All posts tagged "hakeem jeffries"

Trump will be battered by a midterm ferocity — if we can just get rid of these weaklings

Today, I will be typing to you with fire, and helping you deal with the excess hell that is being hand-delivered to us daily by the most lawless, bigoted, corrupt, heartless collection of sub-humans in American history.

I bring you those loaded words, and wonder if I still have somehow underestimated the revolting Republican Party.

I know that you are the true patriots in America who have the guts to pay attention, and then pay a terrible mental price for it. I know that you are the people who can be counted on to rush to the latest political fire, and if necessary use your bare hands to put it out.

I know that you are the people who deserve better than what you are getting both from the party you stand and fight for, and from the one that so obviously and consistently stands against Americans.

Every damn hour we are under steady assault by a repugnant collection of Republican, subservient thugs — a cult of knuckle-dragging hyenas — which are fronted by a gruesome man, who is so completely dead inside, the bile is starting to ooze out of him leaving bandaged hands, swollen ankles, and burnt-orange puddles wherever he was last seen sleeping in public.

The sickly Donald Trump does not have much time left, but then neither does the United States of America.

In fact, the only thing we have in common with this grotesque, abusive monster is that we are all locked in a battle for our survival.

Who’s going to die first? Our country or Trump?

There isn’t a single thing the bought-off Trump, aided by his subservient cult, won't do to end us, as he strangles a never-ending list of enemies, chokes the life out of America, and pockets millions and millions of dollars before he finally takes his last breath.

Our health care, food security, and clean air and water are all under steady assault. Our safety nets are gleefully being pulled from underneath us by lifeless billionaires who can never get enough. Our vote and humans rights are being incinerated. Prices are going up, and a lawless, bought-off conservative Supreme Court is doing everything in its seemingly unlimited power to drag us down.

Our military is being perverted into a partisan tool, and we are steaming toward the breaking point where it will be necessary to ask whether they are with us, or against us.

Trump will not stop until he is convinced he can snap his fat little fingers, and his military will do his heinous bidding. That’s what this is all about, because that is what this was always going to be about when he seized power last year.

This is a takeover, and an attack on a fragile democracy that has survived for centuries, but only because it could trust its president and courts not to unify with the odious intent of dismantling it.

Authoritarianism isn’t some fictional thing, people, it is A THING, and it is happening right in front of our tired eyes.

It is the laziest, most oppressive political system known to man, because it isn’t fueled by enlightenment or better ideas. No, instead it is all about the control by the few over the many, and rammed down our throats with brute force whether we like it or not.

It marches to the monotonous, banging drum of nonstop, state-run propaganda that props up evil, subservient agents in places like our Pentagon, Justice Department, the FBI, and that blasted court ...

You know what I am bringing to you this morning is true, because you have the audacity to pay attention. If you are reading this all-too-sober accounting of our current state, you can plainly see it, feel it, and most importantly: are wondering just what in the hell we are supposed to do about it.

Because if this is our reality, shouldn’t we all be sounding the alarms every chance we get, and supporting each other as we do the work to save the United States of America from itself?

I have great faith in you, dear reader. You give me strength simply by knowing you are out there. By God, there are millions of us, and we are our only chance to put this attack down, and save America.

So now an important question: Do you think the leadership in the Democratic Party is taking all this as seriously as you are?

If you are, we are done for the day. I wish you strength and peace of mind ...

Most of you will know that I am not a party man, because my work as a journalist prevented it, and because after observing political parties and their politicians closely, I trust most of them only as far as I can throw them with my old, tired left arm.

While we the people are fretting, and screaming, and voting, and marching, and hollering, and devouring all the warnings like this one, the leadership of the party we have assigned to save us, is at best badly misreading situation, or at worst, accepting too many horrible realities by the hour, that when piled atop each other will ultimately bury us — and most likely sooner than later.

Right now, like it or not — and man, I absolutely hate it — we are being asked to make the best of our tragic situation in America, while a trio of inaction figures spend the better part of each day rubbing the sleep from their eyes, and reacting instead of taking our righteous fight to the people 24/7.

How is it Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and Ken Martin have been assigned to lead the Democratic Party in this historic hour of vital resistance?

Why are we STILL accepting this?

Isn’t it clear by now that time and again they have let us down since last year’s horrible elections? Isn’t it clear by now they have proven they are simply incapable of rising up to meet this dire situation?

