Negativity, defeatism, scorn, snark, contempt. Democrats in Congress are hearing it all, lots of it from inside their own tent. They are trying to be more proactive — to raise alarms about “the Republican health care crisis” and Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr’s “corrupt abuse of power,” for instance. But it’s never enough.
The Democratic brand has tanked in polls. Those same surveys also show that despite President Donald Trump’s low ratings, Americans still have more trust in the Republican Party to handle immigration, crime, the economy, foreign conflicts and even “extremism.” Upstart Senate candidates like Michigan’s Mallory McMorrow and Maine’s Graham Platner say that if elected, they wouldn’t vote for Chuck Schumer as Senate leader.
America is trying to survive a 12-alarm fire. The only ones with the tools to extinguish it are the Republican perpetrators.
The disaffection runs deep on social media among voters Democrats will need. The Jimmy Kimmel furor is a good example. After the late-night host’s suspension, House Democratic leaders issued a statement accusing Trump and the GOP of waging “a war on the First Amendment,” said Carr “should resign immediately,” and vowed to investigate what may be “a corrupt pay-to-play scheme.”
When I posted that statement on Bluesky, some people were happy to see the House leaders using strong language. A couple said they had opened avenues of investigation for state officials. But most commenters had unrealistic expectations. They wanted more:
“And?”
“Ah, a strongly worded letter.”
“A strongly worded letter. Whew!”
“So great that Dem leadership is good at strongly worded tweets….too bad they don’t actually do something.”
Obviously, we have free speech (at least for now). Candidates and commenters alike can say what they want. But what if voters grow so depressed, disgusted or angry at Democrats that they stay home on crucial election days, or cast protest votes for candidates who can’t win? “People on our own side are trashing the very institution we need to rebuild trust, drive turnout, and deliver real change,” former national party chair Jamie Harrison wrote Thursday.
The Trump era has put the Democratic Party in an unprecedented bind. America is trying to survive a 12-alarm fire. The only ones with the tools to extinguish it are the Republican perpetrators. And they have no intention of doing anything but stoking the flames.
In the first two years of the Biden administration, Democrats could speak through action. Now they must rely largely on words and messaging.
The dismal election math of 2024, meanwhile, has stymied Democrats in Washington. It’s tough to get attention — much less legislative traction — when you don’t control the House, Senate or White House. They have also been handicapped by their affinity for negotiations over bare-knuckle political warfare. More congressional Democrats should be talking like California Rep. Eric Swalwell, who said Carr and anyone else involved in “dirty deals” to manipulate media companies should “hire a lawyer and save your records,” because accountability will come.
But they’re not. Instead they’re trying to negotiate with a president who is quite possibly the least trustworthy and most abrasive negotiator in the history of the universe, in business or government. Three months into Trump’s first term, I wrote a USA Today column headlined “Trump Is a Nightmare Negotiating Partner” — and that remains as true as ever.
Everybody knows this, as Trump might say. Which makes it puzzling that Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries asked for an Oval Office meeting with Trump on health care, the budget and keeping the government open. After agreeing to talk, the president canceled the meeting and posted a berserk attack/tantrum on Truth Social about “Minority Radical Left Democrats” who supposedly (but not actually) want to fund dead people on Medicaid and transgender surgery for everyone. Democratic leaders, meanwhile, finally toughened up after the Office of Management and Budget, under director Russell Vought, threatened mass firings of federal workers in the event of a shutdown. Schumer called it “an attempt at intimidation” and Jeffries said that “our response to Russ Vought is simple: Get lost.” The plainspoken defiance is critical because Democrats have picked the right fight, and, win or lose, the public needs to know what’s at stake. Fifteen million people could lose health insurance by 2034 due to Trump and Republicans’ cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, with an estimated 4 million unable to afford coverage if ACA premium tax credits expire this year as scheduled. The recent eruption of misinformation and lies on vaccines and Tylenol only heightens the importance of taking a stand on health care. This is the world congressional Democrats will live in until at least January 2027. Did Trump’s meeting cancellation mean he would “own” a potential Oct. 1 shutdown? Or did he make Democrats look inept and underscore their impotence? The meeting is back on, now for Monday, with Democrats looking for “a serious negotiation” and Team Trump — this time including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune — already calling their demands on health subsidies “outrageous.” In the first two years of the Biden administration, passing laws to supercharge Covid relief, infrastructure, renewable energy, competitiveness with China, postal service reforms and efforts to lower drug prices, Democrats could speak through action. Now they must rely largely on words and messaging. This is obvious to longtime Congress nerds like me. What’s been surprising is the intramural blowback even as some normally mild Democrats try, at least intermittently, to break character and get aggressive. When Jeffries posted that “Democrats do NOT support the dirty Republican spending bill because it continues to gut the healthcare of the American people,” one user told him to “stop focusing only on healthcare.” Another told him they hoped “you and Schumer grow a spine and don’t cave” to Trump. In an Economist/YouGov poll last month, a mere 49% of Democrats had a favorable opinion of Jeffries; Schumer was even lower, at just 41%. This is the world congressional Democrats will live in until at least January 2027. It will only change if people who are fed up with them now understand that voting for them in November 2026 is the only way to stop Trump’s march toward obliterating the country we know.
Jill Lawrence
Jill Lawrence is an opinion writer, an editor and the author of "The Art of the Political Deal: How Congress Beat the Odds and Broke Through Gridlock.” She previously covered national politics for The Associated Press and USA Today and was the managing editor for politics at National Journal. 
