Good local & state Democratic Party leaders in Government have to show their community that they can govern well & garner the respect that can carry forward to the Party. Karen Bass is not a good example of this. When the media was initially asking her questions, she just sat there mute. SMH. Awful.
A lot of noise now about term limits. In whose interest are term limits? If Congress-persons are limited, and oligarchic lobbyists are not, then who the fuck do you (all of us) think is going to take control of the Congress sausage-machine? They’ll change the rules so only they know…
…what is going on. Congress members will be perpetual newbies, being led around by the helpful lobbyists. They already hypnotized the gullible MAGA, now they are coming for us. You don’t want to vote for someone after they’ve been in office? Fine, your choice. But don’t tell me who to vote for.
Ken Martin is absolutely the bare-knuckled fighter you’re hoping for. He completely rebuilt the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party from a bankrupt smoking trash heap into a juggernaut and has spent the last few years spreading his expertise to other state parties. Workhorse not a showhorse.
The hubris of the Democratic Party leadership has failed to save our democracy.They are too worried about the rise of populism of the working & middle class. They are plutocrats. We must get them out of office and convince their ever faithful followers to dump them in favor of democracy & freedom.
I agree that many racist white people voted for T. but about 100 million eligible voters didn't vote because the Dems would rather aid Israel's genocide than give healthcare to our children.
The Dems gave them no good choice. Obama, Harris, Biden, Clintons, Pelosi, are all owned by billionaires therefore no healthcare for our families, poverty growing, medical bankruptcies growing, groceries & housing out of site. But the Dem fatcat leadership are doing great.
Boycotting NYT. Canceled subscription during the Biden ouster. Will not pay to read the “Free Press”. I don’t follow any journalists from @nytimes.com, @washingtonpost.com or @wsj.com because they’ve become propaganda spreaders for their corporate masters. Any journalists with integrity should quit.
A great op ed but from December, when Biden was still President (sigh). So much has changed, but Jamelle’s point about Democratic leadership failing is right on.
This is so true. All we have right now are Democrats that like to talk, but do nothing. We need someone with the spine will actually stand up to Trump and throw his fucking ass in prison or better yet do what we do to treason person.
If we don’t immediately fund & start up a nationwide series of progressive Anti-MAGA rallies featuring dynamic voices like Buttigieg, AOC, Kinzinger, Hogg, Bashear to galvanize the #resistance movement & protest the dismantling of Democracy & the American way of life….then, all hope is lost.
Rallies are performative. In all my years, I've seen people by the hundreds & thousands show up, expend their energy & consequently feel better & do fuck-all.
We need to get out there & WORK.
Identify the ONE thing you're most passionate about. Find your people. Make a plan & execute it.
I disagree with this, since it forces Democrats to be the "bigger person" in this room. Do we expect democrats to play fair when the other side doesn't? That's how it got us here.
The problem with that is half the country DID vote for this--if you want politicians to do politics, then don't expect massive resistance. That's for activists and ideologues. What the Ds need to do is to figure out ways to regain Congress and the states--the VA gubernatorial election is a start.
We keep banging our heads on the same wall. Calling on our democratic reps is clearly not working. It’s all been talk, tweets, & sound bites from them. We can scream, call, email, & throw our fists in the air all we want but at the end of the day we just don’t have enough to leverage.
I’m not trying to sound dramatic but hope has dwindled to just hoping that we survive all this or something pulls us together enough to be too big to ignore or by a miracle someone new is catapulted to the front that we can truly rally behind (someone no one saw coming).
We need our democratic leaders to step up and do something. Challenge him. We are all scared and looking for our leadership and they are gone. Where are they? Half the country voted against the man child.
Trump is the leader you need in your life @nastywoman123.bsky.social. You obviously have been deceived by the propaganda. If you want peace in the world, strong leaders are needed. If you don't like him, great, you still are required to respect him. Sober up
They won’t stand up. We are on our own and completely fucked. Republicans are going to burn the country to the ground to steal all its wealth for themselves.
This point has been coming up frequently. Remember calling and writing to your representatives has some effect. Visiting them hits them harder. Imagine what would happen if we showed up in droves.
Disagree. Term limits are your vote. Senators need to gain a level of expertise that can’t be attained if they’re only there for 1 or 2 terms. The problem isn’t how long ppl are in office. It’s money in politics. It’s electing the wrong people to office and Americans not being informed voters.
Sooo what exactly can they do other than talk??? They don’t need their vote on anything. They are speaking out but trump is causing so much chaos that no one’s really paying attention 🤷🏾♀️ Americans gotta accept responsibility for their voting choices.
The Repukes R paid to fight like feral animals, & the Dems R paid make it look good. Duopoloy is about giving us an illusion of choice so the oligarchy can do whatever tf it wants to. Proof: no term limits, they decide their own pay & sched, they legalized bribery & insider trading for themselves...
Again Americans gotta take responsibility 4 their voting choices. Everyone in congress has a primary..We choose not 2 participate then upset that same folks are on the ticket. So no, they r dependent on us 2 keep their jobs. They use 2 add pork 2 bills but now we are 2 lazy 2 remove them when they d
I have to agree with you on everything, except for term limits.
I feel age caps would be better.
Term limits have the ability to remove effective politicians.
As an old man, I've seen many effective politicians removed before their time.
Age caps might be discriminatory. I think term limits would take care of the worst abuses, but if someone wants to elect a 90 year old for 2 terms, hey, that's up to them.
Obviously, voting system changes are more important than term limits, but if we are doing that, we should definitely push for approval or range voting, not hobble ourselves with ranked choice. (I assume you mean instant runoff by that.)
You fucking got it! And I'll actually focus on the problems that matter, like wealth disparity among the lower classes and not dumb shit like making sure transgender people can't transgender
While I agree with this I know young people who couldn’t be moved to go vote with Trump on the ballot how can we get them to go vote in primaries? I agree but we lost so many votes this November how do we get them back? I know we lost them bc they told me they didn’t vote.
