This is a painful read as the truth often is. But pointing out what happened and placing blame on those who screwed up is not finger pointing. It is a necessary exercise that enables you to regroup and move forward having acknowledged that you fucked up and that you need to change your strategy and possibly your leader(s). Pushing back against ineffective and worse, detrimental, leadership is needed now to break the democrats doom loop of insanity. You can't seize opportunities if your MO is letting them pass. You need to change your MO.
100%. All I wanted to see was a fight. A full-throated filibuster on what is at stake. Knowing full well, we couldn’t win in the end. We need a hero or shero, into whom we can hurl our collective angst/anger. Instead, we got a hurry up, I have a book tour to get to. I still can’t get over it.
Chuck needs to go regardless. Poor leadership. Whatever the decision - the feints, misdirection and apparently breaking agreements. Schumer is not trusted by House and many in Senate.
Trust is broken between the houses and within the Senate. Not to mention democratic voters.
Unity is required more than ever. New senate leader is necessary first step to move forward.
It’s hard to have vision when there’s no imagination or willingness to be an energized opposition. Democrats keep chasing the pink dragon (South Park reference) of suburban Nikki Haley voters—who are not reliably in their coalition—while alienating the working-class, young, and minority voters who actually give them electoral strength.
This is the fundamental problem with the Democratic Party: they are structurally built to be a minority party, even when they hold power. They operate within the ideological framework of the Reagan coalition, just as mid-20th-century Republicans had to play by the rules of the New Deal coalition.
The Eisenhower-era GOP didn’t openly fight the New Deal consensus because they knew they couldn’t win against it—so they worked within its boundaries, making only minor adjustments. Today’s Democrats are doing the same with Reaganism. Instead of setting new political terms, they’re constantly on defense, reacting rather than defining.
At some point, Democrats have to decide if they want to be more than just reluctant managers of decline. The GOP eventually realized they had to rewrite the rules to win long-term—and they did. If Democrats don’t learn that lesson, they will always be at the mercy of an increasingly authoritarian right.
David, I will use a quote from your excellent analysis. For a long time I have asked the Democratic Party for a sound platform first. We have time to do that right now. We have at this writing nothing for which to vote. Plenty to vote against. That is a loser, as we saw in November.
Chuck made the right move. Trump/Musk would have had a field day otherwise. Babble all you want about strategies and unity. MAGA is full steam ahead and the Dems better quit trying to win bonus points for being the good guys and unite to beat this movement. Drop it and unite.
I'm not sure how you can say Chuck made the right move and then turn around and say the Dems better quit trying to be the good guys. With his move, Chuck was trying to be the good guy. He and the other Dems who voted YES should have stood their ground and voted NO. Thanks go to Raskin, AOC, Crockett, etc. for speaking out against trump. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican, is making more noise against trump than are the Democrats. Their inaction is disgusting and increasingly dangerous.
The party is lost. They ran on the AOC platform of liberal ideas and lost. Schumer needs to go but in this case was right. Shut down government it never reopens.
Lol, no they didn't. When Kamala first took over and they actually went on the attack for the first time in living memory, they were on the right track. Then they did what they always do and back down without a fight. And they halfassedly jogged to the right to try and win Republican voters who will never vote for them. They had Kamala campaigning with Liz fucking Cheney for fuck's sake.
Keep telling yourself moving to left, more DEI, bigger govt, abortion rights are what will win election. Economy was focus of electorate, Kamala failed to attack his economic policies will agree on that. Dems lost the center, fiscally and politically they are a fringe party until they remake themselves. I will vote against AOC for Senator of NY.
There are fascists and the rest of us, and watching Dems cave again and again to Republicans instead of actually putting up a fight discouraged their own base and failed to win the mythical "undecided centrist" voters that exist solely in the beltway's collective fever dreams. That combined with the Republicans unending assault on voting rights and musk and Putin's help enabling domestic terrorism gave them the edge they needed to cheat the election again.
