Democrats are Doing Trump’s Work for Him
Even out of power, the Democrats still have levers of influence they can pull. But those levers will rust if consigned to disuse.
Our next Substack Live will take place next Tuesday, June 10 at 5pm ET/2pm PT. Mark your calendars accordingly!
Substack Live broadcasts from The Next Move are open to all! But remember, only paid subscribers get access to the Live Chat. Your contribution supports the Renew Democracy Initiative and keeps The Next Move running. Consider upgrading today!
If you don’t flex a muscle, it will atrophy. The same is true of democratic institutions. Donald Trump’s opponents may not control the halls of power in Washington, but there are still levers they can pull to wield influence. However, those levers will rust if consigned to disuse.
In order to make the most effective use of the procedural instruments before them, Democrats need a strategy. And the best way to promulgate a strategy is to have a leader. But Democrats don’t have a leader, or leaders, they have Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. I am not often in the business of agreeing with JD Vance, but the vice president’s description of today’s Democrats as “the lamest opposition in American history” was apt. The party that pushed through civil rights is serving tacos outside RNC HQ as part of a convoluted in-joke. Come on.
A couple of months ago, I took down Chuck Schumer’s risk-averse approach—ceding a government shutdown in exchange for the facade of stability. A shutdown would have been painful, yes, but the alternative was not much better and closing the government was a real mechanism for exerting influence.
Schumer was wrong. Nevertheless, we can’t change the past. So what can Democrats do now?
The courts offer one underexplored line of attack. The judiciary has flashed more red and yellow lights to Trump policies than green ones. And while the courts are (appropriately) apolitical, Democrats can still claim Trump’s losses as their victories, highlighting the chaos and illegality that the president rides on as a contrast to the law and order he promised.
They should do so loudly and publicly, leveraging unconventional messaging tools. Rather than meekly running through talking points in press conferences, Democrats can make events like Senator Cory Booker’s historic filibuster regular occurrences. Anything to demonstrate that what is happening in the United States is not normal.
Speaking of making a public stand: Jeffries had to plead with his caucus to not protest during Trump’s address to Congress back in March. The result was a series of diffuse and embarrassing displays, a waste of a national television spotlight. Imagine if Jeffries had instructed Democrats on what to do, rather than falling back on what not to do. The tiny signs were risible, but a coordinated protest engineered by a competent Democratic leadership could have been visceral and energizing enough to shock people out of their complacency.
The Democrats don’t need to wait until next year’s State of the Union to correct this mistake. Any sycophantic cabinet official who dares to come before Congress should be subjected to spectacle. The same should be true of any appointment process. No need to speed along the installation of any new official; Marco Rubio has demonstrated that severe moral compromise is a requirement for employment in the second Trump administration, even for the most superficially kosher candidate. Make Republicans fight for votes in both chambers, even on banal matters. Call hearings on issues big and small. Every day. The administration has provided no shortage of embarrassments worth investigating. The news that a senior State Department official is connected via his wife to the Russian government is just the latest revelation to emerge out of a seemingly bottomless pit of scandals.
For those who hold their nose at such tactics, remember that the Republicans would use any weapon at their disposal if they were in the opposition, whether justified or not—and pushing back on Trump’s overreach is justified. Fighting with one arm tied behind your back while your opponent takes every cheap shot they can get is no way to win. Trump is running the country as a circus—Democrats need to abandon their business as usual mindset and pick up some skills in showmanship themselves. This will make life miserable for Republican legislators on the margins and MAGA is just a few seats off from losing its majority in both the Senate and the House.
Ultimately, each of these mechanisms, however disruptive, is perfectly legal. The existence of such legal and procedural devices is what separates the United States from a country like Russia. Despite Trump’s best efforts, the US is still a liberal democracy. The liberal side of that equation limits the ability of a razor-thin majority to bulldoze everything. For one committed KGB veteran, wrecking Russia’s democracy was a matter of pushing on an open door. The White House may come for the rights of the official opposition eventually, and when they do, Democrats and their allies will really have to fight. But by declining to use every tool in their arsenal, the Democrats are doing Trump’s work for him.
Related Content
Schumer Was Wrong
Of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a recent Politico piece noted that “Pragmatism, fundraising and a gimlet-eyed view of the election landscape was the hallmark of his success.”
Breaking the Blue MAGA Echo Chamber
The Next Move has been around for six weeks. In that time, we’ve published over 20 op-eds and written pieces, hosted or joined 10 Substack Lives, and released a number of other videos. If you go back and review our content, you’ll see that when my colleagues and I have criticism for an American politician, Donald Trump is almost always the target. And e…
You are dead right. They began by playing dead, waiting for MAGAs to wound themselves mortally on their fascist policies. Unfortunately, press billionaires side with the administration, to our shock and dismay. Not only are Schumer and Jeffries at fault, but also 16 Democrats who supported Trump's crypto scheme to make us a true kleptocracy. The rest of us get our information from posts like yours--it takes half the day to read them all. I appreciate your input. Thank you.
Right on the money, Garry. Thanks for making this crucial point. The Dems have more than enough material to work with. Surely they can muster some coordination of strategy that thinks outside the box. But they’d better get on it, NOW!