Democrats: learn to fight

If the Dems take anything from this moment, it's to exercise political power in the rare instances you get it

Trump and Republicans are doing two things at once that, in any normal world, would qualify as political suicide. First, they’re moving to strip healthcare away from 13.7 million Americans, cut $300 billion from food assistance programs, eliminate clean energy tax credits, and restrict certain student loan subsidies, among other attacks on working class Americans. But second, they’re doing all of this as an offset for tax cuts that’ll overwhelmingly benefit the ultrawealthy. According to the Penn Wharton analysis:

People making between about $17,000 and $51,000 could lose about $700 on average. People reporting less than $17,000 in income would see a reduction closer to $1,000, on average. By contrast, the top 0.1 percent, including those with incomes over $4.3 million, would gain on average more than $389,000 in after-tax income in 2026.

In other words, this budget would result in the biggest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in modern American history. Not only will working class Americans be left with less after-tax income, but they’re also losing out on vital lifelines like healthcare and food assistance.

And let’s not pretend that the risks are unknown. The last time Republicans went after healthcare in 2017, they lost the House by the biggest margin in modern American history, ceding 41 seats to the Democrats. But that isn’t stopping them from attacking Medicaid and SNAP benefits now, even as we’re seeing special election results that mirror the margins we saw in 2017. Which raises the obvious question: why would they do this?

The answer to that question is important. Republicans are clear about what they want, and what they want is a tax cut. Is it good politics? No. Do they care? Not at all. They understand that if they can pass it now, they’re set until those cuts expire. So they intend to get it done and they refuse to let anything stand in their way– even if it means their own prospects in midterms. Because when Republicans gain power, they make sure to use it. And they know that, worst case scenario, they lose some seats in the next election— but our politics are cyclical. They know they’ll be in the majority again. Trump literally incited an insurrection at the US Capitol and the GOP was in the wilderness for all of one cycle! That’s it! These people tried to hang their own Vice President and within four years they once again had full control of government. They gain power and they exercise that power to get exactly what they want— no matter what they have to break to get it. They are not worried about the optics or the future; they’re solely focused on results.

Which, frankly, should be a lesson for the Democrats. Because while the Republicans will stop at nothing to accomplish their agenda, the Democrats often seem to let everything stand in their way, whether it’s the filibuster or the parliamentarian or some arbitrary procedural hurdle. We don’t have national voting rights legislation right now because some Democrats felt that it was necessary in that rare sliver of time when we had full control of government to defend not our democracy but the filibuster. As if that’s what they were elected to protect: a norm from a bygone era that isn’t even binding… and which Republicans already nuked when it comes to their own priorities of tax cuts and judges. But the Democrats kept it in place out of some blind allegiance to our institutions, even as doing so meant weakening our democracy in the process. It is the definition of missing the forrest for the trees.

And that’s the inconvenient reality of our party: Democrats all too often defend the procedures of government instead of exercising power in the rare instances they have it. And I know the question you’re asking: are you saying we should be just like the Republicans? Here’s the difference: unlike Trump and Republicans, Democrats can actually exercise that power in a virtuous way. They can expand healthcare. They can increase the minimum wage. They can codify abortion rights. They can take aggressive action on climate change. They can pass national voting rights legislation and shore up our democracy. They can end partisan gerrymandering. We can be both aggressive in our application of power and righteous in how we apply it; they’re not mutually exclusive.

What are we worried about? Losing an election? We already lost control of the House, Senate, and White House in 2024; we lose elections anyway. Again, politics is cyclical; we’ll gain power again. But at least we’ll have gone to the mat for what we believe in. And don’t discount the fact that exercising power and doing something is precisely the allure of Trump to his base. We can’t expect people to believe on the campaign trail that Democrats will fight for them if they’re not going to the mat to fight where we already do have power. I’d offer that the Democratic base is moved less by where our elected officials lie on the ideological spectrum and more by their willingness to fight for our broader agenda (most of which unites even the farthest-ranging corners of our big tent).

I know that this may seem perverse, but I hope that Democrats are paying attention to what Trump and Republicans are doing right now. Because if they learn anything, it’s that there is no excuse not to exercise power to the fullest extent when we get it. And that rather than fearing the consequences of doing something, what we should actually fear are the consequences of not doing it.