Because so many people think it's all pointless. And why would they be motivatived to vote for the stagnant Dems when the GOP has a guy who is on SOOO many funny memes and saying things that get so much attention?
Time to get some new dynamic reps, rather than the stale old incumbents.
Exactly! They’ve demonstrated their values time and again. That’s how we even got here. We have to Stop reading their little press releases (aka the nytimes)
i think part of the issue is that people need to know where to look for new Democratic leaders. We have got to figure out how to elect some new people but we need more conversation to be able to coalesce around candidates. nobody knows each other, so nobody knows who to support.
We need to stop fooling around and start demanding Democrats fight for workers rights, beginning with codetermination. That is the policy that publicly trade corporations must have line employees make up 50% of their board of directors.
We need to insert ourselves into political roles where we can replace Republicans or lame duck democrats. We have 2 years to gain support for whatever role we aim for!
Also, show up for school board and city meetings! If you need signatures to oppose something? Go out and get them!
If you’re in the govt, and are worried about your job, sabotage the new masters. Not all of us can fight back from the position of strength. You can make their lives a living hell by slow walking, making errors, unplugging things, spilling liquids, accidentally deleting code
However, as someone who does comms, it’s hard to break through when legacy media loves to cover the chaos. This is why they need younger leaders, people who understand how to leverage social media to get their message out.
This is inaccurate. Dems have been disempowered. I see them every night eisavowing what is happening. There is nothing more they can do.
The article claims they should fight. Ever studied Ghandi? He fought. Passive aggressively. Simply allowing the selected policies to hurt is a fighting move.
It is the one they seem to be making. The suffering from these policies they chose is now the only and best way to reach people. Because without it, the cult group think is all they will do. Only thing that cuts through that us suffering.
Dems, are doing exactly what they should to end this sooner
Also to end it faster with as little suffering as possible. The less they rebel, the less he acts out not just against them. But against all of us too.
This news paper needs strategic thinkers rather than dummies doing the writing.
I disagree with some of this sentiment. At what point do you stop trying to keep a child from touching a hot stove when they are literally fighting you every hour of every day to touch it? Eventually, either through exhaustion or apathy, you finally let them touch the hot stove and see what happens
Exactly. I keep saying Democrats shouldn’t do a damn thing. People voted MAGA Republicans in. They need to suffer the consequences for their votes (or their non votes that elected Trump & Republicans).
It’s the only way they’ll learn.
Maybe, but they are not going to listen to us telling them the stove is hot. This large organism has a lot of pain receptors. So many will feel it (yes including us), but certainly not everyone is numb.
I think if/when prices go up instead of down & (as we are already seeing) the J6 terrorists Trump pardoned commit serious crimes & those gain coverage, we will see plenty of outrage.
I hope so. But their ability to lie to themselves is also quite astounding. I am actually interested in seeing how they blame everyone but themselves for it.
That’s MAGA. They’re only 35 to 40% of Trump voters. Nothing will ever change their minds.
It’s the rest of them who voted Trump over frustration about higher prices, believing he would somehow lower them.
Jeffries should hold a press conference. He should talk about each of the most horrible acts so far that violate law or set norms and cover the plan of action for each. For example: IG firings- what is the plan? (some are continuing to report for the 30 days, we’re pursing a lawsuit) So forth…
Time to make some commercials. Tell the people we don’t believe this leader is well, and 1.4 percent more votes don’t make you a king. Tell people, with a honest approach what is going on. Don’t use this for any political vote for me service. Good luck trying to get it played.
They have been doing this for years & the people still choose trump. We can blame the democrats as much as we like, but the fundamental truth is, trump ran the worst campaign in history, & Americans still chose him. At some point we have to accept this is just what Americans want.
"just over half of the electorate did not vote for Trump"-- more like 66% did NOT vote for him. Only 31% of eligible voters voted for Trump, 29% for Harris. 30% did not vote at all.
@nytimes.com needs to stop saying ‘just over half the electorate’ and start reminding everyone that only 31% of eligible voters voted for Donald Trump, as only 64% of eligible voters voted in 2024. Start combatting the ‘mandate’ and ‘overwhelming majority’ that he is claiming.
This is the foolishness that got us into this mess. I see plenty of Dem elected officials opposing the administration. Lawsuits are being filed etc. If opinion writers, newspapers columnist etc. spent half as much time criticizing Republicans as they do Democrats, we might not be in this mess?
Right; nice of this tabloid-esque rag to continue to sow division of Democrats. Obviously no politician is above criticism but this is once again feeling like “blame Dems for the batshit nonsense GOP is allowing to happen in Fed Gov” nonsense NYT has continually done under current ownership
Exactly. And this is from the nyts, ffs. The very paper that has been sitting on its ass white washing everything trump and attacking Biden and Dems daily for years.
Those of us who are politically active may be aware that filings are taking place, but we know millions of Americans have not clue, that's why it's imperative Dem leaders be in front of cameras every day & spread their message where ppl get their news.
We need to be as loud as MAGA.
I've been lighting up our Democrats on social media, at their offices, anywhere I can. I tell them, DO SOMETHING, fight, or get the fuck out of the way. We don't have time for this cowardly ass bullshit.
However in doing so there has to be a concerned, receptive, party on the other h er side. I call my MOCs regularly. When I can get through to a person, not a machine. There is patient listening and then, I'll make sure t h e MOC gets your message. Click. Rarely if ever a followup.
THEY DONT CARE. They're getting their $200K+ salary, perks, travel, insider trader advantage and the POWER. If your not a big time donor, you're nothing to these people .
If Democrats sit by while Trump dismantles all the programs that benefit ordinary people so he can give tax breaks and government contracts to his billionaire bros, we need a new party.
They should at least be screaming from the rooftops about how Trump isn't keeping his campaign promises and is actively harming his voter base. Anything would be better than just la-dee-dah-ing like everything is fine
Did you not see AOC’s blistering rebuke in the House? Sen. Andy Kim’s takedown in the Senate? Crockett and Jeffries are on fire on the floor. Senators Kelly, Hirono, and Duckworth eviscerated Trump and the GOP during the Hegseth hearings. Where have you been?
