Democrats are frustrated with party leadership for their response to Donald Trump's disruptive second presidency, but some elected officials are pushing back harder as his approval ratings continue to fall.
Congressional Democrats have largely followed the grassroots opposition, rather than leading it, as Trump upends foreign and domestic policy, threatens open defiance of the courts, shreds the federal government and seeks retribution against his political enemies, and many believe there hasn't been nearly enough pushback, reported the New York Times.
“We seem to be facing the destruction of the United States,” said Yale professor Jason Stanley, an expert on fascism. “I don’t see anyone articulating that this is an attack on what it means to be American, on the very idea of America, and it’s an emergency.”
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Trump returned to the White House with Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, which has knocked Democrats off stride and left them struggling to rally around a unifying message, but several candidates have recently toughened up their language against the president.
“The desire for leadership is a natural human thing, but I think people are leading this,” said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who ran against Trump and vice president JD Vance as Kamala Harris' running mate. “I don’t think any one person can actually do it right now. It’s pretty difficult to lead the party.”
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), who faces re-election next year, said last week that Trump's conduct “has already exceeded any prior standard for impeachment," while Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), who's running for New Jersey governor, wrote an op-ed calling on Democrats to “play hardball” and “disrupt norms and institutions” to block the president's actions.
“There is a momentum developing,” said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. “Now, I feel like there are people standing up and speaking out and taking up and seeing that this is the right thing to do, that it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
Walz agreed things could get much worse and offered a grim prediction, according to the Times.
"Mr. Walz predicted without a hint of humor that Mr. Trump would soon begin dressing in a military uniform and said it was 'only a matter of time' before he arrested a Democratic political rival," the Times reported.
"Asked if he saw himself at risk, Mr. Walz said, 'It wouldn’t surprise me,'" the newspaper then added.