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Democrats Struggle to Oppose Trump, Report Says

More than 50 interviews with Democratic leaders revealed a party struggling to decide what it believes in, what issues to prioritize and how to confront an aggressive right-wing administration, according to the New York Times.
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Ken Martin, the leader of the state Democratic Party organization in Minnesota, is the new Democratic National Committee chair.

As Democrats face President Donald Trump’s second term, they share a fundamental belief: The moment calls for an inspirational, unified message from their party.

They just cannot decide what, exactly, that should be, according to the New York Times

In private meetings and at public events, elected Democrats appear leaderless, rudderless and divided, the newspaper said. They disagree over how often and how stridently to oppose Trump. They have no shared understanding of why they lost the election, never mind how they can win in the future.

The new chair of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin of Minnesota, said he planned to conduct a post-election review largely focused on tactics and messaging, according to the paper.

More than 50 interviews with Democratic leaders revealed a party that is struggling to define what it stands for, what issues to prioritize and how to confront a Trump administration that is carrying out their agenda with much speed. 

“We’re not going to go after every single issue,” Senator Chuck Schumer said in an interview with the paper. “We are picking the most important fights and lying down on the train tracks on those fights.”

On a private call with Schumer last week, a half-dozen Democratic governors pressed him to be more aggressive in opposing the entire Trump agenda — not just those issues on which the party thinks it can score strategic victories, the paper said.

Democrats broadly agree that they need to do more to address the issues that powered Trump’s campaign, like grocery costs, inflation and immigration. But there is little consensus on how to prioritize the party’s traditional concerns like abortion rights, L.G.B.T.Q. equality and climate change, according to the Times.

This week, some Democrats started to speak up.

Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Leader of the U.S House of Representatives, on Monday said the introduction and threat of tariffs to the nation's largest trading partners is a "Republican ripoff."

The tariffs on goods from China, as well as the possible tax on Canadian and Mexican products, will raise the cost of food, gas, car and place a burden on working- and middle-class Americans, Jeffries said at a press conference in Brooklyn. "Why is this all happening? What is this Republican rip-off all about? Why are they constantly trying to steal tax payer money from the American people?" 

In addition, Senator Brian Schatz (D., Hawaii) said he would place a “blanket hold” on all of Trump’s State Department nominees until the administration’s attack on the U.S. Agency for International Development, a foreign-assistance agency, ends, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Schatz’s threat came as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency aims to close the USAID despite the fact that the agency’s existence as an independent government organization is codified in federal law. Over the weekend, DOGE staffers forced their way into USAID’s headquarters in Washington, gaining access to classified information and closed the building to employees on Monday.

A group of Democratic leaders in Washington, led by Senator Chris Van Hollen (D, Md.), were denied entry into the USAID office on Monday, according to The Hill. 

Van Hollen said lawmakers are working to file legal proceedings to stop the Trump administration from “undoing USAID.”

“What Trump and Musk have done is not only wrong, it’s illegal,” said Representative Don Beyer (D-Va.), the news agency reported.

 




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