I did, sure. But for the hundreds of millions of Americans who aren't as dialed into politics as people who engage with this content, that might as well be screaming into the void. We need them interviewing on independent and legacy media outlets, going on podcasts, organizing demonstrations, etc
They did that; they are doing that; and they will continue to do that. But I can see that it doesn’t matter what I or anyone else links to, you will not relinquish your belief.
I agree!! I have never been more embarrassed to be a Democrat. Where is our leadership? Why don't they fight? Too afraid to make waves or be impolite. WTF?
Let’s send that message to Dems over & over. We’re not supporting you, donating or otherwise, until we see resistance. I’d rather give my little bit of $$ to ACLU or ProPublica.
The Guardian estimated that close to 90m Americans, roughly 36% of the eligible voting age population, did not vote.
Why?
What is their reaction now to Trump's actions?
They’re fine with it. Showing papers to “prove you’re ok” means nothing to them. I honestly hope I go to prison over something like this - I’ll lose weight, get free healthcare and maybe can finish my masters degree.
They’re too busy making 🏦 on the stock market and cozying up to donors to fight. If we have elections again, we need to vote the do-nothings out and elect folks with integrity and a back bone.
Dems need a M. McConnell equivalent. As abhorrent as that man is, he played the evil long game & won. There is no one on the Dems side willing to meet Repubs in the dirt where they reside..and the Repubs know it which is why they will continue to run right over the Dems while laughing the whole time
Pete Stark fought hard in the House for most of his career. He wasn't civil about it but he got shit done. He died a while back, but we need more people like him.
I hated McConnell for a long time. Sadly, now he may be one of the Republicans in office that I respect. He’s never fully been a Trumper. Low standards I know, but they reflect the current Republican Party.
good to righteously resist -- but many are hungry for a new path -- to know that Dems recognize they f'd up and are charting a new path...but, they're just asking for more and more money -- nothing about change....with out it I am afraid we're in for decades of GOP rule
They need to fight the corruption and authoritarian tactics and think about creating strong media content around billionaires stealing, J6 thugs thugging, families being worse off, and how these corrupt actors are bankrupting our children.
Oligarch is fleecing middle class taxpayers.
This is so optimistic, man. One of the reasons I’m more pessimistic is that a status quo party that’s intent on incrementally changing social policy for the better (so long as donors don’t take issue) just isn’t persuasive when the financial policies screw over the angry white racist class.
Our democracy is too important to lose. Democrats failed us by letting Trump return to power and now we need to get their asses out of bed and fighting again because I don’t see a single Democrat leader or media outlet standing up to these Trump power grabs. It’s concerning.
In Washington DC federal congress, democrats are fighting we just don't hold the majority in either legislative body, sadly the SCOTUS MAGAs also have the majority. Executive wing is getting plastered with right-wing Project 2025 authors. The fight may have to be in lower courts. So sad.
@ericlipton.nytimes.com claims that there is a cadre of reporters at the NYT ready to hold FOTUS accountable. Since I dropped my subscription (of nearly 5 decades), I can't determine if that is actually happening.
I'm not watching/reading MSM so I don't know what the press is saying or how vociferously. I agree that this should all be front page + BIG opinion, not just from opinion writers, but from the editorial boards.
I’m 70 years old and I want those two women leading the Democratic Party. Time for a new leadership team. We need the Hoggs and their leadership to capture young voters.
You asked if we could have some new leaders. That's who I'd like to see, and they're fighters. That's who we need. We need to keep demanding term limits. It may never happen, but we have to keep being vocal.
I’m sorry to say, Ms Warren will not be successful bc, she’s a woman. It’s very apparent that the US does not want a woman leader. If govt wanted Ms Harris to win, somebody would’ve stopped the election by arguing “fixed” or “stolen”
Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016 Presidential Election. A large portion of the United States very much wants a woman leader. It will happen.
Racism played a huge role in the last election. No one can write off a female leader in the US based on only two female candidates—that's asinine.
Every good leader is important, even if they are old. We need new leaders to replace the old ineffectual ones, but there are old ones who deserve to be there.
Please don't just share on this forum. Tell your reps in DC what you think. Resist. It only takes a few minutes and best of all..it doesn’t cost any money.
We don’t need money in politics. We just need people to participate.
Thanks for writing this. I can’t express my exasperation and occasional rage toward Coons, Blumenthal, Durbin, et al. Their precious norms will be the death of the Republic.
This is such a general statement, what exactly are you thinking they should be doing? I just hate these kinds of mud slinging with no substance! Lawsuits are being filed, politicians are speaking out. What are your ideas?
We need to outsmart the Repukes at every turn! I hope to God that the Dem’s are accomplishing a lot behind the scenes to outmaneuver the GOP! 🤞🙏🏻🤞🙏🏻🤞🙏🏻🤞🙏🏻
They need to knock off the bipartisan crap and call out every single racist/sexist/horrible thing this administration does. Take off the gloves and go for their ignorant racist jugular.
The list of horrible things trump has done is already seven miles long and it’s only been a week!
You are absolutely right, however I have heard there are FAR MORE missing votes then previously thought.
We need to all call our Representatives and PUT SOME FIRE under their butts..... we elected them to be our voices, so far they have been silent in the face MADNESS!
WHY?
THOUGHTS? 🤷♀️🤔🤨
We need more of our members of Congress to set up accounts on Bluesky. Very few are on this platform. They're still on the platform we left.
Call/email your MoC with this message. https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
You don’t rescue a drowning person while they are thrashing around you wait for them to stop and then you rescue them.
If democrats do anything now, half the population would blame them
Janelle, I am looking for a part-time job to tide me over, but I am resisting with other local people here now by opening my home and making plans of how we might help.
Mind you, I do rather wish they had taken the initiative 4 years ago, when they had the executive branch.