Look, I don’t hate these men. I don’t even dislike them. I thank them for their service.

But now it’s time they return to the important ranks of the foot soldiers and backbenchers, because they are NOT leaders.

The irony is, we were always invariably going to be better off when we stopped with our absurd idolatry of politicians. It has been a weakness of the Democratic Party my entire professional lifetime, but that makes it no less a reality.

Here’s a fact: Most people simply don’t trust politicians, and that is actually a strength of a thriving Democracy. When one man or woman gains too much power we begin swerving toward what we fought to avoid more than 250 years ago.

Welcome to our current nightmare.

But since we are here, I will readily concede that occasionally, politicians can truly inspire. I have seen these rare folks and been sparked by them. Four come to mind in my lifetime: John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Michelle and Barack Obama.

In action and words, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) is my current favorite.

Lord knows, we have never needed inspiration more.

Schumer, Jeffries and Martin simply aren’t delivering it.

They have proven they lack the guts and talent to make our case to the American people. And making our case to the American people is what needs to be happening from sun up to sun down — from North Carolina to North Dakota — every single day.

We must grab the pulpit and shake it. We need to bring thunder to this war for our survival.

Tell me: When was the last time Schumer did that? As he ever done that?

Now tell me why Jeffries was siding with Trump earlier this week in the pardoning of Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who was indicted by the Biden Justice Department on bribery and money-laundering charges. Just last month, Jeffries slammed Trump for being “completely and totally out of control” with these relentless, lawless pardons.

Does Jeffries mean what he says? Too many times I am not sure what the New York Congressman is thinking, and that has become a big, damn problem for such a public figure.

I won’t waste too much of my my breath on the Democratic National Committee (DNC), because its pretty clear they quit really giving a damn the minute they had all our phone numbers, and could just sit back and batter our cell phones with never-ending fundraising requests.

It’s still hard for me to reckon how Ben Wikler didn’t get that job, given what he did to help rescue the Wisconsin Democratic Party from the abyss the past decade or so.

Look, if you told me 13 month ago, coming off the most catastrophic election losses in America history, the Democratic Party wouldn’t change a thing with its Congressional and Senatorial leadership, I would have slapped some self-respect into you.

But here we are with black eyes, because any party that trots out the same losers to lead it after absorbing a thorough beating like the one we got last November can’t respect you if it can’t even be bothered to respect itself …

Nothing, and I mean NOTHING would energize the Left more than putting new, invigorating leadership in place. It would show the party listens, and believes in action, not just empty words. It would invite millions of people in, instead of stiff-arming them away with the same old bulls--- …

CHANGE.

Too many people don’t trust the party, because they don’t think it is listening to them. This simply has to be rectified, because we don’t have any time left.

If we don’t win big next year, we can kiss it all goodbye. There will be no more do-overs. We simply must do EVERYTHING we can to ensure we win.

So one more question before I go: Why do we expect so damn much from ourselves, and so damn little from our leadership?

(D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here.)

Dr Oz belittled with crushing Hakeem Jeffries putdown as he elbows way into shutdown fight

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) referred to Dr. Mehmet Oz as a "rando" and slammed the former television doctor as the Senate moves closer to ending the government shutdown.

Jeffries was responding to a reporter's question about Affordable Care Act subsidies and Dr. Oz's comments when the Democratic lawmaker responded.

"That's like the most random way to start a question on a serious topic. Nobody who's serious in this country takes Dr. Oz seriously. No one. And I mean, it's shocking that the guy even was confirmed, but this is part of the reality of Republicans here in the House and over in the Senate. They're nothing more than a rubber stamp for Donald Trump's cruelty and extreme agenda," Jeffries said.

"I have no idea what Dr. Oz is talking about and neither do the American people," he added.

Jeffries pointed to Democrat wins in elections last week and cited how Americans are upset with the Trump administration amid the shutdown and rising cost of living.

"It's been a disaster for the American people and the American people know it, which is why last Tuesday, Republicans all across the country got wiped out. One of the most decisive off year elections ever. In modern American history," Jeffries said.

'Rubbed me the wrong way': Dem blasts Hakeem Jeffries over 'Mission Accomplished' moment

The Democrats had a great day in the latest election, but Hakeem Jeffries is being called out for purportedly taking a page out of George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" playbook.

Jeffries was put on the spot by a former lawmaker who is now a registered Democrat. Joe Walsh was once a Tea Party Republican congressman, but he abandoned his party with the coming of Trump, and recently he flagged a "much, much, much, much, much bigger" than Trump.

