All posts tagged "democratic party"

Dems have a chance to flip red state after GOP's 'worst nightmare' came true: analysis

The Democratic Party may feel bolstered by a special election result where they gained ground from the GOP in Donald Trump's backyard.

Such a result at Mar-a-Lago, which tipped to Democratic candidate Emily Gregory over Republican Jon Maples, could give the party some hope of success in Florida ahead of the midterms. The Hill columnist Liz Peek suggested a draft of voters aligned with Democratic Party values now living in Florida could tip the balance in the election later this year.

"For long-time residents of Florida, who enjoy the state’s low taxes, safe streets and sensible pro-business policies, the recent special election was their worst nightmare come true," Peek wrote.

"Millions of people have moved to the Sunshine State in recent years, particularly during the pandemic, attracted to a pleasant quality of life, an unobtrusive government and, for sure, wonderful weather.

"Among that throng have been many Democrats fleeing New York, New Jersey, Illinois, California and other blue states, driven out mainly by those states’ burdensome taxes and high crime rates.

"What are voters thinking? Do they really want to kill the golden goose that has made Florida so livable? Were they lashing out against Donald Trump, willing to sacrifice the benefits of GOP administration just to show their fury?"

Peek has since suggested a "winning message" of "affordability" could be a game-changer in Florida this year, though it would not be enough to kill off the GOP's super majority in Florida.

"The Palm Beach seat-flip was not the only upset recently scored by Democrats in Florida," Peek wrote. "In another special election, Democrat Brian Nathan appears poised to win a state Senate seat in West Tampa and parts of Hillsborough County formerly held by a Republican.

"Most startling was the election last December of the first Democrat to become mayor of Miami in almost 30 years.

"Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by roughly 1.5 million. They have a supermajority in the state House, which won’t be threatened even if Nathan wins. But Democrats are targeting Florida, and across the nation they are, ironically, winning on the “affordability” issue — even though the most expensive places to live in the U.S. right now are all in blue states.

"Between now and the midterm elections, Republicans need to deliver programs that will lower the cost of living."

GOP leader tries to laugh off major Mar-a-Lago bruising — with claim that shuns evidence

A shock victory in a Florida election is being seen as a massive blow to the Republican Party ahead of the midterms — but a leading Republican is shrugging it off.

In fact, Majority Leader of the House of Representatives Steve Scalise bucked widely held beliefs — and claimed his party will be flipping seats in December.

Donald Trump's administration was dealt an embarrassing blow as the Democratic Party flipped the Florida state House seat that contains Mar-a-Lago Tuesday. Winning candidate Emily Gregory took the Florida District 87 state House seat with 51 percent to 49 percent, a margin of just over 750 votes.

Speaking to Raw Story about the reason for the swing to Democratic Party, Scalise suggested it was merely a case of low voter turnout. He said, "Now, special elections are always unique because they're very low turnout.

"You know, surely you look at those and see there are things we can learn and improve upon when the big election comes."

Scalise went on to suggest there had been less focus on the special election in Trump's backyard as the GOP had a larger stake in success at the midterm elections. He said, "And obviously, November is the election that we are focused on. We've still got primaries to go through in a lot of states. There are runoffs in Texas. There's always going to be elections, but the big election is going to be the November midterm.

"And we're laser-focused on that and not only holding the House, but the opportunity to grow our majority. We've got some real opportunities in a number of districts to actually flip more seats from Democrat to Republican, and that's our focus."

The Mar-a-Lago seat flip in the historically red seat shocked pundits, and CNN expert Harry Enten said it was likely a sign of things to come for the GOP.

"What is happening right now in Mar-a-Lago is unlikely to stay a Mar-a-Lago. It is likely to expand nationwide and to expand in the midterm elections as well," he said.

The Mar-a-Lago loss could precede the largest GOP midterm loss in 100 years, according to analysis from The Daily Beast. Martha McHardy wrote, "Historically, the largest House losses include Democrats losing 116 seats in 1894, Republicans losing 77 in 1922, and Democrats losing 72 in 1938, with other notable losses in 1974 and 2010.

"By comparison, the Democrats’ 41‑seat gain in 2018—the largest in 44 years—was still well below 70."

'Obscenity': Trump hammered in Congress for risking US with 'non-stop screwing around'

Democratic Party representatives are calling out Donald Trump and his administration for their flippant style of dealing with the war in Iran.

Trump's admin approved strikes on the Middle Eastern country as part of a joint operation with Israel on February 28. Since then, the president has threatened further strikes and carried out such actions, but he and his cabinet have offered a multitude of different excuses for waging the war.