@marymcnamara.bsky.social @windyisland.bsky.social
The Dem leadership in this country is useless for the past decade. None of this should be happening right now if we had any senators or representatives or committee heads or whatever the hell that was able to form a complete thought and then take action. just fucking useless. Embarrassingly so
I’ve heard the “just over half of the electorate did not vote for Trump” several times. Is that true? When I look for vote totals it looks like trump got more votes.
Trump got 49.80% of the vote. The word 'half' is equivalent to 50%. If you do the math it is quite clear that 50.0 is a larger number than 49.8. Or to put it another way: 49.8 is less than 50.0.
ALT TEXT:
There are other reasons for Democrats to try to take the initiative. There are still many Americans rightfully concerned with an authoritarian turn in the United States. Again, just over half the electorate did not vote for Trump. They deserve leadership, too.
Indeed, the party's refusal to fight sends ripples through civic life. If Democratic leaders won't fight, then it's hard to expect civil society, or just ordinary people, to pick up the slack. Either democracy was on the ballot in November or it wasn't, and if it was,
it makes no political, ethical or strategic sense to act as if we live in normal times.
It is not a distraction to vocally oppose Trump's would-be nominees or highlight his extreme intentions. Democrats should look at every aspect of the next Trump administration as an opportunity to do, well,
politics - to demonstrate their values and show the extent to which this president has no plan to pursue the public good. The quiet and supposedly responsible approach of the past four years is a dead end. Attention is the only currency that matters, and Democrats need some to spend.
Well democracy WAS on the ballot, and it lost. Half the country doesn't care, and they just handed over the reins to a team who is desperate and determined to dismantle it all. Not sure what "team democracy" can practically or actually do about it.
They need to make noise; get in the streets.March up Pennsylvania Ave.Get on social media .Let ordinary people know what is going to happen to them . Stop being nice .
It isn't like the left slept their way through November. Social media and right-wing media are so pervasive that half the country doesn't see or hear the shit that the right is doing, and they are spoon fed that antifa and the Black panthers are the ones matching in the streets .. against America! 🤬
Many people ( everywhere) are content as long as they have a job and a house and a car or two .They don't care who is in charge of their government and couldn't care less as long as they can plod along and think they are " getting ahead " .
Agreed, but wait until their grandchildren get polio, or they or their kids lose their teaching or science or government jobs, and prices go through the roof because of tariffs. Wait until their taxes go up and their social security goes down and Medicare is destroyed.
Yep, it takes many forms: "shoulda stuck w/Joe" or "who cares about democracy? What abt the price of my eggs?" Also, cabbie-immigrants angry bc the *new* immigrants seem to be getting lots of free stuff while they struggle to pay rent. So blame Dems, get amnesia re Trump's actions in his first term
We need to stop saying a majority of voters voted for him. They didn't. When you add in the 3rd party voters, he does not have the majority. It's not even really close.
“You get what you deserve” is such a shitty short-sighted attitude that shows you don’t care much about actually helping people. Not a single child in this country voted for this: are they getting what they deserve?
They have to get dirty with messaging. They have to get in the habit of telling half-truths to make MAGA look bad. They have to talk about how bad this government is.
People are mad. They want their anger to be represented. They don’t want donation emails or effete finger wagging.
That’s important because it creates a narrative that’s easy to repeat and has an easy gateway into the truth - that tariffs hurt YOU.
Many, many Trump voters made these half-truth compromises with MAGA. Because MAGA messaging centered around how Democrats hurt them, so the emotion stuck.
Democratic politicians should be leveraging donations & access to communications specialists to craft a cohesive & easily understandable message. And then they need to gather the most effective communicators in the party to flood the media (TV, social, etc.). They need a strategy & a message to
The problem is their communications specialists are so out of touch it’s not even funny. This is how we get cringey TikTok influencers sending donation emails.
They have to listen to the *emotions* of voters and appeal to those emotions. Moral grandstanding and policy debates mean nothing today.
Counter every piece of disinformation, propaganda, etc. that the GOP is putting out. Their messaging needs to clearly articulate what the GOP is actually doing, how it will harm the US/Americans, & what the Democratic Party would do. The GOP has built their own media ecosystem & now they are taking
But this is almost exactly what they’ve been doing and it’s failed. Because the common person does not care about others being hurt unless it’s them. And as far as they were concerned, the Biden admin hurt them. MAGA exploited the hell out of that.
“Trump raises price of coffee by 25%” should be FLOODING social media.
Is it true? Not entirely. But it gets real policy implications in front of a very uninformed electorate in a way they can comprehend and it hurts them directly.
Over mainstream media and social media. Democrats are not *fighting* back against this. They need chest thumpers and people who can communicate at the level of average Americans.
Hold regular pressers, call the GOP out. EDUCATE ppl who don't know that most DEI hires are actually White women. As a vet, JD Vance went to Yale via DEI
Explain how ending FEMA means grifters (like Kushner) can use private co's to prioritize profits not results
They can do a few things; the fact that they choose to do NOTHING is infuriating
I blame the Vichy media as well as the Vichy-er GOP, but the Dems have let a giant vacuum open up in the country & the only voices heard are the loudest lies of MAGA-GOP
Besides the gerrymandering
by the Greedy Oligarch Predators
Republicans suppressed the vote
And no was not 1/2 country 36.33 % could not bring themselves to vote for democracy
Just
did not vote.
Biden voters.
And the Russians bombing ballot boxes.
Technically true, but not practically - the 36% that did not vote understood that Trump would have the upper hand if they didn't vote. IMO, they are just as responsible as his maga voters.
Word of advice I learned from Heather Cox Richardson
@hcrichardson.bsky.social
Cheer on the Democrats
Complain to the Republicans loudly!
Help them get word out.
Different issue. This election was about democracy vs authoritarianism. We clearly know who the authoritarian is and we are already seeing how fast he's working to dismantle our government. So if people didn't vote for her to prove some point, then we got what we deserve.
This is why our democrats in elected office must speak up and get in the way of this administration doing the dismantling of our democracy. We need loud leaders. Now.
Democracy was on the ballot and it won. You’re seeing it in action. The will of the people, being carried out by a strong, democratically elected leader.
