Sometimes, friends deliver the cruellest cuts. Donald Trump’s victory in November was a brutal defeat for the “Resistance”, and now even many Democrats are — for the moment, at least — putting down the anti-MAGA hymnal.
This week, many House Democrats and a dozen Democrats in the Senate gave their support to the Laken Riley Act, which requires that illegal immigrants charged with burglary or theft be detained. This was a modified version of a bill that Senate Democrats rejected last year, proving that the party now senses, albeit belatedly, which way the wind is blowing: towards Trump.
As CNN analyst Harry Enten recently observed, polling on immigration has shown a “massive shift to the Right over the past decade”. Fuelled by the border crisis of the Biden years, Democrats understand they have a massive image problem on immigration, and some in the party see a window of collaborating with Trump on this and potentially other issues in order to take some of their major political vulnerabilities off the table.
That is why 13 Senate Democrats wrote to Majority Leader John Thune this week to call for a bipartisan deal to secure “immigration enforcement” and a “firm but fair immigration system that streamlines processes and better addresses our workforce needs”. This is a far cry from the “decriminalise illegal immigration” progressive litmus test of 2020, and most of the signatories of the letter come from swing states or are up for re-election in 2026. That could augur an opening for immigration legislation which delivers on populist priorities.
In terms of Trump’s Cabinet appointments, they have mostly avoided the fervid denunciations of eight years ago. Marco Rubio was unanimously confirmed as Secretary of State. While Treasury nominee Scott Bessent has not yet been voted on by the full Senate, Democrats Mark Warner and Maggie Hassan voted in favour of him in the Finance Committee. By way of comparison, only a single Democrat — West Virginia’s Joe Manchin — voted for Trump’s first Treasury head, Steve Mnuchin, in the full-Senate vote in 2017.
Aside from the fireworks at the hearing for Defence pick Pete Hegseth this month, Democrats have so far avoided the histrionics that characterised their past treatment of Trump nominees. The party might be keeping its powder dry for future high-profile clashes, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s nomination for Health and Human Services or Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination as intelligence chief.
More broadly, working with Trump to pass legislation on the border, industrial policy, trade and other issues could be a way for the Democratic Party to rebrand itself. As well as the signatories to the letter to Thune, Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman has in the past made overtures about working with Republicans on border security. Maine Democrat Jared Golden, who represents a congressional district won by Trump, has rolled out a proposal for a universal 10% tariff — something the new President has suggested in the past.
As Democrats have become increasingly identified with the culture wars of well-heeled progressives, they have lost ground with the blue-collar voters who used to be an electoral bulwark. Fashioning the party around the “resistance” to Donald Trump was at once the apotheosis of that culture war and a demonstration of the dangers Democrats face by fixating on the concerns of elite cultural progressives.
If Democrats are able to pivot in that more populist direction, it could provide a policy opportunity for Republicans while also raising political pressures on the GOP. The realities of American politics often demand bipartisan coalitions to enact major legislation, so Democratic support could help Trump and his fellow Republicans introduce a bigger policy agenda. However, that reformed Democratic Party would also be poised to challenge Republicans from the populist Left. Shedding their culture-war baggage could give Democrats an opening to pummel Republicans if the GOP becomes too identified with tech elites, or if the economy hits a rough patch.
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SubscribeThe Democrats need to kick out every single person who supports ‘Lia’ Thomas’s right to compete against females and dress and undress in front of them.
It is a simple litmus test.
More trans obsession. Do you people think of anything else?
‘you people?’
I think you are the obsessed.
Says the guy who brought up an obscure trans athlete in comments on an immigration article.
Not too smart are you, slick?
And for anyone who isn’t sure, just have a brief scan across Unherd for the number of articles about trans issues and the number of comments they attract.
You people are obsessed.
You people…
..are obsessed with trans.
There, finished it – do I win a prize?!?
For bigotry ?
Gold
And we all know how highly you people value bigotry! So much so that you’ll even support a doofus like Trump as long as hates and discriminates against the right kind of people!
As far as I understand, you have already classified yourself as the right kind of people.
I must say that you are far from the first to perform this pirouette. But keep in mind that many of your predecessors came to a bad end.
The ramblings of a disturbed mind. Seek help.
Just as Hoover is a brand name in the US, and it means to use a vacuum cleaner in the UK, Lia Thomas means violation of sane boundaries to many. That Quisling was an obscure Norwegian politician doesn’t make his name any less a synonym for traitor.
