March 13, 2025 - 7:00pm
Ask 10 Democrats today who their leader is and you’ll receive 10 different answers. It’s Ken Martin, the new DNC chair. It’s Chuck Schumer, the party’s seasoned Senate leader. It’s Hakeem Jeffries, their new leader in the House. No, actually, it’s still Nancy Pelosi who is pulling all the strings behind the scenes. Or perhaps it’s even still Barack Obama, the party’s last president to command majority support among the public.
In contrast to the Republicans, whose true leader has been obvious for the past eight years, Democrats have no heir apparent to Joe Biden. This may be why, rather than putting forward a proactive, positive vision for how they’d run the country, they’ve spent the first two months of Trump’s term reacting frantically and not picking their fights wisely.
This reality has only been amplified by the uninspiring — and at times even cringe-inducing — Democratic messaging that has characterised the first two months of Trump’s presidency. First, there were the identical videos they released in response to the President’s address to Congress this month. Then, the same thing happened again yesterday when House Democrats shared virtually the exact same message about how they were approaching the government funding fight: “House Democrats stand united for a four-week funding extension that stops harmful cuts, keeps the government open, and allows Congress to reach a true bipartisan funding agreement.”
It’s a statement perfectly designed to please no one. And it’s a sign of how rudderless the Democrats are at the moment. They fear that helping push through the temporary government funding bill will give Trump cover to continue gutting vital government bodies that many Americans not only rely on but approve of, yet they seem incapable of forming a compelling response to it.
One way to rally public support might be to highlight a few high-profile examples of popular and effective programmes that could be at risk if DOGE is allowed to continue operating with impunity. This includes Social Security, one of the most successful anti-poverty programmes in American history. Despite enjoying overwhelming public support, Elon Musk has threatened to cut it, calling it a “Ponzi scheme” and fabricating stories of rampant fraud.
Though government shutdowns are rarely popular — and the party that initiates them usually takes the blame — the public might be willing to stomach it for a short time in order to protect against threats to the safety net, which could negatively impact millions of Americans (including many of Trump’s own supporters).
It should also not be forgotten that, even though Democrats are struggling, Trump is not riding high either. His approval rating roughly two months in is the second-lowest for any president in the modern polling era (since the Forties), as Americans are already souring on his second-term performance. Despite beginning with a net approval rating of +11.6, he dropped into negative territory this week (-0.6) for the first time. And the reasons are clear: his performance on the economy and DOGE overreach.
The public has a clear idea of what it wants from the Democrats: to stop getting distracted by minor issues that don’t impact most people’s daily lives and return to being the party that champions the working class, including protecting vital government programmes.
Thus far, no Democrat has emerged as a clear leader willing to respond to voters’ desires. California Governor Gavin Newsom has certainly tried to carve out a lane for cultural moderation, but he still doesn’t have a positive economic vision to help his party present an effective opposition to Trump. There’s an opening for someone — whether Newsom or another Democrat — to pick up this mantle and fight the Republicans for the support of the working class. Until then, though, the party will remain stuck in the political wilderness.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
SubscribeHeadless chicken springs to mind.
The simplicity beneath the Democrats problem is that there is no way to reconcile that what they fundamentally cherish is distasteful to a majority of Americans. Their rehabilitation cannot be achieved by strategic means without embracing principles foreign to their orthodoxy. Anything less is lipstick on a pig.
The Social Security example does not serve Mr. Baharaeen’s argument. While Social Security is a popular program with the majority of Americans, most also would agree it is likely afflicted with as much administrative dysfunction and possible graft as any other federal program. Americans have become quite curious as to just what has been going on in all these agencies. Since the feckless media haven’t bothered to meet their responsibility to expose it, they are happy that DOGE is at least looking. The Trump/Musk hyperbole are a small price to pay to uncover what has long been deliberately hidden. To do as Mr Baharaeen recommends, Democrats advocating the preservation of the status quo with Social Security, is to align themselves with the grim actuarial reality that SSA is soon doomed to go bankrupt, a far more ominous prospect than Musk poking around in a few databases looking for ways to save money.
Mr Baharaeen gives us nothing here but junk gleaned from social media. It is too easy for lazy journalists to roll out of bed and home in on the latest media kerfuffle over some outrageous Trump/Musk post. We don’t need you for that; we can find it ourselves as easily as you. Do us a favor and do the hard work of helping us discover all the important things that powerful people are working hard to keep from us. That is what real journalists do.
Agreed.
But SS is NOT about to go bankrupt. The actual Fund, the endowment, so to speak, is the biggest pile of money the world has ever seen. It’s mostly invested in US Treasury Bonds, the safest, most reliable investment for the last 90 years.
The thing to keep in mind is that it’s NOT part of the Treasury. It’s a separate entity. The politicians are not free to spend it on transgender mice, or anything else. It belongs to those who contributed during their working years.
Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
If you will consult the Social Security website (or any reputable business/financial outlet) you will learn that the Social Security Trust Fund by current actuarial projections will be able to continue benefits at the current level only until 2035. After that, it will continue to pay benefits but only at 75% of current levels, unless there is an infusion of funds. While that is certainly not the same as “going bankrupt” the effect for beneficiaries of a 25% reduction in benefit payments will be catastrophic for those without additional resources for retirement, i.e. a plurality of American retirees.
Although Social Security does not fund things like transgender mice experiments, it does also provide billions in non-retirement benefits for disability, a benefit category that is highly subject to abuse. Consequently, it seems reasonable to at least attempt to audit methodology and records of Social Security for quality assurance purposes.
https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v70n3/v70n3p111.html
From your SSA link: “…projects program cost to rise by 2035 so that taxes will be enough to pay for only 75 percent of scheduled benefits.” Taxes. Not the endowment or its earnings.
The payroll taxes are only one part of the vast wealth of SS. The endowment, (“An endowment fund is a type of investment fund held by non-profit organizations, established to provide long-term, sustainable support for their operations or programs, with the principal amount remaining intact while only the earned income is used.” [Google]), that huge pile of money I mentioned, is invested in Treasury Bills. That income is only occasionally used to to pay-out benefits (it’s designed that way). Usually it goes straight into the endowment, which grows larger all the time.
You’re letting the politicians and the top .1% bamboozle you while they work at ways to spend it. Right now the voters are preventing that, but if voters start wondering if they are ever going to be able to collect, that support will collapse; or so the thieves hope. Your doom-posting is only making their job easier.
It’s government debt – there’s no asset as understood in the financial world. Congress taxed Americans to fund future Social Security liabilities. Congress IMMEDIATELY spent while writing IOU’s to the “trust fund”. By law this debt cannot be sold in traditional markets and unlike federal debt held by the public, it is not counted when computing total national debt. This is why Bill Clinton could claim he balanced the budget. His administration was spending the new higher revenues from the increased FICA tax under Reagan.
There are only bad options to “fix” Social Security now, 1) raise taxes 2) issue debt held by public, massively increasing US total debt or 3) reduce benefits. Some combination of all is coming soon.
Until the Democrats collectively return to understanding basic things like a) the necessity of standing up and applauding young cancer survivors having their dream come true and b) the stupidity of clapping like circus seals for the continuation of a war, they’re out of it.
I wonder how they would react if a Lenny Skutnik character did something similar and was praised by Trump.
Reagan brought him in as a guest in State of Union and IIRC the whole of congress gave him a standing ovation wholly justified I may add.
Anti-war, pro-American labor, low taxes, strong border, used to be called a conservative Democrat. Now it’s called MAGA. Trump was a Democrat. So was Musk, RFK, Tulsi,…etc. The only Dems left are Bernie Sanders’ Progressives. The traditional Republicans are RINOs. Trump took the rational middle of both parties and left the irrational left wing to the Democrats. As Gutfeld says it’s hard to argue with Common Sense. That’s all that’s left for the Democrats to do and they look dumber and dumber every day.
Agreed, but what’s a RINO?
Republican in Name Only. Basically an actor that says all the politically correct things and conducts themselves well but doesn’t particularly care about the welfare of the Republic
I suggest they embrace the following message: “Elon Musk is a creature of pure evil! Take him down by any means possible, and don’t stop until he has been utterly destroyed!”
You sound Manichean.
Thank you.
.
The Democrats are in disarray, but it seems a little silly to expect them to have a new leader less than two months into Trump’s term.
There has been for some time now a chorus of center left Democratic Substackers urging the party to move right on cultural issues, Mr. Baharaeen is one of them. However, there is no sign of a political movement, like the Tea Party, that is trying to make the center left pundit’s wishful thinking a reality. It will take more than talk to wrest control of the Democratic Party from the Left and their army of activists.
The Democrats will get their act together eventually but unless a political movement arises to force the party to the center it will remain out of touch with the American people.
Democrats have been leaderless for several years. Their failure to resolve the problem is akin to their inability to address the myriad social problems they’ve created.
Dems have a message. It’s “we will oppose anything Donald Trump says or does just because he’s the one saying or doing it.” That is today’s Dem Party. It’s not about leadership; there has to be a coherent vision before a leader can emerge and the donkey party still struggles to understand what a woman is.
For the sake of the World let’s hope the Democrats remained lost in the political wilderness for as long as possible – preferably permanently.
Liberal Patriot is an oxymoron. Liberals (so I have found) seem to want to give away your money to other people whom they deem worthy, your land to strangers, your country to foreigners. They are very generous, as always, with “other people’s stuff”.