The reason we're feeling powerless in the face of the onslaught of destruction that is going on is that folks count on their political leaders to lead the resistance, but I'm not seeing anything. I'm seeing Dems vote for his nominees; I'm seeing acquiescence and polite objections. That time is over.
It's time for Democrats to be a shadow government, reacting with truth, loudly and publicly to every anti-American move Trump and his GOP enablers make.
Trouble is, no billionaires on the Left, Warren Buffet? But he can't pay people's wages so they strike, it's the only way the former America can save itself from a fascist descent. It can be done, in Australia they had jobkeeper during covid, so long as they're paid, 80%/they didn't vote for a Nazi!
No politician never led the way it's movements and movements that come from the people ground up like the labor unions they're the ones that make the change we're not going back
If our leaders are willing to fight as hard for us as the MAGAt sedition caucus is fighting for felon 47...it's time to reevaluate if they should remain in office.
I repeatedly ask myself why, during Trump’s week of “shock and aww, crap!” I was not seeing the dems calling out every dumb (or illegal) thing the Republicans did and ask, how does THIS help the American people?
I would like to see/hear them on podcasts, social media, billboards, TV…
This perfectly encapsulates how I have felt since well before the election. Dem leaders have failed on all levels and if I have one more person tell me it’s on me to fight shouldn’t I expect at least that from party leaders? No nominee should have had one damn Dem vote yet again they capitulated.
We need a nationwide General Strike. We've got to hemorrhage the tax revenues they're embezzling and using against us and the corporate lobby money funding the political apparatus #JustStayHome
There's the rub. What feels extreme to some is flaccid to others. We have multiple levels of left all piling into one party.
But we can't split up!
And no one wants to compromise their ideals.
Regardless of everyone thinking their ideas is best, we do need to pull together.
It's so infuriating. They maliciously and falsely characterize liberals as raving socialists, and democratic leadership just meekly eats it. They govern like actual fascists and democratic leadership meekly ignores it.
2)Resistbot: Writes letters & petitions to Congress
(Text "resist" to 50409 OR via social media messaging to Resistbot OR click link below) https://resist.bot/
The term “white moderates” comes to mind, and they’ve been a problem in the past. “If it’s not affecting them, it’s not happening.” Look how silent and smug they are.
Biden should have packed the court. I said this in 2021. Now there’s a bought Supreme Court. This one small difference would have made such a huge difference. But too late now 🤷♂️
It's the Theocrats/Plutocrats/Oligarchs/etc, they've bankrolled/owned the Media, Judiciary, Government Agencies & Officials & more, for longer than most people seem to realize.
& to put it mildly, they don't feel like paying taxes, paying you a living wage or providing you with services you pay for
Hear, hear! We need to stop fighting a silly culture war and focus on a class war. Reduce income inequality and provide American citizens things every other industrialized nation on earth has like single-payer healthcare.
We need a grassroots campaign. We can’t rely on a few politicians to save the day. We need to find a way to do something more effective than writing posts and sending letters.
I read this excellent plan in December. Dems aren't following it but instead some are voting to confirm unqualified nominees. This isn't business as usual! Yet, they're still asking me for money daily. NO! @dscc.bsky.social Why would I support unless you oppose? #no$w/oopposition
The most devastatingly poor political strategy of the T#ump years has been "when they go low, we go high". It breaks my heart to say it. PS: 'politics' is not going to fix this.
If you follow any Democrats in Congress and the Senate- they are doing that. I suggest we call out Republicans who are doing this ourselves! Every state has elected Republicans- call them and complain
Congressional Democrats should not think they are immune from right-wing violence simply because they try to play nice with Trump. Taking that route will result in a harsh physical lesson for them.
Democratic leadership are doing nothing to resist and there’s of course a reason for that. If there’s no leadership, very soon the whole system will break bc of current administration’s systematic destruction, and perhaps that’s necessary but it will be painful for a very long time.
Why not let things play out? You don’ t even know the outcome of anything! Resist just to resist is stupidity and lacks common sense. You don’t have to agree with everything but you should open your mind.
I disagree. Republican bullies fight dirty. Democrats abided by gentlemens' rules, but they do not work with sociopaths. BUT "complicit?" Not hardly. Awakening a sleeping giant is how you FAFO. 🤨
We need to be competitive and SMART with how we fight back. Have to pick the battles that weaken them the most. Public backlash & lawsuits do still harm them, even if they’re an imperfect solution
Dems in government should be holding continuing press conferences telling the public what the Trump administration is destroying that effects their lives daily. @democracydocket.com @maddow.msnbc.com @aoc.bsky.social @abcnewsbot.bsky.social @cnn.com @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social 🇺🇸
So eloquently stated. My concern would have included a lot of cussing. Did the Democrats fall off the face of the Earth? Are they media silenced? WTF.
We all were shocked after the elections. Gotta dust off the hurt and form a strategy.
We haven’t been a democracy for a long time, and the billionaire class has continually made an effort to degrade our systems to meet their ends and achieve full oligarchy, which they now have.
This is depressing. If they can’t figure out to communicate, then they ought to hire a good communications firm to develop a strategy and hone the daily message.
The NYT should have stopped sane washing Trump as far back as 2015 and the both-sides nonsense. We’re here today because of a 1000 tiny cuts by the media. And Fox should be sued out of existence—bloody liars.
A lot of Democrat leadership doesn't realize that this is a new era. Too much of our democracy depended on standards and etiquette not codified in our constitution or law. Those norms are gone and we are not getting them back. Acknowledging the sad reality of our current times is the first big step.
The fix appears to be in, how many Dems has Musk purchased? With Congress abdicating its duty as a co-equal branch of government the collapse now seems inevitable. Question is what are we going to do about it?
LOL NYT-- after 4 yrs of minimal coverage of Biden's successes, willl they bgive minimal coverage to Congressional Democrats calling out Don the Con's unqualified, dangerous Cabinet nominees, unpatriotic pardon of Jan 6 terrorists and illegal EOs?
>>He has No Mandate. Over 48.5% voted against him.