Now, Walsh is calling out Jeffries with profanity.

"The day after a HUGE win for Democrats all over the country, I’ve got just a quick bone to pick with Hakeem Jeffries," Walsh wrote. "So late last night, after this romp happened, what did House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries say? The Democratic Party is not dead. Can we cool it with these premature obituaries of the Democratic Party? The Democratic Party is back. And I thought, 'The Democratic Party is back'? Respectfully, Hakeem, what happened yesterday had nothing to do with the Democratic Party."

He continued:

"Voters came out yesterday in America and repudiated Donald Trump. They voted for Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger and Zohran Mamdani. They voted for the Bucks County, Pennsylvania, school board. They voted for Pennsylvania’s three Supreme Court justices. They voted for two statewide candidates down in Georgia. I could go on and on and on... Americans yesterday who voted were so pissed off and so scared to death that they would have stripped butt-a-- naked and crawled across broken glass for miles to vote. That’s how pissed off and afraid we all were."

He then added, "This was all because of the grassroots voters, the resistance. That’s who carried the day yesterday. It wasn’t because of the Democratic Party, Hakeem Jeffries. It wasn’t because of you, Hakeem Jeffries. It wasn’t because of Chuck Schumer. It wasn’t because of Ken Martin and the DNC. No. That kind of rubbed me the wrong way."

"Look, I get it. Democrats had a good day. Thank God. But Hakeem Jeffries declaring that the party is back is a bit like George W. Bush and the infamous 'mission accomplished' sign," according to Walsh, who then asked, "Why even say that? You won one Election Day here, Hakeem. Chill, baby. You’ve got a lot more to prove."

In his conclusion, Walsh wrote, "You wanna show me the Democratic Party is back? Then you need to meet the f------ moment."

Read the essay here.

'Can’t believe this is real!' Expert enraged by 'sickening' new White House website

A legal expert is enraged by the Trump White House's new Myspace spoof website launched during the government shutdown, saying "I can't believe this is real" and calling the move "disgusting."

Eliza Orlins, a public defender and former Manhattan district attorney candidate, said in an Instagram reel that the White House launched a page on its website called "Mysafespace" to attack Democrats and mock them with racist and sexist "jokes" about Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other leaders.

“The official White House website has launched something called 'mysafespace.' It’s hosted on the actual .gov website that your government tax dollars are paying for during the shutdown," Orlins said.

The site features fake profiles for Schumer, Jeffries, billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, "antifa" and others. It calls Jeffries "Temu Obama" and "sombrero guy," among other things, with a background covered in sombreros and showing him photoshopped wearing a sombrero in multiple pictures. It also has a top eight friends section — just like Myspace.

The "about me" section mocks Democrats, saying, "Hey we're Democrats in the House and Senate. We love DEI, transgender for everyone, and handing out taxpayer benefits to illegal immigrants. We couldn't care less if our men and women in uniform get paid or if our neighborhoods are safe - we just love playing politics with people's livelihoods!!"

“And all this went live while the government is shut down and federal workers and members of the military aren't being paid," Orlins said.

Orlins questioned if the site is a violation of the Hatch Act, which forbids partisan activity in the federal workplace.

"The irony of this being posted on Whitehouse.gov now, while the president himself may be technically exempt from the Hatch Act, that doesn't mean that other people are. And who approved this? How much taxpayer money went into it? And think about the precedent it sets when the president is using whitehouse.gov to attack political opponents," she added.

"This is sickening... This absolutely crosses a line. I can't believe the callousness of this government as they refuse to fund SNAP for 40 million people, they triple, quadruple, quintuple people's health premiums for next year and take away Medicaid and Medicare for so many people. It's just disgusting and that your tax payer dollars are going to fund websites like this instead of funding the things that they should be funding," Orlins said.

'Schumer siesta': Trump reshares comedian in sombrero video hinting at 2028 run

President Donald Trump Friday shared a video from a comedian posing as the president wearing a sombrero with a Trump 2028 hat on top, bright poncho and referring to the government shutdown as the "Schumer siesta" and referring to Hakeem Jeffries as "Dollar Store Obama."

