US Senator Slotkin to rebut Trump speech as Democrats seek to sharpen message

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

February 27, 2025 5:46 PM EST Updated 11 hours ago


WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Democratic leaders are hoping U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and a winner of tough elections, will help rehabilitate their public image when she gives their rebuttal to President Donald Trump's address to Congress on Tuesday night.

Democrats are betting the 48-year-old Slotkin, a swing state moderate with extensive national security experience, will send the message their party stands for working-class Americans and moderation over extremism. She unseated a Republican to win election to the House of Representatives in 2018 during Trump's first term in office and won election to the U.S. Senate in Michigan in November even as Trump carried the state.

Her rebuttal will offer Democrats a chance to lay out their opposition to Trump's agenda, following his speech at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday (0200 GMT Wednesday) to a joint session of Congress. Slotkin campaigned on a message of lowering costs for American families - a theme the Democratic Party establishment has since regretted more of its candidates did not embrace in 2024.

Going forward, Democrats are hoping to get back in voters' graces by emphasizing kitchen table issues that resonate across the political aisle: the need to bring down food, housing and pharmaceutical prices, while also defending social safety net programs.
Democratic leaders accept the need for some streamlining of federal agencies and cost savings where needed. But they argue that should be accomplished in a more careful, studied approach than billionaire Elon Musk's rushed firings on Trump's behalf.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senator-elissa-slotkin-deliver-democratic-rebuttal-trump-speech-2025-02-27/

[highplainsdem]

1. Fairly good speaker, but I hope she'll work on just pausing instead of saying "um" so often:

https://extension.harvard.edu/blog/tips-on-public-speaking-eliminating-the-dreaded-um/

[in2herbs]

2. IMO all Ds should boycott the STOU and instead use the time to announce that the tax cuts

will not only be reversed but the oligarchs will be taxed at a level that will balance the budget if the voters vote to give Ds a majority in the House and Senate.

[yellow dahlia]

3. My initial response is she is a "cookie cutter" choice.

I am not impressed, so far.

I think the Dems need to be addressing the crisis at hand - saving our Constitutional Republic...Saving Democracy...Standing up for Article 1 and the Separation of Powers.

Instead, they are trying to run for the next election and work on their brand. Not a rigorous approach to the present situation.

Imagine if they had someone following the grifter on the broadcast who could grab the attention of everyone watching with a powerful first statement (before they change the channel). If so, maybe they could get the necessary information out to some of the citizenry who usually only watch propaganda TV. Slotkin does not have that "presence".

I think either Chris Murphy or Maxwell Frost could pull that off. But that would actually be a strategic choice.

I've said it before, and I will say it again - Schumer and Jeffries are not rising to the occasion.

I hope I'm wrong...and Slotkin brings a game we have not seen her manifest before.

[Deminpenn]

4. Enough with the moderate, national security types

Sen Whitehouse or Sen Warren or Katie Porter even though she's no longer in Congress, all would be better choices. Of course, Bernie would have been the best choice.

Slotkin, Himes and all those moderate Dems would make a great core of a new center-right GOP.

[yellow dahlia]

5. I also think Bernie would have been a good choice.

He might be able to keep the people watching, including some who aren't as informed as us. A wide swath of people like him. And he knows how to grab people with words. He could deliver more of the fighting the oligarchy speech.

[murielm99]

6. A lot of people do not like Bernie.

They distrust him because of where he comes from, and because of his ethnicity.

I am glad the Democrats chose a Democrat, not Bernie.

[yellow dahlia]

7. My thought as to strategy is not to appeal to "cookie cutter" Democrats.

It is to grab the attention of the TV audience who would normally change the channel after the grifter finishing speaking, but if the right person does the "rebuttal" speech - they will feel compelled to listen.

That audience is the people who liked Bernie in 2015, but ended up voting for the grifter in 2016. That audience also includes people who are misinformed about what is going on because they get their message from RWmedia. They will listen to Bernie. They need to hear a version of the speeches Bernie is giving now - the anti-oligarchy speech.

Dems do not need to speak to "traditional" Dems right now - they need to reach a broader audience. Information needs to get to the people.

I'm not saying the Dems should run Bernie for President. Strategizing needs to be analyzed well and targeted right now. Using old methods and play books is naive.

[Deminpenn]

8. Well said

Could not agree more.

[yellow dahlia]

9. Thank you.