You're suggesting that Democrats should become Republicans. That's what you're saying here. You're even using DEI and "big government "like slurs the same way they do.
Economy isn't the focus. We know that because Republicans tank the economy every time they get into power. The media is 100% in the tank for Republicans and will flatter them endlessly, that's obvious. But it doesn't make them actually good at the economy.
Biden, like Obama before him, had to fix an economy that was badly damaged by their predecessor.
And even if it WAS about the economy, Harris had better proposals than trump. My fucking dog had better economic proposals than trump did, since until someone said the word "tariff" in earshot and it started endless rattling around the inside of his cavernously empty skull he didn't HAVE any proposals. At most he had concepts of plans. He ran on racism and hate and Democrats didn't counter it nearly aggressively enough.
Even if Dems turn into another Republican party the way you want them to, they still wouldn't get any votes. Why the fuck would Republicans vote for a shitty knockoff Republican party when they have the real Republican party right there?
No the economy was the issue for electorate, Dems ran on their own policy and a NOT Trump CAMPAIGN. People trusted him saying he would improve economy,
What’s the plan for Dems? AOC? That’s a losing battle.
Mixed message - right move but quit trying to be the good guys? Right move would have been to recognize the danger and plan for concessions to be extracted in exchange for votes. Weak surrender after chest beating was exactly the wrong move.
"[T]he surrendering Democrats’ problems went far beyond that. Their key failure was a LACK OF STRATEGY." Your clear explanation of what's going on in the Democratic party, and what went wrong, is much appreciated.
Here’s what infuriates me about the Democrats response to the CR. We are supposed to be the smart party, the well-educated, well-read party. It was the work of minutes to recognize that the CR is the Trolley Problem brought to real life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem.
It’s a common problem in philosophy classes and a standard tool for thinking about certain moral problems. I think the reason to think carefully about such problems is to have the tools to deal with them when they emerge in real life. If you’ve thought about a problem before, you have a head start on getting a good solution when it slaps you in the face. The poison pill strategy described in the main post created opportunities to think about how to counter the strategy.
The Rs gave the Ds two choices: hurt a few people by passing it or hurt a lot of people by filibustering it. Everyone who thinks about the Trolley Problem sees that taking action you accept the terms of action created by someone else. Refusing to act, refusing to choose, is the moral stance. You cannot allow someone else to make you responsible for a problem they created.
Not a single Dem politician saw this basic reality. None of them called it out. They all accepted the Republican framing of the problem. Not a single D pointed out that the Rs created the problem and could solve it without any hdlp from the Ds.
The complete lack of a strategy is what I noticed as well. You cannot make it up as you go along, and you cannot act without the rest of the team. As I noted in a reply below, if Schumer had been a coach, he would have been fired. He may have been fine as Majority Leader during Biden's term, but the current circumstances call for a leader who can think outside the box and who has the imagination to anticipate Republican moves and to block them early.
As for the Democratic senators approving Trump nominees--cut it out. Now.
Strong column until the very end when it peters out in a wishy washy stand strong message. Chuck Schumer engineered this failing, to a lesser degree Hakim Jeffries. Both utterly failed in the job we need them to do and both appear unwilling or unable to change in the face of the challenges we face. In the past I'd be willing to give them both another chance but this isn't some moderately inconsequential budget fight - it's the actual future of this country. Both need to go and new leadership more in tune to the threat needs to be brought forward now. If no one is will to step forward or the party can't bring itself to do so means we're in some really deep trouble.
I'd add it's also criminal the party, fully aware of Project 2025 for several years now, still has not even begun to draft a response to it other than Project 20205 bad. A case for WHY it's bad, and what an alternative is, would give all of us hope.