It will soon be 3 months since Trump won. Have Democrat leaders stepped up and vociferously opposed Trump's policies and the direction he is taking the US in? Trump did this every day for the last 4 years and still does it. He never missed a day to pound the Democrats. The results are clear. He won.
To be fair Congress was not in session.
No doubt..
Plenty of lawyers, Constitutional experts and others strategizing.
Probably don’t want to let trump and his bilking
greedy old predators
in on it.
Where are the helpers.
Let the people lead and our leaser will lead?
AmIrite?
Did Trump stop pounding the Democrats when Congress was not in session under Biden?? No he did not. He doubled down. It was every day. He was on election footing from January 2021 on. he's been sworn in now since Jan 20. He has put out scores of executive orders. Not a peep from Democrat leadership.
I am sure you've seen the shit that he's about to unleash on Canada, Mexico, Panama, Greenland and possibly England and Germany as well. So the whole world is definitely concerned.
The thing is - it's not just Trump. He's the front man to a smouldering regime that is not ready to give up what they feel is entitlement. Many countries are on the fringe. Trump is bellowing the embers - fanning the flames. The elite love him. This is a world problem.
The whole world is concerned. Trump isn't just out to destroy the US as it exists right now and remake it into a dictatorship like Putin but hurt the rest of the world as well. The rest of the world is very concerned. All we want is to be left alone. Obviously he's not going to do that.
It seems to me, that we still play by the rules, while MAGA already threw the rulebook out the window. The power SCOTUS gave presidents, including Biden were far reaching, and no president could face charges even for criminal acts. I would have made Trump and his two sons disappear into prison.
Remember, it’s not 50% of the country. There is a large swath of people that didn’t even bother to vote at all. They do not want this authoritarian regime either.
What concerns me is how many of the younger generation thinks he’s a hero.
Buy the media? Pay personalities in secrecy to spout on platforms that refuse to fact check? Russia won't fund the dem side of things. Fact checks on Ds only.
Attention, that priceless thing which the oligarchy is trying to hold, with red herrings and media ownership flexing their muscles.
Dude, there is no fourth estate. It’s been gone for several years. Started with St. Reagan and the “fair doctrine”. No mainstream. All P&L centers. They do not give one fuck about you or anyone. They are sociopaths with no empathy that want $$$. Flood the zone with shit per Banon. Distraction.
The Democrats have been punks for decades. Reactionary, no strategy, taking Black folks for granted, bullied as a party by the GOP, and appearing as whiny cowards. A true lack of national leadership. If I only hear from you during election cycles, then I know you actually don’t care about me. Y
It’s funny, and I agree with a lot of what you wrote, but republicans have been complaining for a long time how democrats steam-roll them on everything.
Every response to this BS is too fucking quiet. Let's play the GOP game...if you're a Dem in Congress, you better put up a fence and start screaming or we'll find someone who will.
The Democrats in DC seem to be afraid of some sort of retribution from the 🤬🍊🤡.
It’s now been shown that the reason they won the election was due to the suppression of over 3 million votes in swing states by the Republicans. 90% of these voters were Black and Hispanic. -Allan Lichtmann
The dems are always whining about retribution without learning the blindingly obvious lesson that never holding criminals accountable for anything emboldens them.
They could do more, but to fully hold Republicans accountable, Democratic politicians need political power.
They asked for it at the last election, and the electorate said "no" (including some on the left who decided it would be a good time to use their vote to "protest"). Voting matters.
This. And in order for us to fix what is broken, we need to understand who actually broke it. The democrats did not break this. Americans, media, and pre-MAGA GOP broke Democracy.
Right, but these folks have a soap box, and by goddamn, nary an inconvenient fact like "Y'all kept kneecapping Dems for the last 16 years and are now upset they have no power" will stand in the way of them screaming from that box.
The Dems were always kept in check by Republicans and were unable to reverse the damage previous republican administrations wrought. Unless we have a revolution, we have lost democracy as we knew it. Republicans are playing their end game to create a new tyranny ruled by a king and his oligarchs.
@keithellison.bsky.social said it is fear, yes. But then they need to get out of the way if they aren’t up for the job that they face now. Because the job requirements have changed, you now need to fiercely oppose fascism. Especially those that were just elected! There is no excuse I’m sorry.
The old belief was that voters had power because reps wanted to win reelection. But I’m not seeing any response to their voters so if they lose their base, how are they expecting to win reelection? Magas aren’t going to vote for a Dem either. They are weakening themselves. I don’t get the strategy.
If it's fear,then current set of Dems in office had no business running in the elections.They took an oath to the Const& have an agreement w the American people.If they are too afraid of🍊to uphold that,then shame on them.They lose any moral highground they had,&it makes them no different than GOP.
Did you ever think that they are exhausted, like the rest of us? People don't seem to understand how disheartening this election has to be to people that shouted on the rooftops about the fire that is coming. Once it comes everyone is like save us Democrats.
True and they are powerless to stop it. Kamala would have won, except for the face that Republicans were able to suppress over 3 million votes in swing states. So Yeah, they cheated.
I have had former friends tell me, that maybe a dictatorship will be good, and Trump will make a great leader. No shit, and they are no longer my friends. I have lost so many people to Trump. I don't know what will happen now, but things will become much worse for us.
Make sure that they are aware that the pain they are undoubtedly about to experience is a direct result of their vote for Shitler. The media will tell them otherwise. Make them hear the fucking truth.
Marching around with "Fuck Trump" signs is emotionally satisfying, but mobilizing to support 2026/2028 candidates might actually make a difference. Save the speeches and get to work - now.
I agree with @olbermann.bsky.social who urges bills of impeachment every day. It doesn’t matter that no hearings are held, or that if the hearings are held, our side loses.
#Democrats #ChuckSchumer #DNC Yes, we made a lot of beautiful feel-good ads before the election, but they weren't enough. We need #fighters, plain talkers, truth to power. If that's not you...step down and promote someone with fire in their belly.
Im sooo mad at the Dems for taking the ‘high’ road and continually getting screwed! Been writing to all my polls and (wrote in 2016 to Clinton) to start fighting!!!