Through ad hominem attacks you declare your self-assessment of unquestionable right and righteousness. It’s not too slick to be oblivious to the obvious.
We’ll stop being obsessed when those lying cheats and perverts put trousers back on and behave as the men they are.
Am I getting that you absolutely demand conformity in the wearing of trousers. I it appears that you missed the memo that nonconformity is the breath of individualism.
But it is the left which weaponised the whole “trans” thing for their own inscrutable reasons. If they had not done so there would never have been a peep from the right on the subject Yet when conservatives refuse to accept the left’s position, they are accused of being obsessed! Extraordinary.
This whole weaponization accusation business is so similar to many other right wing tactics. Sling mud to some sticks.
ask yourself for a minute why we have sports separated by genders and in some instances even age ? its because the male and female body are different not only if it comes to anatomy but also hormones and several other factors those differences create issues ranging from simple fairness to increased risk of injuries.
No level of “self identification ” surgery or hormonal treatments can completly erase the difference.
We be like maize hirono and all her questions starting with sex, sex and sex. How’s that trans navy dude and the trans library dilly dallies doing?
Tbh honest I think the Dems soaked their powder right through with the Hegseth performance.
Highlight: Mazie Hiroda questioning him about his alcohol consumption, slurring her words.
Why are you so keen to have a drunk in charge of the US military? Not to mention that he’s a sexual assaulter and financial incompetent?
Is it because you think he has cool tats and great hair? Or because he campaigned for pardon for murderers?
Nothing in my post suggested that I think Pete Hegseth is suitable for the job. I’m not American so really it doesn’t matter what I think. But on a general level, if you are going to question anyone on their relationship to alcohol with any credibility, I think it’s advisable NOT to sound like you’re currently as tight as a boiled owl.
Lighten up, Karen. But if I were as tight as a boiled owl, wouldn’t that just make me a subject-matter expert?
Sounds like you could use a wee drink based on how wound-up your comments are!
The Republicans roll over with their legs straight up and it is the Dems who got their powder wet????? That sham is a disgrace to the American Armed Forces
It looks like the Dems have taken their opportunity to “work with Trump” by getting his ludicrous birthright citizenship order rejected by federal courts.
Hopefully they will continue to work with him just like this.
Have you read the history of the 14th Amendment? It was never intended to apply to foreign citizens. The law it was based on specifically called that out.
Yet there it is in black and white.
I thought you people liked to claim that the constitution wasn’t open for interpretation?
Of course that was always nonsense – the supreme court hacks will interpret it any way that they think the boss wants them to.
It was intended to codify English Common Law.
It was never intended to apply to persons with diplomatic immunity.
I am to the right of you but birthright citizenship is bedrock in this country.
Read the Congressional record of the debate on the writing of this clause
He wrote a book about his negotiation tactics. Democrats don’t seem to read it.
His craziest ideas are throwaways that he’d be happy to take, but he’s willing to let opponents win on while he gets 9 other things.
Resisting Laken Riley would be v daft so can’t see Democrats doing that. It’ll pass. It’s not really contentious so far as measures to tackle illegal immigrants go. They’ll be more contentious measures to come.
The bigger dilemma for Democrats is will they help Johnson get sufficient support for the Reconciliation Bill, or will they let Trump/Johnson swivel on it’s inevitable contradictions and tiny House majority. They may well have some leverage to extract some things they’d like whilst allowing Trump to extend his Billionaire tax cuts knowing they can also use that Trump priority against him in the Mid Terms. The real intrigue to come.
Good article with a major exception. Any poll that concludes there has been “a massive shift to the Right over the past decade” is wrong. It is the politicians/blob that have shifted to the liberal left.
which way the wind is blowing: towards Trump.
No, with Trump. Trump is reflecting the solid majority opinion of the people, so the move is towards the people along with Trump. Trump is the person who most forcefully made others see the illegal immigration problem.
New England Democrats are the most annoying of all …..
There are ssssooooooo many presumptions in this article. The facts there are many of us liberal “woke” folks out here and we resent the sort of cockiness that prevails in this article, as if climate change denial does anything for humanity but it sure bumps your petroleum portfolio
“so Democratic support could help Trump and his fellow Republicans introduce a bigger policy agenda. “ Are you suggesting we sopport the 2025 Fascist agenda??