Shawn Farash, who also calls himself Captain Deplorable, created the video and by Friday morning Trump had reshared it on his Truth Social platform:

"Hola, mi fellow Americanos... welcome to the Schumer shutdown. We call it the Schumer siesta. He put the government on siesta, cryin' Chuck and El Hakimo 'Jefe' Jeffries. We used to call him Dollar Store Obama until we realized he's worth far less than a dollar. But they put the government on siesta to give illegal aliens your healthcare. We're not going to let it happen. But I looked at both of them I said 'we're not going to let it happen.' It's no bueno. I said 'It's no bueno.' They begged me, they said 'But señor, por favor, please give illegal aliens healthcare.' I said 'We're not going to do it. We're never going to do it. It's not gonna happen.' And they were also very upset about our 'Big, beautiful sombreros.'"

The comedian then dipped his head down and showed a Trump 2028 hat on top of the sombrero.

"These are the greatest sombreros the world has ever seen, we really have the best sombreros and everybody wants one except cryin' Chuck and El Hakimo 'Jefe' Jeffries. They don't want one but they're going to wear one when all is said and done. We're going to end the siesta, we're going to reopen the government and we will not give into the demands of Chuck and El Jefe. We're not going to do that. Thank you. Gold bless you."

Trump has hinted at canceling the 2028 election during his speech with generals this week saying that the country is being "invaded from within."

This GOP defeat suggests Trump finally has a fight on his hands

It’s premature, but so far, I think the congressional Democrats have shown some spine in the face of another government shutdown.

Let’s hope they show more. If they do not, their public reputation for wimpiness is going to balloon. And I don’t mean among Republicans and independents. I mean among their own kind. This is no time for finding a comfy spot between freedom and despotism. The Democrats must fight, even though there’s a cost, as there always is, to fighting.

Last time, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer shucked and jived about 30-day extensions, all the while scheming in the background for face-saving ways to cave. In the end, he said keeping the government open was better than closing it, as Donald Trump would then have the power to redefine “essential services” and cut them to the bone. Nine Senate Democrats acquiesced. Did they get something in return? No.

But this time at least, Schumer isn’t messing around with 30-day extensions. The House passed one last week, with one Democrat for it and two Republicans against it, but it was killed off almost immediately in the Senate by a Democratic filibuster.

If Schumer were planning to shuck and jive again, he would have gotten his caucus to vote for it — it’s called a temporary “Continuing Resolution” – while claiming party leadership is still negotiating with Trump. He didn’t, though. For now, I’ll take that as a hopeful sign.

That’s partly because there’s no one to negotiate with. GOP leaders in the House and Senate don’t want to make any moves without the president’s say so. Meanwhile, the president himself seems to believe his party doesn’t need the Democrats to keep the government open. (This assumes Trump cares, and I’m very much unconvinced that he does: “If it has to shut down, it'll have to shut down,” he said.)

That Schumer isn’t messing around (so far, at least) with a phony CR extension comes from something else — monumental upward pressure from the base of the Democratic Party to stand firm against Trump, even if doing so undermines efforts at bipartisan compromise.

Poll after poll shows Democratic voters are themselves increasingly furious with party leadership, especially with its weakness in the face of tyranny. That can be explained in the plainest of terms. Trump’s evil is no longer theoretical. It is real, and it must not be bargained with.

Schumer now thinks the situation is much different, because the president and his party are weaker than they were then.

“The BBB bill, which they have passed, is highly unpopular with the American people,” he said. “Democrats are unified. We have been strong on the same message for a very long time, which is: We need to help the American people lower their costs, particularly on health care.”

A lot of people are asking the question: what then? In exchange for keeping the government open, the Democrats want the Republicans to agree to renewing Obamacare subsidies and rolling back cuts to Medicaid. If the Republicans balk and the government closes, how will it end? Will the Senate Republicans nuke the filibuster? Then what?

How do the Democrats win the argument?

Honesty, I don’t think this question is one of politics. It’s one of punditry. It’s the kind of question you ask yourself when you think of yourself as a disinterested arbiter who stands in remove of the words used by each party, and who assesses which side “won the debate.” It’s a whole lot of fun spending your time gaming things out (trust me), but in the end, it’s still punditry, not politics. And now, it’s irrelevant.

Trump acts like the Congress doesn’t matter. (The Republicans in the Congress act like the Congress doesn’t matter. The Republicans on the Supreme Court have ruled that in some cases, the Congress really doesn’t matter.) The president has pushed his party to claw back money signed into law by previous presidents. His administration has illegally impounded hundreds of billions of dollars in congressionally approved funding, all because it’s not “consistent with his priorities.”