Also ridiculous is that some sort of media response - paid advertising, whatever - has not been launched to highlight Project 2025 now that is actually being implemented despite Trump's lies during the campaign. The goal is to drive down Republican popularity - leaving people hanging in some vague, confusing cloud of uncertainty won't do that. Republicans would be appearing in lockstep on every media outlet known to man to proclaim Project 2025 bad. Chuck Schumer decides to go on a book tour (now cancelled, thankfully), a;though at this point less or no Schumer is better than any.
"Had Democrats offered up such a bill and presented a unified front in support of it ahead of March 14, Democratic senators would not simply have been in the position of deciding whether or not to vote in favor of a shutdown."
"But no such proposal was presented."
This is a good post-mortem but unless I really missed something crucial, the question is *why* did they not come up with such an alternative proposal? It seems to me that failing "to develop a legislative plan to oppose the Trump coup scheme" is such a glaringly obvious failure of the first order. Why would they not have chosen to do so? Failure of will? I'll go back and read it but if it's just some sort of Hamlet-like reluctance to act then that is truly, well tragic.
Great article, the best thing Schumer can do now is recognize his error, read the nation, and step aside as Minority Leader (just like Biden did with his assistance) and usher in a new strategic leader. The Senate Democratic caucus needs to identify and coalescence around a new leader who will work with Minority Leader Jefferies and develop an opposition strategy. Meanwhile, both houses need to designate their strategic messengers that are willing to go on any media to spread the word that they are an opposition party and will be firing all the big guns against fascism. Is it that complicated?
Cuck Schumer made the same calculation the Vichy regime did: minimize damage rather than resist. I say we resist.
Oppose, not just resist.
I see what you did there and I approve.
This is a painful read as the truth often is. But pointing out what happened and placing blame on those who screwed up is not finger pointing. It is a necessary exercise that enables you to regroup and move forward having acknowledged that you fucked up and that you need to change your strategy and possibly your leader(s). Pushing back against ineffective and worse, detrimental, leadership is needed now to break the democrats doom loop of insanity. You can't seize opportunities if your MO is letting them pass. You need to change your MO.
100%. All I wanted to see was a fight. A full-throated filibuster on what is at stake. Knowing full well, we couldn’t win in the end. We need a hero or shero, into whom we can hurl our collective angst/anger. Instead, we got a hurry up, I have a book tour to get to. I still can’t get over it.
Chuck has postponed his book tour, since he was going to face angry Democrats.
Chuck needs to go regardless. Poor leadership. Whatever the decision - the feints, misdirection and apparently breaking agreements. Schumer is not trusted by House and many in Senate.
Trust is broken between the houses and within the Senate. Not to mention democratic voters.
Unity is required more than ever. New senate leader is necessary first step to move forward.
If there is one good thing that comes out of this disaster it will be that Schumer and Durbin step aside and let some other Sens have a shot
It’s hard to have vision when there’s no imagination or willingness to be an energized opposition. Democrats keep chasing the pink dragon (South Park reference) of suburban Nikki Haley voters—who are not reliably in their coalition—while alienating the working-class, young, and minority voters who actually give them electoral strength.
This is the fundamental problem with the Democratic Party: they are structurally built to be a minority party, even when they hold power. They operate within the ideological framework of the Reagan coalition, just as mid-20th-century Republicans had to play by the rules of the New Deal coalition.
The Eisenhower-era GOP didn’t openly fight the New Deal consensus because they knew they couldn’t win against it—so they worked within its boundaries, making only minor adjustments. Today’s Democrats are doing the same with Reaganism. Instead of setting new political terms, they’re constantly on defense, reacting rather than defining.
At some point, Democrats have to decide if they want to be more than just reluctant managers of decline. The GOP eventually realized they had to rewrite the rules to win long-term—and they did. If Democrats don’t learn that lesson, they will always be at the mercy of an increasingly authoritarian right.
David, I will use a quote from your excellent analysis. For a long time I have asked the Democratic Party for a sound platform first. We have time to do that right now. We have at this writing nothing for which to vote. Plenty to vote against. That is a loser, as we saw in November.