These excuses have come to a head in Congress, with Sens. Christopher Coons (D-DE) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) calling out Trump for the rhetoric around the war. Coons, speaking with Raw Story Friday, blasted Trump for distancing the US from NATO — especially given the last time the world organization acted on an Article 5 order.

Article 5 states that if a NATO Ally sustains an armed attack, every other member of the Alliance will consider this as an armed attack against all members, and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the attacked Ally.

Coons ridiculed Trump for claiming, "NATO has never stood with us and that we can't count on them."

"Trump repeated the obscenity yesterday," he said, before explaining how the intergovernmental organization had sprung to action in favor of the US. He said, "The only time NATO has actually invoked Article 5 and deployed to war was in defense of us in Afghanistan. A third of the combat deaths [in Afghanistan] were NATO troops.

"I led a bipartisan delegation to Denmark during the same week Trump gave that speech about how NATO had never stood by us, and Senator Tillis and I laid a memorial wreath at the site that remembers the 52 names of those who died in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"But the president keeps disrespecting our NATO allies this way, which leads to the unsurprising result that when he didn't consult them before launching a war of choice with Iran, they didn't feel willing to but in to open the Strait of Hormuz."

Kaine added, "The problem with his argument is, he's been non-stop screwing around with NATO allies during his whole time in office. Imposing tariffs on them, threatening to invade a NATO ally, and you know, it is unilateral relations 101 that after you've kicked people around when you suddenly ask people to help when you've kicked them around, they're not going to be that interested.

"So he should stop kicking them around, and then he might get more cooperation. If the president were full-throated in his support of Ukraine, that might be a more parallel argument, but the Europeans are looking and going, 'Well, wait a minute'. Biden was really supportive of Ukraine. What have you done about it? It's not an argument where the president is really standing on solid ground."

Amazon grilled over suspicion Melania doc broke bribery laws

A documentary on Melania Trump has prompted calls for a probe into the financial donations from Amazon to Donald Trump

Representatives signed a letter to the E-commerce company asking where the funding came from and suggesting money given to the Trump team for the film could have breached bribery laws. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) led the charge on the letter, with calls for Amazon to answer questions on the sum of money given to the team behind the Melania documentary.

Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Dan Goldman (D-NY) also signed the letter, according to The Hill. The letter notes the undisclosed figure given by Amazon to the Trump administration as part of the ongoing White House ballroom renovations.

It reads, "If Amazon officials have made any donations or payments as part of a quid-pro-quo arrangement to influence President Trump or other Administration officials, the company may be in violation of federal bribery law."

The letter also noted the "ways in which Amazon has appeared to curry favor with President Trump since the 2024 election." This included a $1 million donation to Trump's 2025 inauguration and the unspecified ballroom sum.

Dem reps also wrote that Amazon should address "the serious concerns that its investment in ‘Melania’ was part of an apparent pay-to-play arrangement with the Trump Administration."

Melania documentary crew members had privately hoped the Brett Ratner-directed feature would flop at the box office. Insiders confirmed some had gone as far as to request their name be removed from the credits of the controversial film.

One insider, speaking to Rolling Stone, said, "People were worked really hard. Really long hours, highly disorganized, very chaotic."

Another source suggested almost two-thirds of the crew who worked on the film in New York had requested their name be pulled from the credits of the documentary. A third anonymous source who worked on Melania said, "I feel a little bit uncomfortable with the propaganda element of this. But Brett Ratner was the worst part of working on this project."

'It's gonna be hard': DHS shutdown continues as Dems blame one Trump official for holdup

The ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown has left lawmakers pinning the blame on one Donald Trump administration official.

Members of the Democratic Party believe Stephen Miller is the man behind the madness, with a slate of trouble affecting members of the public and the Republican Party. Democrats say they will not compromise on the outline for the proposed funding bill, which at present would give Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials further funding.

The motion failed by a vote of 51 to 46. Centrist Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.) was the only Democrat to vote with Republicans to advance the funding bill. The bill needs 60 votes to advance. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Thursday, "Why won’t they budge to give an inch on ICE, which is highly unpopular and even the president has said hasn’t done things right?"

Fellow Dem reps believe the issue stems from Stephen Miller's hardline on policy, with the GOP backing the Homeland Security adviser. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), told Politico, "Stephen Miller has a view that is outside of the American mainstream, and so it’s gonna be hard."

"If Susie Wiles were in charge of the discussion, that would be a different conversation." Fellow rep Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said, "Things go back to the White House, and Stephen Miller, who’s an extremist, says ‘no'."

An unnamed official speaking to the outlet suggested there is "no blueprint" to ongoing plans from the Republican Party, though there are "multiple people" working on ending the shutdown.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) suggested a deal must be struck quickly, as ongoing shutdowns affect the agents out of work more than anyone.

