Democrats must start being the opposition party now, and be bold, not focused on self-preservation.

[lees1975]

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2025/01/for-democrats-being-opposition-party.html

We are now just weeks away from the beginning of the second Presidential term of a man who has proven that he is not qualified to hold the office. He proved it with four years of some of the most inept incompetence, and ignorance of how this constitutional democracy operates, that, had he worked for a private company, he would have been fired and locked out of the building. It wasn't just bad, it was terrible. He proved it by committing crimes indiscriminately, for his own personal benefit, during the whole time he was in office. And to top it off, he finished out his term in office by leading an insurrection against the Capitol, with Congress in session, counting the electoral votes.

That should have disqualified him from ever running for public office again. It was an unimaginable failure, completely inexcusable, that this was not prosecuted and he was not sentenced. Congress laid out the case and the evidence in its investigation and hearing. The fact that the justice department was unable to expedite and get the case to trial is a huge part of where the blame lies. Most legal experts are not convinced that the Supreme Court's immunity ruling would have affected the outcome, since inciting an insurrection is not among the President's official duties.

So we are in a situation that I am certain the founding fathers who authored the Constitution and spent time figuring out how it would work never imagined would have to be handled by a government of the United States. And we are going to have to handle it in a way that will preserve the Constitution's authority and principles, and will not allow the convicted felon, who should not be there in the first place, to ruin it, or to take advantage of it to make himself a dictator.

"They've Given up, They're in Disarray, They Don't Know What to Do"

I've seen all three of those phrases, describing what the Democratic party looks like right now, from the other side. They were expecting a fight, some form of resistance, and pushback based on the fact that this really was the "razor thin" election the polls predicted it would be, even closer in many cases, and doesn't show a major shift to the right at all. But when Republicans lost in similar fashion, they just dug in and didn't budge. They're seeing the opportunity here to gain a lot more ground than they earned at the ballot box.

We need strong leadership at the Democratic National Committee. This can't be a job where people sit and collect paychecks off the contributions. They need to be our voice in the media, pushing there way in and creating opportunities for visibility that we would not get by being polite, respectful and by sending out email notifications. We need to show up, and the DNC needs to be the organization that leads the way to doing this.

And will someone please answer this question for me? What is there, in Project 2025, which is going to be the Trump administration agenda, that Democrats can work across the aisle to support? I'm all for bipartisan achievement, but not when that means one party gets it all and the other party lets them have it. Frankly, if a Democratic member of Congress doesn't comprehend where we are headed and what is happening, they shouldn't be in Congress. We can't have politicians hiding in their offices, collecting their paychecks, guarding those things as their own assets. That's a public trust, and I am depending on them to do their job. And that's not collaborating with the GOP to bring about white, Christian America.

[blm]

1. GOP constantly pays for Bullzhit polls to spin into headlines.

They are regularly feeding those poll headlines to every mainstream media outlet.

Dems should be polling constantly on Project 2025, and especially the lies Trump used to get elected.
Ex: Trump is now embracing Project 2025 - Did Trump lie about his involvement during the campaign to attract the Independent voter who believed his denials at the time?

Dems have NEVER set up an A team of communicators, prepped and camera-ready 24/7. It is foolish to stay so unprepared.

[kkmarie]

3. MAGA don't see the lies

MAGA believe what they are being told (lies) and excuse or ignore the off the wall stuff being said by their party leadership. I don't see how we can convince MAGA to support a Democrat.
I have a friend that totally unfriended another because that other friend was cheating on his wife. My friend said to me I can't be around that and support that friend while he is in an affair.
I asked that friend if you don’t want to be friends with or hang out with our friend the adulterer why would you vote for someone for president who has committed adultery at least 2 times. He said "I don't know if trump cheated. I didn't see it"

I think we move from calling out trump lies and horrible policies and start working on getting to the 90 million voters who stayed home.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. The Pollster in line to do that would be PPP

https://www.publicpolicypolling.com/polls/

Flood the zone!

And it has to be sustained because the media will whine - "But they're a 'liberal' pollster". Who gives a shit. ALL of the pollsters the GOP use are RW loon ones and have been accepted lock, stock, and barrel.

[BComplex]

11. Just like the media that they accept, while hating the truth.

Agreed!

[Think. Again.]

2. K&R

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Yes Congress is all about self-interest too because

the pay and benefits are good even if DC living is expensive, and they can raise their own pay collectively. Only better job is state legislator.

If you don't defend the country you'll be out on your ass isn't working well. In fact the opposite is working well. We re-elect sound bites even though they do nothing or have little power.

MAGA loves Trump because they believe in self-interest. MAGA believes that by supporting Trump, they are keeping up with the Trumps! Delusional!

[Martin68]

6. I have very mixed feelings about the recommendation to "be bold. It just depends on exactly what "being bold" means.

We should stick to our values. But if we aren't smart, and communicating effectively, our numbers could dwindle even farther, putting MAGA more firmly in charge. I think we are doing pretty well. We lost the election, but not by a lot. Our policies are better, but a majority of the population didn't thinks they were really helping the nation. Trump isn't even in office and he's already alienating some of the people who voted for him. As time goes on, I expect the number to increase significantly as tariffs and bad economic policy combine to increase inflation and put a huge drain on the economy. Infighting among MAGA is already intense, and it will climax in the fight to prevent default. It's not a pretty look for MAGA. I suggest we hold on to gains at the state level, and in the judiciary and continue to espouse good values and good policy. I don't mean we shouldn't play hardball in the political arena. On the contrary, that's were we should put our energy. But if being bold means being assholes like MAGA, I disagree.

[lees1975]

8. The example of being bold that was given was a legislative one.

There's a difference between maintaining our values and maintaining traditional protocols.

Getting rid of the Senate filibuster would have been bold, but it would have accomplished the objective of keeping Trump out of the government, and probably sending him to prison like he deserves. Getting rid of the filibuster would have opened the door to packing the Supreme Court so that, when the time came, there would have been enough justices to keep that unconstitutional immunity ruling from ever being made. They could have imposed ethics rules that would have led to the censuring of bribe-takers like Alito and Thomas, and they would have saved Roe. There is a risk to that, in that once done, it gives the other side the opportunity to do the same. But there are things that could have been done to make it more difficult to change once it occurred, and the biggest danger, Trump, would have been eliminated. That's the kind of boldness we need.

But this was thwarted not by Republicans, but by Democrats, including the President himself.

Boldness would have been to recognize the transitional nature of the Biden Presidency from the start, and getting his cooperation and understanding, working on building a campaign for the Democratic nomination that could have put themselves in a position to win the election.

[KPN]

9. Relying on MAGAworld's failure is not a long term recipe for success by the Democratic Party.

I agree that acting like MAGA assholes isn't the solution, but we need a change in leadership and party priorities in my view. Too often, we have relied on the general notion that "our policies are better" while ignoring the fact that average wages for Americans have stagnated since the 1970s while productivity, stock values and income of the highest 1% have skyrocketed in comparison. Middle class families have significantly less income to live on today than they had in the 70s -- and too often, the income of two income families falls short of providing long term economic stability and security.

The Democratic Party needs to get serious about addressing the gross income inequality that exists between the top 1% and everyone else if it really wants to succeed. I'm not convinced that will or even can happen given the stranglehold that the wealthy now have on our federal government. I'm certainly not convinced that this Democratic Party has the ability take this on -- certainly not the current leadership.

[Blue_Tires]

7. Exactly... No more appeasement

[BComplex]

10. This post needs to be recited over every possible media platform. It summarizes perfectly where we are

and what we, as a MAJORITY of Americans, have been dealing with.

Great post, lees1975!!