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/i-will-call-the-dnc-today?r=3m1bs
Chuck made the right move. Trump/Musk would have had a field day otherwise. Babble all you want about strategies and unity. MAGA is full steam ahead and the Dems better quit trying to win bonus points for being the good guys and unite to beat this movement. Drop it and unite.
I'm not sure how you can say Chuck made the right move and then turn around and say the Dems better quit trying to be the good guys. With his move, Chuck was trying to be the good guy. He and the other Dems who voted YES should have stood their ground and voted NO. Thanks go to Raskin, AOC, Crockett, etc. for speaking out against trump. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican, is making more noise against trump than are the Democrats. Their inaction is disgusting and increasingly dangerous.
The party is lost. They ran on the AOC platform of liberal ideas and lost. Schumer needs to go but in this case was right. Shut down government it never reopens.
Lol, no they didn't. When Kamala first took over and they actually went on the attack for the first time in living memory, they were on the right track. Then they did what they always do and back down without a fight. And they halfassedly jogged to the right to try and win Republican voters who will never vote for them. They had Kamala campaigning with Liz fucking Cheney for fuck's sake.
Keep telling yourself moving to left, more DEI, bigger govt, abortion rights are what will win election. Economy was focus of electorate, Kamala failed to attack his economic policies will agree on that. Dems lost the center, fiscally and politically they are a fringe party until they remake themselves. I will vote against AOC for Senator of NY.
WHAT FUCKING CENTER?
THERE IS NO FUCKING CENTER.
There are fascists and the rest of us, and watching Dems cave again and again to Republicans instead of actually putting up a fight discouraged their own base and failed to win the mythical "undecided centrist" voters that exist solely in the beltway's collective fever dreams. That combined with the Republicans unending assault on voting rights and musk and Putin's help enabling domestic terrorism gave them the edge they needed to cheat the election again.
You're suggesting that Democrats should become Republicans. That's what you're saying here. You're even using DEI and "big government "like slurs the same way they do.
Economy isn't the focus. We know that because Republicans tank the economy every time they get into power. The media is 100% in the tank for Republicans and will flatter them endlessly, that's obvious. But it doesn't make them actually good at the economy.
Biden, like Obama before him, had to fix an economy that was badly damaged by their predecessor.
And even if it WAS about the economy, Harris had better proposals than trump. My fucking dog had better economic proposals than trump did, since until someone said the word "tariff" in earshot and it started endless rattling around the inside of his cavernously empty skull he didn't HAVE any proposals. At most he had concepts of plans. He ran on racism and hate and Democrats didn't counter it nearly aggressively enough.
Even if Dems turn into another Republican party the way you want them to, they still wouldn't get any votes. Why the fuck would Republicans vote for a shitty knockoff Republican party when they have the real Republican party right there?
No the economy was the issue for electorate, Dems ran on their own policy and a NOT Trump CAMPAIGN. People trusted him saying he would improve economy,
What’s the plan for Dems? AOC? That’s a losing battle.
FYI - when the government shuts down, it DOES reopen.
Tell that to Elon and Donnie boy. They would outright shut departments as they see fit never to reopen.
Only on Earth One … kingship on Earth Two.
I guess you're right. Unless we the people get rid of the man who thinks he's king.
As soon as possible!
Mixed message - right move but quit trying to be the good guys? Right move would have been to recognize the danger and plan for concessions to be extracted in exchange for votes. Weak surrender after chest beating was exactly the wrong move.
"[T]he surrendering Democrats’ problems went far beyond that. Their key failure was a LACK OF STRATEGY." Your clear explanation of what's going on in the Democratic party, and what went wrong, is much appreciated.
On the nailhead!
Agreed. If Schumer were coaching football or basketball, he would have been fired.
Great comparison!!
