Democrats, Stop Being Timid and Start Being Mean!

[Celerity]

Democratic messaging is failing to meet the moment. It’s time for the party to embrace the anger and rage of its base.

https://newrepublic.com/article/193486/democrats-messaging-timid-mean-voter-rage

https://archive.ph/kF9Uh



Beneath the seemingly hourly chaos of Donald Trump’s second term is a simple dynamic. Republicans, led by tech billionaire Elon Musk and his gang of teen and twentysomething coders, are all action: gutting entire agencies, upending domestic and foreign policy, and threatening much worse. Democrats, meanwhile, have been caught flat-footed by the seemingly endless onslaught of destruction. The party in power never stops moving; the opposition hasn’t figured out how to start.

For most Democratic lawmakers, it’s unclear what resistance even looks like this time around. A prime example is their disjointed, ineffectual, all-around dismal performance at Trump’s unofficial State of the Union on March 4. Many of the women wore hot pink, a coordinated action with no obvious meaning. (“Pink,” one lawmaker explained, “is the color of protest.” Who knew?) Some lawmakers waved small black signs with messages such as “False” and “Musk steals.” Some stood up and silently walked out while Trump was speaking. Some didn’t show up at all.

Only one Democrat was bold enough to actually speak out: Texas Representative Al Green, who was forcibly removed from the chamber after repeatedly shouting, “You have no mandate” at the president as he addressed the nation. Green’s message hardly differed from the signs his colleagues were tepidly waving. What really mattered was the interruption itself, an act of flagrant disrespect that sought to reflect the seriousness of the moment. Green was doing what you do in an emergency: You freak out.

A day earlier, when House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged his caucus to exercise restraint and be a “strong, determined, and dignified Democratic presence in the chamber” during Trump’s address, he may have been trying to head off displays such as Green’s. In his view, childish outbursts or anything else that could be described as “Trumpian” would only draw attention away from Trump.

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