Do you have any analysis to substantiate your claims like the articles I linked?

The historical record of congressional party control shows that in the past 4 decades Democrats have rarely had enough control of both chambers to pass legislation without bipartisan support. Democrats (& independents caucusing with them) have had

• no veto-proof supermajority in both chambers since session 94 (1975–7)
• no filibuster-proof supermajority in both chambers since session 111 (2009–11) briefly
• no simple majority in both chambers since session 117 (2021–3).

Even with a majority, Democrats aren't a monolith: they still have factions. Overcoming Senate filibuster requires 3/5 supermajority. Enacting legislation still requires presidential approval or veto override with 2/3 supermajority from both chambers. Veto overrides are rare & typically bipartisan, especially the last one, which was against Trump. Consequently, deliberation & compromise to broadly appeal to their own party & enough of the opposition is a practical necessity.

Moreover, Trump was impeached twice. They simply lacked the 2/3 supermajority in the Senate to convict due to insufficient bipartisan support.

The 1st impeachment split by party almost exactly:

• impeachment passed with a simple majority without Republicans
• conviction votes for 1st & 2nd charges didn't even get a simple majority.

The 2nd impeachment on 2021/1/13 was only days after the 2021/1/6 incitement of insurrection. Despite some Republican support, not enough were willing to defy Trump.

• impeachment passed with some Republican support (all 222 Democrats + 10 Republicans)
• conviction failed with a simple majority approving conviction (all 50 Democrats + 7 Republicans).

Failure to convict on 2021/2/13 imperiled chances of a federal criminal case against Trump's actions during presidency. At that point, congressional Democrats had exhausted the extent of their powers to prosecute or avail Trump to prosecution. The congressional investigation afterward while lengthy posed no real chance of holding Trump legally accountable for inciting insurrection: it could only make findings & refer criminal charges to prosecutors. Any further action would need to be taken by federal prosecutors in the presidential administration.

While the DOJ investigation started late in 2022 November & failed to enter trial hearings (either due to a corrupt judge or appeals over presidential immunity) by the time Trump was reelected, that failure was entirely the Biden administration's and not of the Democratic party, who had promptly impeached Trump & failed to obtain conviction, because the numbers weren't in their favor.

Putting "wrenches in the spokes" goes both ways. Do you know how long congressional Republicans had tried to restrict abortion? They simply couldn't: they had to circumvent US congress through the Supreme Court & state legislatures. Democrats haven't been "enabling, aiding, or abetting" Republican fascism or authoritarianism: roll calls indicate the contrary. It's just Congress operating as unsatisfactory & inefficient as should be expected when half represent crazed-out fascists.

Again, any concrete suggestions for how the "damn Democrats" could "stand up to Trump"?

So, you're already telling everyone you don't understand the spoiler effect, basically advocating the opposition to assure their own loss.

Vote splitting is the most common cause of spoiler effects in FPP. In these systems, the presence of many ideologically-similar candidates causes their vote total to be split between them, placing these candidates at a disadvantage. This is most visible in elections where a minor candidate draws votes away from a major candidate with similar politics, thereby causing a strong opponent of both to win.

A spoiler campaign in the United States is often one that cannot realistically win but can still determine the outcome by pulling support from a more competitive candidate.

Any other bright ideas?

Ideally, yes. In practice, splitting their voter base in two would guarantee losing the presidency. The first past the post system of the US and UK needs to be reformed, not that their current major parties have any incentive to do so.

All of which is to say, it's a difficult situation.

I mean, I hope we don't end up in a situation where he's the guy on the ballot. I really don't think a billionaire is going to fix much. I don't think they should be an actual thing that exists, but that's beside the point. I'd vote for an actual working class champion in the primary though and hope to get the opportunity to vote for them in the main election. And if it ended up being a billionaire on the ballot vs. another MAGA, obviously I'm voting for the candidate that has the best chance defeat the MAGA because I was raised right and despise Nazis. But we're in this mess in no small part because of the billionaires and wannabes, so I'm getting tired of picking less-bad when we should be running a real champion for progressive ideas to help raise working people.