Perfect- yes the next day
Here’s what infuriates me about the Democrats response to the CR. We are supposed to be the smart party, the well-educated, well-read party. It was the work of minutes to recognize that the CR is the Trolley Problem brought to real life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem.
It’s a common problem in philosophy classes and a standard tool for thinking about certain moral problems. I think the reason to think carefully about such problems is to have the tools to deal with them when they emerge in real life. If you’ve thought about a problem before, you have a head start on getting a good solution when it slaps you in the face. The poison pill strategy described in the main post created opportunities to think about how to counter the strategy.
The Rs gave the Ds two choices: hurt a few people by passing it or hurt a lot of people by filibustering it. Everyone who thinks about the Trolley Problem sees that taking action you accept the terms of action created by someone else. Refusing to act, refusing to choose, is the moral stance. You cannot allow someone else to make you responsible for a problem they created.
Not a single Dem politician saw this basic reality. None of them called it out. They all accepted the Republican framing of the problem. Not a single D pointed out that the Rs created the problem and could solve it without any hdlp from the Ds.
People are too old and set in their ways
The complete lack of a strategy is what I noticed as well. You cannot make it up as you go along, and you cannot act without the rest of the team. As I noted in a reply below, if Schumer had been a coach, he would have been fired. He may have been fine as Majority Leader during Biden's term, but the current circumstances call for a leader who can think outside the box and who has the imagination to anticipate Republican moves and to block them early.
As for the Democratic senators approving Trump nominees--cut it out. Now.
Strong column until the very end when it peters out in a wishy washy stand strong message. Chuck Schumer engineered this failing, to a lesser degree Hakim Jeffries. Both utterly failed in the job we need them to do and both appear unwilling or unable to change in the face of the challenges we face. In the past I'd be willing to give them both another chance but this isn't some moderately inconsequential budget fight - it's the actual future of this country. Both need to go and new leadership more in tune to the threat needs to be brought forward now. If no one is will to step forward or the party can't bring itself to do so means we're in some really deep trouble.
I'd add it's also criminal the party, fully aware of Project 2025 for several years now, still has not even begun to draft a response to it other than Project 20205 bad. A case for WHY it's bad, and what an alternative is, would give all of us hope.
Also ridiculous is that some sort of media response - paid advertising, whatever - has not been launched to highlight Project 2025 now that is actually being implemented despite Trump's lies during the campaign. The goal is to drive down Republican popularity - leaving people hanging in some vague, confusing cloud of uncertainty won't do that. Republicans would be appearing in lockstep on every media outlet known to man to proclaim Project 2025 bad. Chuck Schumer decides to go on a book tour (now cancelled, thankfully), a;though at this point less or no Schumer is better than any.
"Had Democrats offered up such a bill and presented a unified front in support of it ahead of March 14, Democratic senators would not simply have been in the position of deciding whether or not to vote in favor of a shutdown."
"But no such proposal was presented."
This is a good post-mortem but unless I really missed something crucial, the question is *why* did they not come up with such an alternative proposal? It seems to me that failing "to develop a legislative plan to oppose the Trump coup scheme" is such a glaringly obvious failure of the first order. Why would they not have chosen to do so? Failure of will? I'll go back and read it but if it's just some sort of Hamlet-like reluctance to act then that is truly, well tragic.
But whhhy didn’t they plan a strategy?? I haven’t seen a good explanation. It all seemed very foreseeable.
Great article, the best thing Schumer can do now is recognize his error, read the nation, and step aside as Minority Leader (just like Biden did with his assistance) and usher in a new strategic leader. The Senate Democratic caucus needs to identify and coalescence around a new leader who will work with Minority Leader Jefferies and develop an opposition strategy. Meanwhile, both houses need to designate their strategic messengers that are willing to go on any media to spread the word that they are an opposition party and will be firing all the big guns against fascism. Is it that complicated?
Schumer—playing a bad hand badly (nice caption!) perhaps. But let’s smelt the hand that dealt, too.