Liberal and left critics who mock Liz Cheney’s opposition to Trump’s Big Lie and defense of the rule of law are missing the point. Such critics fail to understand the nature of this moment and – more to the point – the political requirements necessary to decisively defeat a not so incipient fascism.

The November election threw Trump and his movement on their heels, but they quickly regrouped, organized an assault on the Capital, and are reasserting their iron like grip over the Republican Party.

Thus the existential threat to our democracy continues. A coalition that stretches from Liz Cheney to Angela Davis remains a political imperative. And the bolstering of Democratic majorities in the Senate and House in the midterm elections is an absolute necessity.

One has to hope that Republican overreach to suppress and eviscerate voter rights and the force of public outrage and pressure will compel West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and a few other Democrats in the Senate to support the suspension of the filibuster rule and then the passage of the John Lewis voting rights bill.

People on the left who express surprise at the progressive political posture and positions of the Biden administration would be well served to consider what in their analysis prevented them from seeing this possibility. Or, to go a step further, this likelihood. I have some thoughts about it, but I leave them for some other time.

To find something similar in ambition to Biden’s speech to Congress earlier this week, one has to go back to speeches of LBJ (before the war consumed him and the Great Society) or FDR. Or, to frame it a little differently, the speech positively reconstructed the social compact between the government and the people. In doing so, Biden repudiated another president and ideology of more recent vintage, Ronald Reagan and Reaganism. This speech should find its way into every place where people gather.

Each May Day has its own specific challenge. As I see it, this year’s challenge for the left is to assist in enacting Biden’s legislative and political agenda. This may not sound very sexy, but the enactment of the Biden agenda will not only bring relief to millions. reinflate the economy, provide a measure of justice, and raise their legislative ambitions, but also position Democrats to increase their  Congressional majorities in next year’s midterm elections. And it is hard to think of anything that is as politically weighty at this political conjuncture. Happy May Day!