I won't pretend to be a huge fan of James Carville, but he happens to have said something that's been on my mind ever since Donald Trump won the election:
Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville told Mediaite’s Dan Abrams that the Trump administration would “collapse” within 30 days and advised Democrats to sit back and let it happen.
...."What I have said very publicly is that Democrats need to play possum. This whole thing is collapsing. It doesn’t need Elizabeth Warren and somebody screaming to pacify some progressive advocacy groups in Washington".... “It’s going to be easy pickings here in six weeks,” he said of opportunities for Democrats. “Just lay back.”
I'm not sure Trump is near collapse, but he might be. His net job approval numbers are certainly crashing fast:
But Trump aside, I agree that Democrats should play possum. They have loads of time before the midterm elections, and in the meantime it's impossible to figure out what their best strategy ought to be. Trump and congressional Republicans control everything anyway, so just let them. They'll eventually need to make a deal over the budget, and that's plenty soon enough to start up a bit of bargaining.
Then sit and wait to see how things shake out. Allow Republicans to create their own problems and then attack. By then Dems will know what to do and can energetically go out and do it.
I think he's onto something, but the Dem base will never go for it. Sen Warren has every right to continue to lobby for CFPB and let people know what it's done. I guess we need to push for adding "... this check provided by the hard work of the Dems, Sen. Warren and the CFPB..." to let people know that the "gub'mint" is working for them.
IMO AOC is being out there and telling people to be mad and push their reps. Dems can't do much in the House, but purple/red districts can certainly be pushed and their town halls disrupted. We need to show that Dems have a LOT in common with upset GOP voters. Jess Piper and Will Westmoreland are doing a LOT of this. They argue that the rural vote (and NOT just ag) is primed to be turned to Dem policies and have been scr-wed over by the GOP. This is just more of that on the national level.
So, how is AOC being "out there" and telling people to push their reps to stand for things different from "we need to show that Dems have a LOT in common with upset GOP voters"?
I've seen her ad reels. She's basically saying that Dems need to stand up for democracy and the common welfare, which isn't mutually exclusive from what you said they need to be doing (in fact it's basically what you said...). So why the dig at AOC?
I put more trust in Josh Marshall's guidance than Carville's: 1. Be aware you have no power to legislate. Don't even try. 2. There are opportunities that give you power. The approaching debt limit fight offered one; refuse cooperation until all illegal shenanigans have stopped. The tiny majority they have will be unable to do it without some help from the D side. 3. Keep in mind that this is a battle for public opinion.
None of this sounds like leaning back and let the Trump show collapse. It won't collapse until they lose the midterms in 2026. It will just become shittier and shittier and scarier and scarier.
Performative bills are politically worth while, even if they don't pass. For instance, someone should have already filed legislation overruling all of Trump's emergency declarations and entirely removing executive authority to impose tariffs.
Really home in on number 3.
Doing nothing, as Carville (who is married to a fucking Libertarian who worked for Reagan, for fuck's sake) says, completely gives up on number 3. And since number 1 isn't an option, that leaves basically number 2... which if you're doing nothing in number 3, is just going to leave you in a "both sides" situation at best.
It's self-sabotage to listen to him. Nobody should be fucking listening to him. The only reason he gets a microphone these days is because he used to have a microphone in the days where there was at least a ghost of bipartisanship (and the media had, and still has, such a pathetically raging boner for the political horsetrading that went extinct literally decades ago).
Democrats should do nothing to distract from the fact that this is a Republican created mess. But that is not the same as saying they should do nothing. For one thing the Trump people are launching an assault on groups of people they don't like, and those people should be protected to the degree that they can be. And the Trump policies are not popular (according to polling) and so that unpopularity should be amplified.
What is true is that Democrats should not be talking gleefully about shutting down the government. They should not do anything to help the Republicans trash the government, including voting for bad legislation to keep the government open. But it should be clear that everything bad that is happening is happening due to Republican malice and incompetence.
