Democratic leaders are struggling to mount a unified response to Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, as party officials “watched in horror” at the president’s escalating tactics in Los Angeles.
That’s according to a new report in The Bulwark, which described Wednesday how protests over ICE raids have become a “playground for Donald Trump’s authoritarian fantasies.” But while Democrats have mostly come out to condemn the raids and the use of the National Guard to target immigrant communities, including garment workers and day laborers, many in the party remain uncertain about how to confront Trump politically.
Democratic leaders are “all over the place,” one prominent immigration advocate told The Bulwark. A Democratic aide described a House caucus meeting Tuesday meant to hone the party's message as “boring” with no strategy.
The internal chaos comes as the party has, so far, been unable “to unite around a single, effective countermessage about Trump’s trampling of L.A.,” according to the report. And behind closed doors, frustrations are boiling.
“The diverging approaches and bubbling frustrations attest to the unease many Democrats continue to feel in conversations about immigration,” The Bulwark said. “It’s also highlighted that the Democratic party remains in disagreement over how much urgency and alarm it should offer in response to what many believe is an existential threat to American democracy.”
“Democrats aren’t going to be able to wish away the news coverage that for the last few days has been dominating the news cycle, simply because we decide we have nothing to say,” one Congressional Hispanic Caucus member said.
Still others in the party, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, have emerged in the public debate with a sharper tone targeting Trump. The Democratic governor warned Tuesday in a nationally televised address that “democracy is under assault before our eyes.”
But while Democrats “continue to struggle to find their footing,” some fear that the internal party debate will allow Trump to control the narrative, the Bulwark added, as Trump plows ahead with his escalating immigration enforcement threats.