'Put up or shut up': Progressives have a plan if Trump bails on the working class

With Donald Trump making headway with some Democratic-leaning voting blocs in the 2024 election, and with President Joe Biden's widespread implementation of pro-labor policies largely going unrewarded at the ballot box, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is eyeing a new strategy to fight back for the coming years of the second Trump presidency.

According to Politico, their strategy is simple: offer Trump a hand and force him to keep his promises to workers — or expose him as a fraud.

Already, according to the report, progressive Democrats are laying the groundwork for this strategy, with Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) saying she'll work with Trump if he pursues antitrust enforcement, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) saying "bring it on" if Trump wants to follow through on a campaign pledge to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent. She added that if he "refuses to follow through on the campaign promises that would help working people, then he should be held accountable.”

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One Congressional progressive aide told Politico: “For the few policy proposals that we think will help the working class, capping credit card interest rates being one of them, we’ll say, ‘Put up or shut up.’ Because if he does, it’s a great win for millions of people across this country. And if he doesn’t, it exposes him as a fraud that he is.”

Progressives have no illusions, however, that they'll be able to work with Trump on a lot of his agenda, or even most of it, when push comes to shove. Warren told Politico, “There’ll be places where resistance is appropriate."

"For example, if Trump follows his V.P. JD Vance in trying to ban access to abortion nationwide through the FDA, there will be massive resistance," Warren said." If Trump follows through on his promises for more tax cuts for billionaires and billionaire corporations, we’re going to be in that fight all the way.”

Trump has put forward other policies ostensibly about protecting workers, some of which Vice President Kamala Harris even emulated on the campaign trail, including eliminating taxes on tips — although some experts are highly skeptical of those proposals.