He has said he has the right to do whatever he wants, however he wants, to whomever he wants.

“I’m the president,” he said.

He has determined press freedoms are “really illegal.” With the Supreme Court’s blessing, he’s arresting people for the “crime” of their identity. He has ordered prosecutors to indict at least one of his enemies by declaring him “guilty as hell.” (He said there’s no “enemies list,” but more indictments are coming.) And now, he has deemed that liberal groups that criticize him are “domestic terrorist organizations.”

He said, “they are sick, radical left people, and they can’t get away with it.”

And on top of this, the Republicans control everything.

As one observer put it: “You think people are going to blame the party that controls zero branches of the government and not the guy who repeatedly says he has the power to do literally whatever he wants?”

How do you win the argument against a criminal? You don’t. Absent the power to investigate him, all the Democrats can do right now is fight, and they must fight though fighting could come at a price. Yes, the shutdown may go on indefinitely. Yes, the Senate Republicans might nuke the filibuster. Yes, a lot of bad things might happen, especially to the Democratic base pushing the leadership to fight. But guess what? A lot of bad things are already happening and they will continue to happen whether the Democrats cooperate or not.

Those who are worried about arguments fear losing and won’t fight. Those who are willing to fight know they might lose and do it anyway.

'Shame on you. Resign': Hakeem Jeffries faces Dem backlash over Charlie Kirk honor

On Thursday morning, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) posted a clip of himself lashing out at Republicans over the imminent government shutdown, but commentators on Bluesky were more interested in his vote to honor conservative gadfly Charlie Kirk that had just concluded.

The honor, which is purely ceremonial, stated, “Charlie Kirk became one of the most prominent voices in America, engaging in respectful, civil discourse across college campuses, media platforms, and national forums, always seeking to elevate truth, foster understanding, and strengthen the Republic.”

Jeffries was one of 94 Democrats to vote in favor of the bill, but, as the leader of Democrats in the chamber, he ended up being on the receiving end of a wave of outrage.

As one critic wrote on Bluesky, “You're a complete disgrace voting to honor a bigot and enemy of democracy like Kirk. Shame on you. Resign.”

Pointing out that Jeffries had claimed that Republicans would “own” a possible shutdown, another added, “You voted to honor racism you will always own that.”

“You voted to honor Charlie Kirk??? My god, grow a set and defend the people he attacked! You need to, at the very least, be removed from leadership, and better yet, be removed from Congress. Such a useless POS at this point,” complained LgLover.

On X, pollster Adam Carlson pointed out, “Hakeem Jeffries voted to honor Charlie Kirk before he endorsed Zohran Mamdani.”

Veteran Lewis Medlock offered, “No one fails to meet the moment like Hakeem Jeffries.”

Daily Kos reporter Oliver Willis linked to a clip of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) detailing Kirk’s racist history on the floor of the House and dryly added, “This is the person [Jeffries] voted to honor.”

“WTAF? Hakeem Jeffries, along with the rest of House Democratic leadership is voting yes on a resolution to honor fascist Charlie Kirk,” activist Heidi Li Feldman wrote.

This tiny act could end the galling stupidity that keeps Trump in power

One of the most significant developments in what was another ear-shattering, soul-crushing week in American politics transpired quietly last Monday evening, when Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) announced he was stepping down.

Nadler, 78, has been a liberal force during his three decades in Congress, and by finally throwing in the towel signaled that maybe — just MAYBE — Democrats are starting to listen to their angry constituents, who are not at all pleased by the way the party has comported itself leading up to, and after, the most consequential election in American history this past November.

“Watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party, and I think I want to respect that,” Nadler said, before grudgingly adding, that a younger replacement “can maybe do better, can maybe help us more.”

Using the word “maybe” was Nadler’s ego talking, but it was the “Watching the Biden thing …” that really interested me. I’ll have more on that in a minute, but for now, it’s instructive to listen to how news of Nadler’s departure was received in Democratic circles. Put it this way: I have not heard from ONE person of note who thought this was a bad decision.

Basically, this is what I have been hearing:

“Thank you, sir, for your many years of service. I wish more Democrats would do the same.”

To put it kindly, the Democratic Party has become a stale, useless brand. It is a party crying for a new direction, and new leadership. It needs fresh faces, and new ideas. Again: Nobody I have talked to disputes this.