Cramer said, "When the pain goes from the poor TSA agents — who deserve to be paid, and whose families deserve to have them paid — when that pain gets translated to travelers, it gets worse. And that’s what we sure hope we can avoid in the next few days or week or two."

'Election war games' advised to stop Trump from stealing the midterms: lawmaker

The Democratic Party must act now to stump Donald Trump's election-stealing promises, according to a party representative gearing up for the election cycle.

The president has made it clear he wants to hinder the rights of voters across the country with a proposed election bill that would require voter ID and make mail-in ballots harder to use. Whether the bill passes is yet to be seen, but Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Jake Auchincloss believes the time is now for him and his colleagues to act against Trump.

Speaking to The Daily Beast, Auchincloss said the party must fight fire with fire and brace itself for what could be a far from typical midterm cycle.

Auchincloss said, "There’s never been an example of him accepting the outcomes of an election result that’s not to his benefit. So I think we have to assume he’s going to try to steal it.

"They want to cheat, they have cheated, and their policy is so bad that the only way they can get elected is to cheat," he added.

Auchincloss has since outlined the two steps the Democratic Party should take ahead of the midterms, and one step involves pushing back on Trump's inevitable post-election claims early.

"One, we should push for passage of the Bivens Act," Auchincloss said, "which is basically a law that would allow federal officials to be held liable in state courts for violating the Constitution.

"That would really help prevent some of his henchmen under the color of law from going to the states which administer our elections and bullying them for those infamous ‘find me 11,000 votes’ kind of thing. We allow state officials to be held liable for violating the Constitution in federal courts, but we don’t do the opposite. And that’s a loophole that should be closed.

"Number two, we need to pre-butt his gaslighting. What Democrats need to do is hold a bunch of election war games this summer to show, here’s the phone calls he’s gonna make, here’s the county clerks he’s gonna bully, here’s the votes he’s gonna try to find, here’s why he’s lying."

The Massachusetts rep suggested the time to do this is now, before Trump can start rolling out his own narrative. Auchincloss explained, "We’re up against this guy who’s going to lie about what’s right in front of people’s eyes. And we just have to say it over and over and over again. He is lying. And do it before he starts lying."

'I'm going to lose my mind': Iraq war vet Dems sound off over Mar-a-Lago 'chicken hawks'

A Democratic Party representative who served in the Iraq war has issued a statement denouncing the rhetoric around the ongoing strikes on Iran.

Donald Trump approved a bombing campaign against Iran earlier this week, with veterans now serving in government airing their concerns. New York Democrat Rep. Pat Ryan, a veteran who twice served in Iraq, issued a statement to CNN expressing his concern over the current Iran situation.

He said, "If I hear one more chicken hawk who’s never served a single day in uniform sitting in a gold-plated office in DC or Mar-a-Lago or anywhere else, try to talk tough having never seen what war is about, I’m going to lose my mind."

Fellow representatives backed Ryan's comments, with Rep. Eugene Vindman calling the conflict with Iran an unnecessary use of US resources.

He said, "I will not be shedding a tear for the Iranian regime and the Ayatollah. I understand the threat but I also understand that wars are easy to start and hard to finish.

"This is a commitment of American blood and treasure to a conflict that we didn’t need to be engaged in."

Donald Trump has said the U.S. will stay in the fight for as long as it takes to achieve the country's objectives, although his administration has not yet laid out a compelling case for the operation, according to some lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

John Bolton, the president's national security advisor during his first administration, told Joanna Coles on a new episode of "The Daily Beast Podcast" on Wednesday that he is concerned that Trump hasn't thought through the implications of the strikes. He added that the president's lack of a decision-making process "magnifies the risk" that something could go wrong.

“As long as things are going successfully, he’ll stick with it," Bolton said. "If we run into real difficulty, and I hope we don’t, and we shouldn’t at this point, but if we do, because anything is possible, that would be the testing time to see whether he was able to stick it out."

Veteran strategist says Trump has given Dem party key to 'unlock voter anger' at midterms

A veteran strategist for the Democratic Party has suggested that one recent move from Donald Trump is the key to winning big at the midterms.

Max Burns, founder of Third Degree Strategies, believes the president has played his hand too early and his recent bombing of Iran will be crucial to tipping swing voters to side with Democratic representatives. Writing in The Hill, Burns suggested the change in tone of even the most dedicated MAGA supporters is a telling moment that could decide the race.

He wrote, "Given a choice between launching an unnecessary war and spending money to actually improve the lives of Americans, Trump and his Republican enablers chose bombs.

