As Dick Durbin huddles with his family and allies to determine his political future, one name should be in the mix to convince him to seek re-election to another Senate term: Donald Trump.
With chaos abounding in Washington, D.C., and spreading westward, the state’s senior senator is needed more than ever to corral an out-of-control executive branch. In this perilous era, there’s no time for on-the-job training in the nation’s capital.
Many Lake Countians have been firm in their opposition to rampant Trumpism and standing up with rallies voicing opposition to the 47th president’s increasingly volatile machinations. Several were held last month, and more so far in early April.
Veterans and those facing possible layoffs mustered outside the Lovell Veterans Affairs Center in North Chicago on Friday. Another rally was mobilized Saturday in the Grand-Hunt Club commercial corridor in Gurnee, with scores showing their displeasure with Trump 2.0.
Other anti-Trump rallies across the county in Highland Park and Buffalo Grove have also seen decent numbers coming out to protest the administration’s shenanigans. Many Lake County residents traveled to Chicago for the city’s Saturday rally to make their voices heard.
These citizen actions should give Durbin some heart to determine if he wants to seek a fifth six-year term or leave the Senate. If he does decide to bow out, the Democratic primary field in 2026, when Durbin turns 82, will be wide open for those who have been waiting patiently for his decision.
Some may remember that Durbin defeated Al Salvi of rural Mundelein in 1996 by 15 percentage points when he was first elected to the Senate to replace Democratic Sen. Paul Simon of far Downstate Makanda. Salvi’s wife, Kathy, current chair of the statewide GOP, has the unenviable task of trying to rebuild what is a feeble Republican Party in deep-blue Illinois.
When Durbin ran in 1996, he was a congressman representing the Springfield area. His hometown newspaper didn’t even endorse his Senate candidacy.
Since 2005, he has served as Senate Democratic whip, the second-highest post in Democratic leadership, and this year he also became Senate minority whip. The octogenarian appears to have his wits about him, and says he is physically capable of running for re-election.
He should do it, despite a few progressives in the party voicing disappointment after he sided with Republicans to advance the short-term spending plan to keep the federal government running. Actually, it was a smart political move.
Durbin should ignore their gripes and remember this from John F. Kennedy when he ran for president in the watershed presidential campaign of 1960: “Do you realize the responsibility I carry? I am the only person standing between Nixon and the White House,” Kennedy said.
Ted Sorensen, a close aide to our 35th president, disclosed that in his 1965 biography of Kennedy. Durbin and his fellow Democrats need to stand between Donald Trump and his capricious economic policy of using tariffs on our now-alienated trading partners.
Republicans, like long-time Lake County congressman the late Phil Crane, used to be determined free-traders. No longer, it seems, as they appear to support Trump’s “liberating” plan, promising large-scale tariffs worldwide will be the start of a “golden age” for the country.
Most economists say the opposite will happen: The excise taxes will end up causing fiscal suffering to average Americans. Indeed, after instituting the tariffs last week, a widespread selloff in the financial markets occurred, along with depletions of Americans’ nest eggs.
Economists say higher tariffs, actually taxes, and other barriers to international free trade are apt to slow U.S. economic activity and lift inflation rates — at least in the short run — and perhaps kick off a recession. The economic pain has sparked some senators to introduce a bipartisan bill — the Trade Review Act of 2025 — allowing Congress to remove tariffs, with a simple majority vote, when they are put in place by any president.
Congressman Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, certainly agrees with that stance. “Republicans must join with Democrats and put Congress back in the driver’s seat,” he said. A member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, he added in a statement, “I don’t think tariffs work the way the president thinks. The headlines tell the story.”
Tariff suffering may also have an impact on our standing in the World Happiness Report. The recent 2025 report shows Americans continuing on our downward path to No. 24, a record low.
Last year, the U.S., fell out of the top 20 for the first time in the report’s history, landing at No. 23 in the listing authored by several global groups that rank nations’ overall happiness. Nordic countries lead the list, dominating the top four “happiness” spots.
With Durbin seeking another Senate term, Illinoisans might be happier knowing he can stand up to unpleasant policies they aren’t pleased with.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
sellenews@gmail.com
X: @sellenews
