Following the State of the Union Address, Democrats are striking President Donald Trump over the declining state of the economy, and over his own allies' and family's blatant excess of self-enrichment while working Americans struggle to afford basics — but MS NOW analyst Philip Bump argued on Wednesday that there is a better message they could be using.

"Philip, your thoughts on the effectiveness of what you might call a two-prong approach from Democrats?" asked anchor Ana Cabrera.

"Yeah, I mean, I understand that the Democratic Party feels as though they are going to be well-positioned for the midterms, and they don't want to step on their own toes. I get that," said Bump. "But I do think that both the response in the room, save for, you know, some of the incidents that you you suggested and also [Virginia Gov. Abigail] Spanberger response really failed to get at the real threat to democracy, which Americans feel."

That threat to democracy, Bump argued, is heavily apparent in public surveys.

"People understand that Donald Trump wants to do something with his power that is atypical for a president, to put it mildly," said Bump. "We have that new poll from Marist conducted for PBS Newshour and NPR, which shows that 90 percent of Democrats, I think 80 percent of independents, feels American democracy is at risk. And I think there's a very potent message there, which the Democrats have been shying away from in favor of the economy."

"I think it's a missed opportunity, particularly after that speech last night," he added.

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The Trump administration has employed a “rarely used” tactic to block the release of a bombshell whistleblower complaint regarding Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner – a complaint so sensitive that it’s currently “locked in a safe” – The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The existence of the complaint first became known to lawmakers last November when the whistleblower’s attorney sent a letter to Gabbard to accuse her office of blocking lawmakers’ access to it. That letter was reviewed by the Journal and first reported on earlier this month.

The contents of the complaint remain unknown to both the public and top lawmakers, including the so-called “Gang of Eight,” a group of lawmakers who are typically briefed on matters of intelligence. One Trump administration official told the Journal earlier this month that the disclosure of the complaint could cause “grave damage to national security,” speaking with the outlet on the condition of anonymity.

It was later reported that the complaint involved Kushner, and that it includes supposed details on an intercepted conversation between two foreign nationals about the president’s son-in-law.

Top lawmakers have continued to push for access to the complaint, but on Tuesday, Gabbard’s office shut those requests down, and using what Glenn Gerstell, former general counsel at the National Security Agency, described as a “rarely used” tactic.

“In an email to Democratic congressional staffers sent on Feb. 13 and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Gabbard’s office said it was unable to provide the unredacted intelligence that underpinned the complaint ‘due to the assertion of executive privilege to portions’ of the intelligence itself,” the Journal’s report reads.

The citing of “executive privilege” as cause to keep the whistleblower complaint under lockdown, Gerstell said, was unusual, especially as justification to restrict access to intelligence information from the Gang of Eight.

“Executive privilege is rarely used as a reason to not give information to the Gang of Eight,” Gerstell told the Journal.