One only needs see what is transpiring in Nadler’s haunts in New York City for a vivid illustration of the party’s self-destructive clash of cultures.

Up-and-comer, Zohran Mamdani, 33, handily won the New York City Democratic Mayoral Primary in July, but instead of celebrating his victory, the Democratic old guard, led by Andrew Cuomo, are fighting hard against him.

This is grotesque, it really is, but is serving to expose all that is wrong with a party that refuses to get out of its own way.

Even Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has not been able to bring himself to endorse his fellow New Yorker, most likely because his campaign has accepted upwards of $1 million from the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (which loathes Mamdani) in just the last year alone, and because Jeffries has proven himself to be too cute by half.

Once an up-and-comer himself, Jeffries has lately fallen flat, and is out of tune with the majority of his party these days, who see him as a lurker, not a leader. Sadly, he seems to be one of the only people who doesn’t see this.

Mamdani’s stunning victory in the July primary was a repudiation of the old guard, their failed ideas, and all that old money. Mamdani has proven he can reach the voters that Democrats must have to win elections, which begs the question:

Why then are so many old guard Democrats throwing rocks at him?

The easy answer is all that damn money, but there is also something else at play here: Sheer stupidity, as well as that ego even Nadler has found so hard to shelve.

Listen to me:

If there was just ONE thing Democrats could do to enhance their chances in every election for the next 20 years it would be this: Throw out that old guard, swap out your so-called leadership, and make good and damn sure every person in America knows you’ve done it.

REPEAT: Throw out the old guard, swap out your so-called leadership, and make good and damn sure every person in America knows you’ve done it.

Nothing would signal you are listening to your terrified and angry electorate more than that. Further, it would serve notice to the growing number of Americans who don’t see a difference between our two major parties that this version of the Democratic Party isn’t serving up just more of the same old bulls--t.

Politics is a competitive, bottom-line sport. And in every sport except politics, winners are rewarded with a second chance, while losers go home. When a team wins, coaches, players and general managers are rewarded for their efforts. When a team loses, coaches, players, and general managers are sent packing.

At least this is how the perennial winners do it …

Fans of these teams expect nothing less. Why would they pour their hard-earned money into the pockets of losers? Are these fans any different than the constituents of the Democratic Party? Why should the people who do all the heavy lifting, volunteering, door-knocking, and rallying and marching until their feet hurt keep showing up if their party is just going to trot out the same old, tired-a-- losing team?

If you’ve read even a little of my stuff, you know how I feel about the revolting, racist, misogynistic, anti-American Republican Party.

That this group of bought-off goons has been able to garner the support of something called the “working-class American” is not only patently insane, but speaks to the massive failures of the Democratic Party, which has allowed for the greatest heist in American history.

How can the party that stands with unions, workers’ rights, increased minimum wage, wages overall, healthcare, childcare, social security, Medicaid and Medicare be losing the working-class voters?????

And, by the way, have you seen the latest job reports, showing Trump’s predictable and massive failures?

We’ve heard a lot about Democrats’ inability to communicate to the American public, but I’m not sure if that messaging is as much of a problem as the people who are doing it — those losing players I was talking about.

Like it or not, most Americans are sick and tired of the Cuomos and the Clintons, the Chuck Schumers and Hakeem Jeffries, the Amy Klobuchars and the Steny Hoyers, the Mark Warners and the Cory Bookers …

The list is really long, and growing.

None of these people should be in leadership any longer, and none of them will ever become president despite all their unbridled ambition, so they need to finally get that out of their hard heads.

Like it or not, they are the faces of a failed brand. I am not saying they all need to go, but they do need to learn to lead from behind, while pushing new, aspiring leaders forward.

THAT is how you truly serve your country, and thank you in advance.

It was bad enough the party lost the House, the Senate and the presidency in the most consequential elections in American history last November, but they somehow made it even worse by the way they completely and callously mishandled their beating.

It was almost as if they couldn’t wait to surrender.

It was as if they didn’t give a good goddam about the people who spent their time and treasure working their tails off to get them elected, and were now terrified about what was coming down the pike in a second, vengeful Trump dictatorial term.

A term, by the way, that should have never been allowed to happen if we had a damn Justice Department that acted with the urgency Trump’s January 6, 2021, attack on our nation most certainly demanded.

