun to gush about Trump for right wing media hits than to provide oversight or perform any of their constitutional duties. Democrats, too, have for the last few months ceded the initiative to Trump—so much so that many in the Senate keep voting to confirm manifestly unfit Trump nominees.

This is a disaster. The US Constitution doesn’t work if Congress doesn’t fight for its own power. Admittedly, it’s difficult for those in the minority to assert their prerogatives. But that’s why it’s so important that Van Hollen found an effective way to do so on an issue of vital important.

Van Hollen has said that other members of Congress are going to visit El Salvador demanding answers. Hopefully, that will include members in leadership. And hopefully others in the Senate and House will take a cue from Van Hollen’s actions, and figure out ways to show up for their constituents in person.