"Far from unifying his base, Trump’s America Last approach has kicked off a wave of criticism from some of the country’s most influential MAGA influencers, from Tucker Carlson to allies of the late Charlie Kirk. Even neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes is now urging his followers to vote against Republicans in November.

"Democrats must follow Gallego’s lead in turning an abstract, purposeless foreign war into a clearly defined kitchen table issue that resonates with voters across the political spectrum.

"Affordability is the key to that conversation, and it’s how Democrats will unlock voter anger in the run-up to this year’s consequential midterms.

"Trump’s long-time political allies are right — he has betrayed the people he swore to help by launching a war that will only make life harder for the millions of people struggling to get by in an already brutal economy. Democrats will need to ensure that message rings in voters’ ears from now until Election Day."

Iran could cause further disruptions to the US if its oil crisis is not resolved in the next few days, a Nobel Prize winner has warned.

Economist Paul Krugman wrote, "...traders are betting that the Strait of Hormuz won’t stay closed for more than a few days. I hope I’m wrong, but I expect the strait to remain closed for weeks despite Trump’s assurances."

Fed-up Fetterman bristles when pressed again on CNN whether he's ditching Dems

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) appeared annoyed Wednesday when he was asked — again — if he had plans to leave the Democratic Party.

Fetterman, who has faced questions before over where his loyalties stand and shook President Donald Trump's hand before the State of the Union address Tuesday night, was talking to CNN anchor Kasie Hunt about the outlook for Democrats in the midterm elections. Fetterman will be up for reelection in 2028, but has not yet announced if he has decided to run again for his Senate seat.

"I'm not changing the party," Fetterman said. "And I might clap for some things that I agree, but, you know when you represent Pennsylvania that's there. It's like, 'hey, we would all love like a... a blue state, you know, then you can really just have to talk to one side. But for me it's a special responsibility. If you represent Pennsylvania that, you know we have to find a way forward."

Hunt pressed him on whether he would run again.

"I think the question there really is about the reality that there are some Democrats that are considering challenging you in your race, potentially should you, of course decide to run for reelection in a potential reelection would you want President Trump's endorsement in Pennsylvania?" Hunt asked.

His response seemed to sidestep the question, but left him open to potential possibilities.

"It's like anyone's entitled," Fetterman said. "But it's very strange if anyone is a Democrat. I'm not sure it's like the guy that flipped a red, a red seat, and someone now, it's like, now, my record is solid, solid Democrat. So, you know, whatever is possible, so for me, where I'm at here, we are. Don't we all want don't we all want the kind of Democrat that can flip a seat? That's the one thing that matters. There's no drama. You know who's going to be in California or in Massachusetts? You know where it is."

"And the states that really matter about the big about the big dance," Fetterman said. "They all come down to those specific kinds of states. And now someone you know, in Morning Consult a couple weeks ago, I'm up 15 points."

This MAGA failing could bring GOP crashing down in midterms: expert

The Democratic Party must use the core MAGA voter base to its advantage in the upcoming midterm elections, a political analyst has claimed.

Russ Baker believes the hypocrisy of the dedicated Donald Trump voters will give Democrats the edge at the polls later this year. Writing in his Substack, the WhoWhatWhy editor-in-chief called on Democratic representatives to hone in on a critical voting group that would react to seeing MAGA hypocrisy.

He wrote, "As I’ve indicated, the possible themes that might resonate are myriad. But it’s likely that the brutality of the administration and its effort to actually steal an election offer the best chance of connecting with the heads and hearts of enough Americans.

"Here’s just a sample of the kinds of things worth advertising: With Trump twisting senatorial arms out of sockets to nuke the filibuster and pass the diabolical SAVE Act, if he succeeds, around 70 million American women who took their spouse’s surname will have all kinds of problems proving their identity at the polls to cast a vote. That’s because their birth certificates are under different names.

"Presumably, this will resonate with a critical voting group, who — regardless of their party preference — will be none too happy to learn that their citizenship is in doubt thanks to a maliciously misnamed piece of legislation."

Baker went on to suggest there needs to be a more focused campaign from the Democratic Party on the hypocrisy of MAGA voters and the Republican Party's rhetoric.

He added, "WHY aren’t Dems running a huge ad campaign on this? With footage of Trump crowing that if the SAVE Act passes, Republicans won’t lose an election for 50 years!

"I want to reiterate a point I made earlier: A reliably solid issue to win on is the MAGA right’s hypocrisy. Or if that’s too big a word, maybe 'These Guys Lied To You.' And then present all the examples where the Trump Gang just made it up or did the opposite of what they promised."