Joe Biden himself was absolutely appalling in Kamala Harris’s defeat, what with his warm welcome to America’s dictator in front of that damn fire in the White House only days after the election. I will never be able to unsee or un-hear that grotesque spectacle.

Then there was the cheery Klobuchar handling the inauguration festivities of the fascist dictator as if hosting some terrible, pinky-out cocktail party, while Schumer took it all in doing his worst impression of Chuck Schumer.

The gall of these people …

Within months, polls started reflecting Americans distaste for this out-of-touch, ineffective group. As I type this, the Democratic Party’s approval ratings are at roughly 20 percent.

Four out of five Americans don’t like what they are being served by Democrats.

It almost makes Trump’s 40 percent approvals look stellar by comparison.

But maybe Democrats are finally opening the door a crack, to let the fresh air in.

In the past few weeks I have seen hints of a different party, with different tactics, even if I am still seeing the same galling stupidity out of too many selfish dimwits like the odious, women-groping Andrew Cuomo.

Maybe Jerry Nadler’s resignation is a sign Democrats really are beginning to listen to their bosses in the field. We need more of this, people.

FAR MORE OF IT.

We need to hear from the new politicians, with new voices and ideas, who are advancing all the good Democrats have done and are doing, while forcefully standing against the most dangerous party in our nation’s history.

And we need to see them competing in our Red States as well as the Blue and Purple ones. Quit conceding turf to these fascists, who offer nothing to their voters but vitriol and death.

WE are the good guys, dammit.

WE need fighters.

These are the people who I will support. I am done getting my a-- kicked by backing the same old losing team with the same old losing players.

(D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here.)

This Democratic nobody just showed Chuck Schumer how to lead

I’m going to talk about Hakeem Jeffries’ recent appearance on CNN in which he made another one of his tone-deaf remarks about evil being a distraction from what’s important to the American people.

But before you say what I know you’re going to say, let me say he’s not hopeless yet! Leaders can change. They must be pushed. They must be made to hear the roar. Anyway, if Ken Martin can do it, so can Jeffries.

As you may know, Ken Martin is the head of the Democratic National Committee. Until recently, he was a dictionary squish. In Minnesota, a close friend of his was assassinated by a man who is clearly in thrall to Donald Trump. Yet when the opportunity came to blame Trump for creating the conditions for cold-blooded murder, Martin blinked. All he could do, in so many words, was ask why we all can’t get along.

But then something happened.

Martin grew a spine!

He was asked recently whether the Democrats should shut down the government in the next funding face-off if Trump keeps doing crimes (my word) like using “the Justice Department to go after his enemies or if he keeps National Guard troops on the streets?”

Martin said yes!

“You have a fascist in the White House,” he said. “We cannot be the only ones playing by the rules with a hand tied behind our back. That old playbook, the norms that used to have guardrails on our democracy and protect all of us, that doesn’t exist anymore.

“We gotta throw that playbook out the window, because the Republicans have.

“We cannot be the only party that’s playing by the rules anymore. That’s why I said this isn’t your grandfather’s Democratic Party, where you bring a pencil to a knife fight. We are bringing a bazooka to a knife fight. Donald Trump wants a showdown. The Republicans want a showdown. We’re gonna give it to them.”

This heel turn is new. Earlier this year, during the most recent funding showdown, Chuck Schumer said a handful of Senate Democrats would vote with the GOP to keep the government running, even though they knew the president would prosecute a totalitarian agenda. In essence, Schumer had argued, it was better to bargain with evil than fight it.

Now Martin is saying: “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

And that fighting spirit is almost certainly the consequence of traveling the country and listening to Democratic voters, who are tired of the Democrats asking the Republicans for permission to get along with the Republicans.

Jeffries can do the same. But we have to push him in more ways than one. Right now, the main focus is getting him to stop using the word “distraction.” Last Sunday, he again used that formulation on CNN.

“We should continue to support local law enforcement and not simply allow Donald Trump to play games with the lives of the American people as part of his effort to manufacture a crisis and create a distraction because he is deeply unpopular. The one big ugly bill is unpopular, ripping healthcare away from millions of Americans is unpopular, enacting tax breaks for their billionaire donors is deeply unpopular, and that’s why a lot of this is taking place.”

But I think “distraction” is only part of a larger problem.

Though he accuses Trump of diverting our attention away from the fact that he’s cheating us, Jeffries still accepts as valid the president’s “reasons” for doing things — in this case, commandeering local law enforcement and replacing police departments with US military personnel to patrol major cities, like Washington and Chicago.

