Democratic lawmakers’ reaction to Donald Trump’s incoming administration has been decidedly more subdued this time around. In 2017, Democrats spearheaded a resistance movement, boycotted Trump’s inauguration, and ripped into him whenever they could, but now some members of the minority party just aren’t putting up a fight.
For instance, on Thursday, the Senate voted to advance the GOP-crafted Laken Riley Act, which gives the Department of Homeland Security the authority to detain and potentially deport undocumented immigrants who have merely been charged—not yet convicted—of nonviolent crimes, like burglary, shoplifting, or theft. It also greatly expands the power of state attorneys general, allowing them to sue the federal government if they think immigration policies have harmed their states or its residents.
Thirty-one Democrats voted in favor of advancing the bill, joining all voting Republicans. Only nine voted against it. The bill is scheduled to proceed, likely to a final vote, on Monday.
Since the House passed the bill this past Tuesday (with some Democratic support), it’s all but sure to get approved under Trump, who has promised to enact mass deportations after his inauguration on Jan. 20.
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman
And it doesn’t stop there. Some Democratic lawmakers are champing at the bit to work the MAGA movement, such as Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Greg Landsman, who have both joined the “DOGE Caucus.” At least one former progressive darling, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, has essentially surrendered to Trump, saying he’ll back the president-elect’s far-right Cabinet picks and plans to visit him at Mar-a-Lago soon. And other usually reasonable lawmakers are readily backing some of Trump’s viciously anti-immigrant platform.
On the one hand, some Democrats are strategically moving toward voters’ preferences, particularly regarding a stricter stance on immigration. Many have decided that the reasonable answer to losing the presidency and Senate is to find compromises with Republicans to achieve progress where they can.
But there’s one major flaw in this strategy: Helping Trump succeed only enforces his power. An embrace of Trumpism will only further embed it in our fragile political system and collective psyche. Some in the party are becoming accomplices in a fait accompli they ostensibly oppose.
Even before November, there was evidence Democrats were moving to the right—on immigration, on LGBTQ+ rights, on criminal justice reform, and more. But that seems to have increased tenfold after Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to Trump. And it’s not just the usual, moderate suspects. It includes some flame-throwing progressives as well.
In early December, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, referred to mega-billionaire Elon Musk, who wants to slash billions in government spending, as a “very smart guy.” Sanders has also praised Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, for his criticism of the food industry. Sanders went so far as to say they could work together on health-related issues, despite Kennedy’s history of anti-vaccine advocacy and promoting misinformation, though the senator has not said whether he’ll vote to confirm Kennedy.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders
Even Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also a democratic socialist, has suggested she might find common ground with the president-elect’s administration.
“The reason why I think oftentimes Democrats occasionally lose elections is because we’re too reflexively anti-Republican, and that we don’t lean into an ambitious vision for working-class Americans strongly enough,” the Bronx-area Democrat told Punchbowl News earlier this week.
While Ocasio-Cortez’s second point indeed has merit, her assertion that Democrats are too eager to push out Republicans with whom they disagree is eyebrow-raising. After all, a great many Republican lawmakers have downplayed the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection and regularly espouse downright racist and bigoted beliefs.
At one point, it seemed Democrats were ready to embrace the sort of resistance-style change that one might expect after a bruising election season. For example, Ocasio-Cortez was among several greener members who challenged their more senior Democratic counterparts for powerful posts on congressional committees. But her bid to lead the Oversight Committee was unsuccessful, with Democratic lawmakers instead opting for Rep. Gerry Connolly, a nine-term Virginian who is 74 years old and was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer.
It certainly doesn’t help the party that many of those who oversaw November’s electoral losses were reelected to their leadership roles, like Sen. Chuck Schumer, now the chamber’s minority leader. Or that fact that the old guard of the party largely continues to cling to its power and has remained focused more on preserving institutional stability and the status quo than on reimagining how the party operates in a radically changing media environment and world.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
Polling suggests that Democratic voters have little faith in their party’s future. A post-election poll from the Pew Research Center found that just 51% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents were very or somewhat optimistic about the party’s future, while 49% were pessimistic. Compare this to 2022, when 72% were optimistic and just 28% were pessimistic. The latest figures are worse than after even the 2016 election, when 61% were optimistic and 38% were pessimistic.
It doesn’t take a political guru to see how Democratic lawmakers’ recent actions could further solidify these beliefs. It’s hard to believe in a party that spent years warning that another Trump win would lead to the end of democracy, only to later express openness toward working with him.
Maybe these Democratic lawmakers will wake up and realize their subservience to Trump is ill-fated. Here’s hoping that happens sooner than later.
If anything, the 2024 election showed that voters want the bold, transformative action that moderate Democrats and the Democratic establishment have long been hesitant to make.
But if that message isn’t clear to Democratic lawmakers, and if the party continues capitulating to the GOP, it risks losing more voters to the so-called Republican populists who want to wreck the system. It’s also possible the Democratic Party loses ground with its existing base and tried-and-true progressives.
Democratic lawmakers must know what surrendering to Trump can do—and if they keep bowing to him, the party might be in for another rough election next year.
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