Tim Walz wants to reignite Democrats: “People are screaming: ‘Do something about this.’” “No more playing nice, Chuck Schumer needs to step aside and resign.”
Posted by Agonanmous
Tim Walz wants to reignite Democrats: “People are screaming: ‘Do something about this.’” “No more playing nice, Chuck Schumer needs to step aside and resign.”
Posted by Agonanmous
4 Comments
>While former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have retreated from the public spotlight, Walz used his rally in Texas with Beto O’Rourke on Thursday to send a message that he wants a part in putting Democrats back on the map after a devastating election cycle.
>“I feel like I need to be out here,” the Minnesota governor said in an exclusive interview minutes before taking the stage before thousands of Texas voters at the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds. “The people are screaming: ‘Do something about this.’”
>Walz said voters aren’t on board with billionaires like Tesla CEO Elon Musk gutting government programs, firing veterans and demolishing the U.S. Department of Education.
>And he’s hardly alone in trying to rally Democrats. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have been holding massive rallies around the country. California Gov. Gavin Newsom started a podcast. U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas has been helping lead protests of Tesla and Musk. And U.S. Rep. Al Green of Houston has already been censured for interrupting Trump’s joint address to Congress, as well as holding town hall meetings to blast the attacks on government programs that help low-income Texans.
>**It isn’t about whether moderates or liberals are going to rule the day**, O’Rourke said on Thursday. With all the stuff the Trump administration is trying to do, many in the nation want one simple thing from Democrats.
>**“I think it is about who’s going to fight and who’s not going to fight,”** said the former congressman, who used his network from his past statewide campaigns to bring thousands of people out during a driving rainstorm to hear Walz.
>Walz said he is convinced Democratic policies are popular, it is just the party did a terrible job in conveying it. He faulted the strategy of having him spend all his time in a handful of swing states when he said he should have been taking the message more nationwide, including places like around Houston.
>“I spent that whole entire campaign in seven states,” he said. “We as Democrats are going to have to think differently about this.”
>Walz said he’s starting now because one of the biggest flaws Democrats have had is waiting until an election cycle to start meeting with voters. He said he was in Fort Bend County long before any election for a reason. He said the party has to be talking to working-class Texans and building a conversation and not just showing up during early voting in swing states.
>“We’ve got to get out there and take our case to the people,” he said. “If our policies are so good for the middle class then we should take them everywhere.”
>**“No more playing nice,” O’Rourke added. “ Chuck Schumer needs to step aside and resign.”**
I recall it being said and it should be said again: The Democrats should be putting together an informal shadow cabinet after the Westminister model of politicians and party bureaucrats whose only job is “be the guy the media calls when a specific Republican fucks up.”
I admire what Walz is doing, but there needs to be more coordination and more effort to put a cohesive face on the party. If the biggest flaw your last candidate had was “I feel like I don’t know her”, make absolutely certain that anyone who might be your pick in 2028 has a national profile, as well as the same for potential Senate picks, as well as just allowing a more coherent response than every single media savvy member of the party running after every new Trump scandal.
Oh and blacklist Chuck Schumer. Target him openly for a 2028 primary and make it clear that any blue-state Democrat who favours capitulation will face a similar response. While quietly signalling to other geriatrics that now might be a time to quietly resign and endorse a successor.
The “do something” crowd is calling for performative outrage to make themselves feel good. Or self-destructive nonsense like shutting down the government to prevent Trump from shutting down the government. This stuff doesn’t appeal to the median voter.
>“No more playing nice,” O’Rourke added. “ Chuck Schumer needs to step aside and resign.”
As an independent never Trumper, I’m glad to see it was Beto saying this and not Walz. I already knew where the AOC and Bernie wing of the party stood, it’s refreshing to see Schumer’s fellow moderates call for him to resign more vociferously.
I am still skeptical this alliance between the progressives and moderates will last but I’ve not seen this level of anger at what’s happening, in my life time. Maybe the Vietnam era was the last time folks were this fed up. Not even during the Tea Party moment was the sentiment so strong. Democrats are going to have to really screw this up to not use the moment to their benefit but since it’s the Democrats I’m not holding my breath.