House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) met Wednesday to try to re-create the magic Democrats found in 2017, when they turned President Trump's original tax cuts into political poison for the GOP majorities.
Grassroots Democrats are demanding to see real action immediately. But top Democrats are eyeing a different date: November 2026.
Their goal is to develop a unified message ahead of the midterms and take back at least one chamber of Congress. They'll have to temper the expectations of activists who want quicker results, while also keeping them motivated to support Democrats in the coming campaigns.
Democratic leaders firmly think their life in the minority will be shorter if they seize on the right messaging opportunities, not every messaging opportunity. They want to avoid responding to Trump's outrages du jour and develop a deeper narrative about what unified Republican control means for working families.
Democratic leaders are eyeing the 2018 midterms as a blueprint, when they made Trump's tax cuts so unpopular that Republicans barely mentioned it in their campaign messaging. Democrats are salivating at the opportunity to message against even deeper tax cuts being paired with broad slashes in federal spending, especially on health care.
Democrats are powerless to stop the GOP's filibuster-proof plans to cut taxes and federal spending. But details of the Republican playbook read like a wishlist for Democratic campaign operatives.
Posted by John3262005
4 Comments
God this is infuriating to read. They don’t need to respond to everything, but come up with a fricken narrative and respond to whatever he’s doing with reference to that narrative. Don’t have the same conversation Republicans are having. In fact, ignore what they are saying entirely and start talking about what is happening. You are overthinking the strategy, which should just be, convince voters Republicans are bad for them. Think about what would benefit or anger voters in an easy to explain way and talk about that. You are supposed to be leaders capable of leading and not just responding to what Trump says. I want everyone to be ready to make sure those that aren’t standing up now don’t make it through the primary in 2026.
>They’ll have to temper the expectations of activists who want quicker results
Do these people not quite grasp that they not only lost the election but also in many cases the argument?
Is it a coping mechanism or some sort of mass delusion that yelling loud enough will somehow speedrun the Trump administration into being an ineffectual lame duck.
Didn’t…… they lose that fight? Why repeat a proven losing strategy
At the point, I’m convinced the only reason Democrats win sometimes is because Republicans are so awful.