The president’s “reasons”? Crime is so out of control that it’s tantamount to a national emergency demanding a military response.

That’s a lie.

We are seeing historically low levels of crime, especially violent crime.

But instead of calling out the lie, presenting the facts, and accusing Trump of attempting to grab power, Jeffries implicitly concedes that there’s some truth to it. He probably figures there’s no point in arguing the point and that he’ll make more hay by dismissing Trump’s power grab as a distraction before redirecting us to things like healthcare that he believes will be convincing to voters who believe Trump’s lies.

In other words, Jeffries is doing what Schumer was doing, which is what all centrist Democrats do: accept as valid the premise of the lies in order to make themselves seem moderate (especially not the “radical left Democrats” that Trump would have everyone believe), and as such, portrays themselves as honest brokers who care about “things that really matter to the American people.”

But when you accept as valid the premise of the lie, you forfeit the opportunity to confront it. You might even find yourself looking weak and on the defensive, as Jeffries did. When asked if people in Chicago are manufacturing concerns about crime, he sputtered and bumbled through the rest of the interview, spending his time trying to prove that his party cares about crime as much as Trump does, thus deepening the false impression that he cares at all. For God’s sake, the highest-ranking Democrat in the Congress looked like he was on trial!

Trump does not care whether there are high rates of crime in American cities. If there is, so be it. If there isn’t, he’ll lie about it. He’ll accuse the local cops of faking the data. (He’ll get his congressional goons to validate the allegation by launching an investigation into it.) What’s important isn’t the substance of the allegation but whether the allegation justifies what he wants to do. If it does, he’ll send in the troops. If it doesn’t, he’ll find some other rationale for his malign goals.

Facts don’t matter to Trump, because he doesn’t care what’s true. That seems to be the conclusion that Ken Martin finally came to. There is no point in searching for good faith in a president who has none. There is no point in compromising with a criminal when all a criminal sees in compromise is more reason to commit more crimes.

Go ahead, Martin seemed to say. Shut down the government.

But stay focused.

Because “playing by the rules” is the biggest distraction of them all.

Jeffries could prove hopeless, but not yet! As I said, if Ken Martin can make the journey from bargaining with evil to fighting it, he can too.

Hakeem Jeffries warns progressives of 'painful lesson' if challenged

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is warning the progressive wing of his party, particularly those aligned with Zohran Mamdani, the party’s new nominee for the New York City mayoral race, that they will learn a “painful lesson” should he face any primary challenges.

A self-described Democratic socialist, Mamdani shook the Democratic Party with his upset victory last month, sparking panic among wealthy Wall Street financiers, conservatives and moderate Democrats with his progressive agenda. And now, a number of Mamdani supporters are considering launching primary challenges to New York’s Democratic congressional delegation, CNN reported Wednesday.

Speaking with CNN, Jeffries’ senior adviser Andre Richardson dared progressives to launch a primary challenge against the top House Democrat, and took a dig at the racial makeup of Mamdani’s base as being disproportionately white.

“Leader Hakeem Jeffries is focused on taking back the House from the MAGA extremists who just ripped health care away from millions of Americans,” Richardson told CNN. “However, if Team Gentrification wants a primary fight, our response will be forceful and unrelenting. We will teach them and all of their incumbents a painful lesson on June 23, 2026.”

Mamdani overperformed with white voters compared with his primary competitor in the race Andrew Cuomo, former New York governor who resigned amid sexual harassment allegations. Nearly half of Mamdani’s support “came out of white, native-born neighborhoods,” according to John Mollenkoph, CUNY Graduate Center director of the Center for Urban Research, told Politico.

Jeffries has frequently been pegged by the progressive wing of the party as being too moderate, citing his past record of voting to override union objections by imposing a contract on rail workers in 2022, his lack of vocal support for universal health care, and his overt support of Israel amid the country’s ongoing siege in Gaza that has left at least 57,500 dead, the majority of them women and children.

However, the Democratic Socialists of America, of which Mamdani is a member, along with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), say launching a primary challenge against Jeffries is not the organization’s top priority at the moment.

“His leadership has left a vacuum that organizations like DSA are filling,” said Gustavo Gordillo, DSA New York chapter co-chair, speaking with CNN. “I think that is more important right now. To me, it often seems like he is the one picking the fight with the left, and I think he should focus on fighting the right.”