Those who didnt vote, in a country where your one job as a member of society is to vote, are also responsible for this. And the public made it clear that they rejected everything my political party was offering. So I disagree, they made this bed they are accountable.#FAFO
How about this. Put me in front of Trump so I can call him a fucking retard to his face on national TV. Someone should tell him his economic plan is the dumbest thing there ever heard. They should ask him if he actually has a micropenis.
Sorry, but the R word is really offensive and not used anymore by progressive people. That’s a word Trump and his followers would use (have you been called the word libtard enough?) and I know you don’t want to sound like them. Thanks for listening.
Thats the kind of mentality that gave us two terms of Donald Trump. And using that word is an accurate description of the man. It would catch his supporters attention and show them he's not the tough guy they think he is.
I’m not interested in arguing this point. Just letting you know it’s offensive to many people. It’s basically the equivalent of the N-word but for the disabled community. It’s triggering for them. I’m sure you can think of far more appropriate words to describe DT. Cruel would be a start.
Wasn’t their slogan, “when we fight, we win”? Well. They didn’t fight for freedom. They pushed fear. And turned away from the people who truly make change. They are as beholden to the Broligarchs as the rethuglicans are.
They didn’t “push fear,” given all the things they said would happen are actually happening as of today, they accurately described what would happen if we did not vote for them.
True- democrats just didn’t fight enough because they responded AS IF they/we were dealing with “the norm” — There was nothing normal about Trump/Project 2025 & therefore required a different tactic/approach… They failed in that & those who didn’t vote failed the rest of us!
Comments
The voters who want Stephen Miller and Elon Musk in charge of the US and project 2025 to roll ahead are actually small in number, and stupid.
Thank you.
We need to get out there & WORK.
Identify the ONE thing you're most passionate about. Find your people. Make a plan & execute it.
https://generalstrikeus.com/
2026 November midterms will soon be here - all seats in the House & a few in the Senate are up for reelection
What’s the plan, Democrats?!
Support term limits, join a local organization, and keep your money from oligarchs as much as possible.
Politicians aren't afraid of voters, they're afraid of money.
Much harder to corrupt someone if they're only around 1 or two terms than if you have 20 years to work on someone.
Join an organization for Term limits, ranked choice and your party locally.
If you get a letter from your political party, tell them no donations or support until term limits is enacted for elected and appointed.
I feel age caps would be better.
Term limits have the ability to remove effective politicians.
As an old man, I've seen many effective politicians removed before their time.
The way it is now, if your candidate doesn't get the majority, your vote is erased!
So how is that a pipe dream?
nothing at all ever gets done but the wild parties
on our tab
In fact, primary them all regardless, they didn't fight the blatant election fraud.
Make them accountable to voters, not funders.
Time to get some new dynamic reps, rather than the stale old incumbents.
New ideas.
And let’s be clear: only 1/3 of the registered voters voted Trump… no mandate.
Also, show up for school board and city meetings! If you need signatures to oppose something? Go out and get them!
However, as someone who does comms, it’s hard to break through when legacy media loves to cover the chaos. This is why they need younger leaders, people who understand how to leverage social media to get their message out.
The article claims they should fight. Ever studied Ghandi? He fought. Passive aggressively. Simply allowing the selected policies to hurt is a fighting move.
Dems, are doing exactly what they should to end this sooner
This news paper needs strategic thinkers rather than dummies doing the writing.
It’s the only way they’ll learn.
It’s the rest of them who voted Trump over frustration about higher prices, believing he would somehow lower them.
For decades now…
We need to be as loud as MAGA.
Kindly remember that if you fail to speak up, the super-mega-ultra rich shall be happier. Thank you ever so much.
#ClassWar:Let'sFinishWhatWeStarted
They are the capitalist left. In the end, they bow to capital just like the right.
Socialism and anarchism are needed to fight fascism, but the democrats have weakened our presence in the US in the last century.
Why?
What is their reaction now to Trump's actions?
Oligarch is fleecing middle class taxpayers.
Sorry but didn’t he win the popular vote as well this time? I.e. he actually got more than 50% of the vote on aggregate?
Or am I mistaken?
Do you see it happening?
I see zero resistance. I see capitulation, appeasement, normalization and bothsidesism.
She's the leader the Democratic Party so desperately needs.
And I love Ms Crocket but she is also not in a leadership position like she should. (Seriously I love her)
Racism played a huge role in the last election. No one can write off a female leader in the US based on only two female candidates—that's asinine.
We don’t need money in politics. We just need people to participate.
https://www.nationalfinancialplan.com
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/18/opinion/democrats-trump-opposition.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sk4.Ckf5.XdJ4NGBnngCR&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
Thanks for writing this. I can’t express my exasperation and occasional rage toward Coons, Blumenthal, Durbin, et al. Their precious norms will be the death of the Republic.
Seriously tho, if they're mad, I feel hope.
We need very vocal media but not slanted, and those channels are rare now.
We need ppl in office to get out and talk to us. Find out what we want.
Honesty could be the revolution.
The focus should be on Trump's failures. Right now he's looking at an AI stock crisis, a tariff crisis, and a debt ceiling crisis all by mid March.
The list of horrible things trump has done is already seven miles long and it’s only been a week!
https://bsky.app/profile/n0s0ul.bsky.social/post/3lgtd4grhlc2j
We need to all call our Representatives and PUT SOME FIRE under their butts..... we elected them to be our voices, so far they have been silent in the face MADNESS!
WHY?
THOUGHTS? 🤷♀️🤔🤨
Call/email your MoC with this message.
https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
If democrats do anything now, half the population would blame them
@marymcnamara.bsky.social @windyisland.bsky.social
There are other reasons for Democrats to try to take the initiative. There are still many Americans rightfully concerned with an authoritarian turn in the United States. Again, just over half the electorate did not vote for Trump. They deserve leadership, too.
It is not a distraction to vocally oppose Trump's would-be nominees or highlight his extreme intentions. Democrats should look at every aspect of the next Trump administration as an opportunity to do, well,
I ask people here what do they want the dems to do and common responses are "do something" or "do anything".