It is true that the protests by Trump voters upset that they lost their jobs or their contracts or (increasingly) their benefits are more effective than Democratic politicians saying the same things.
But ultimately politically democrats have to look like they are opposing the bad things Trump is doing, not welcoming them so as to take Trump down.
Uggghhh. This is so wrong. One of the reasons Trump got traction with many people is he is perceived as strong and as a person of action. And, the opportunity Democrats are being presented with is every single Republican member of Congress looks powerless and ineffective... because they are! So, now is the time to do everything possible to show how Democrats will fight to protect Americans from the emerging Broligarchy. The last thing they should be doing is laying low.
Yes! Democrats already look weak. Sitting around doing nothing does absolutely nothing to change that impression. Chris Murphy, a senator from CT sets the example they should be following. From the Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/23/us/politics/chris-murphy-democrats-trump.html
I'm so glad that several people here actually get it.
If we had a neutral or left-leaning media (including social media), that advice would be better, but elected D's need to get in front of cameras, put on stunts, etc, to spread the word of what's happening, and what's going to happen. Otherwise, the recession hits, and some voters will be like "bummer, Trump will fix it" instead of being wound up because he caused it.
Just need voters to harass GOP members of Congress. The whole reason the they're so craven in Congress is that they think they'll lose a Primary.
If they realize it's all smoke and mirrors, they will grow a spine. They'll still be selfish, but maybe less willing to hand over their power.
What Democrats ought to be doing is developing a program so that they have something to sell the American people when the time is right. Right now, the Democrats seem to be content to be "not Trump," which did not carry the day in 2016 or 2024 and only barely did in 2020. I would actually like to vote FOR something as well as AGAINST something. I have my own ideas of what that would be, but so far I cannot tell if senior Democratic leaders have any. I thought Charlemagne the God got it right this week when he said, "Democrats have tried every strategy but bravery."
Where's the Democratic shadow cabinet we all know they need to establish to manage all the different pieces of responding to Republican's flooding the zone? That's where they can show what they'd be doing differently.
I just found the answer to your question. The shadow cabinet is trying to stay in the shadows.
WASHINGTON—With the elected officials trying their hardest not to move a muscle, reports confirmed Monday that top Democratic leaders in Congress were standing real still in hopes that the American people wouldn’t notice them. “Don’t make any sudden movements, or they’ll spot us,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said out of the corner of his mouth, tightly squeezing his eyes shut as he reminded Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to hold their breath anytime a member of the voting public walked by. “Did it work? I think we’re in the clear for now, but that was a close one. They could have talked to us, for crying out loud, or worse—demanded that we do something. Unless we put our hands up in front of our faces and crouch down behind our briefcases, some of these voters may realize we’ve been standing here all along.” At press time, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) had reportedly been dragged into a conversation with a constituent after the otherwise motionless lawmaker forgot to silence her phone.
https://theonion.com/democratic-leaders-stand-real-still-in-hopes-no-one-notices-them/?mc_cid=e01603a6bf
The thing that I miss the most in this context is a proper and easy to access database of all Trump's lies (at least by dates), with attached databases for lies by others in his administration.
I'm glad you're healthy enough to give us your bad takes. Just like old times.
This made me chuckle.
I want Dems to shut up because so many of their positions are unpopular! They need to do a deep review and come up with positions that command support, that are more than the cold clammy hug of the same old waiting for the day that people get horrified with Trump.
Surely this is sarcasm?
When you ask the public (including Republican voters) what their policy preferences are, it more closely matches Democratic policies on the whole than Republican policies. Where do you get your information if you think that Democrats have no policies except waiting for people to become tired of Trump?
I’m reading that the Dems are negotiating on the debt ceiling and they never learn. Power over impoundment isn’t on the table for the Reps to give, that’s going to SCOTUS and there’s no guarantee whether they’ve seen enough of this shit show to slow it down. The Reps have no power other than to impeach, and even that’s questionable with Hegseth in control of the military. If the Dems agree to any kind of support, they all need to lose their jobs.