Allowing voters feel the pain for letting this happen is a valid strategy.
A third of register voters didn't even bother to vote.
Maybe you get what you deserve.
due to the fact that others voted for third parties
He got less than 50% of all votes. And only about half the country even voted, so technically, about 1/4 of America elected him
Yes, voter apathy is a real problem. So is voter suppression. So is letting the world's richest man fund a presidency
People are mad. They want their anger to be represented. They don’t want donation emails or effete finger wagging.
I hate Ted Cruz, but when someone mis-represents what he says, then I don't trust that person anymore.
Trump didn’t raise the price of coffee 25%. But he did put tariffs on Colombia.
That framing forces MAGA to go defensive and admit he did something similar that impacts coffee prices
Many, many Trump voters made these half-truth compromises with MAGA. Because MAGA messaging centered around how Democrats hurt them, so the emotion stuck.
They have to listen to the *emotions* of voters and appeal to those emotions. Moral grandstanding and policy debates mean nothing today.
It’s a street fight. There are no rules.
“Trump raises price of coffee by 25%” should be FLOODING social media.
Is it true? Not entirely. But it gets real policy implications in front of a very uninformed electorate in a way they can comprehend and it hurts them directly.
AOC spoke about the gist of this:
Hold regular pressers, call the GOP out. EDUCATE ppl who don't know that most DEI hires are actually White women. As a vet, JD Vance went to Yale via DEI
Explain how ending FEMA means grifters (like Kushner) can use private co's to prioritize profits not results
I blame the Vichy media as well as the Vichy-er GOP, but the Dems have let a giant vacuum open up in the country & the only voices heard are the loudest lies of MAGA-GOP
The Dem silence is shameful & unforgiveable
A brilliant historian Heather Cox
Richardson on
what to do/say.
by the Greedy Oligarch Predators
Republicans suppressed the vote
And no was not 1/2 country 36.33 % could not bring themselves to vote for democracy
Just
did not vote.
Biden voters.
And the Russians bombing ballot boxes.
@hcrichardson.bsky.social
Cheer on the Democrats
Complain to the Republicans loudly!
Help them get word out.
For years.
We are being forced to 'take things into OUR hands', since they are cowards or too afraid of his retaliation.
I see no way to bring back any sense of normalcy other than to fight for it. They won't help us.
It may be time to start?
I repeatedly ask myself why, during Trump’s week of “shock and aww, crap!” I was not seeing the dems calling out every dumb (or illegal) thing the Republicans did and ask, how does THIS help the American people?
I would like to see/hear them on podcasts, social media, billboards, TV…
In case you needed some guidance on how to lead right now…
When the crazy green party chick who chained herself to a bulldozer has a better put together domestic economic plan than you something is wrong.
Democrats want to win, ditch the extremists in your party and run on something other than "Orange Man Bad"
But we can't split up!
And no one wants to compromise their ideals.
Regardless of everyone thinking their ideas is best, we do need to pull together.
1)5 Calls: Contact your Congress App
(download, input zipcode, pick a topic, & call) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.a5calls.android.a5calls
2)Resistbot: Writes letters & petitions to Congress
(Text "resist" to 50409 OR via social media messaging to Resistbot OR click link below)
https://resist.bot/
What did passiveness get the Coutry?
First Felon Trump and kleptocratic friends.
& to put it mildly, they don't feel like paying taxes, paying you a living wage or providing you with services you pay for
For now I think the best thing we can do is stay informed with facts & try our best to inform others.
Get involved with local government if you can.
Stay safe & choose Hope
A couple suggestions to support:
https://taxmarch.org/taxtherich/
https://workingfamilies.org/
Also, they are capitalists aren't they? If we can muster the discipline; Hit them in the wallet:
https://www.goodsuniteus.com/
Ask yourself why Trump is so popular & remained so through impeachments & indictments.
BECAUSE behind him he has a loyal MOVEMENT. Democrats? DON'T!
We all were shocked after the elections. Gotta dust off the hurt and form a strategy.
No. Almost 70% of eligible voters did not vote for trump:
31.8 % of eligible voters voted for trump.
30.8 % of eligible voters voted for harris.
36.1 % of eligible voters didn't vote at all.
I thought they'd innately know that. Fight like our nation depends on it. WTF??
https://bsky.app/profile/repdangoldman.bsky.social/post/3lgrbcnpazs2r
https://bsky.app/profile/raskin.house.gov/post/3lgisv7nmhc2p
https://bsky.app/profile/repjasmine.bsky.social/post/3lgrhout3wc2d
>>He has No Mandate. Over 48.5% voted against him.
No doubt..
Plenty of lawyers, Constitutional experts and others strategizing.
Probably don’t want to let trump and his bilking
greedy old predators
in on it.
Where are the helpers.
Let the people lead and our leaser will lead?
AmIrite?
However with a new House/Senate coming in I am guessing they are strategizing
And legal challenges are in the queue.
Our laws are not speedy.
@thedemcoalition.bsky.social
@thedemocraticparty.bsky.social
@thedemocratsmv.bsky.social
@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social
@schumer.senate.gov
@amyklobuchar.com
@nancypelosi2.bsky.social
@raskin.house.gov
@fetterman.senate.gov
@housedemocrats.bsky.social
@senatedemocrats.bsky.social
They're fascists.
What concerns me is how many of the younger generation thinks he’s a hero.
Attention, that priceless thing which the oligarchy is trying to hold, with red herrings and media ownership flexing their muscles.
Everyone knew what they were voting for.
It is happening exactly as he said.
It’s now been shown that the reason they won the election was due to the suppression of over 3 million votes in swing states by the Republicans. 90% of these voters were Black and Hispanic. -Allan Lichtmann
They asked for it at the last election, and the electorate said "no" (including some on the left who decided it would be a good time to use their vote to "protest"). Voting matters.
They are just playing their part in democracy theater.
Impeachment never fails.
Fearless
And
Fierce