Democrats are too lost to stand up to Trump. That weakness will cost them. | Opinion
Democratic Party's future hinges on whether Democrats can find candidates capable of running against a refined version of the MAGA movement.
In the first month of Donald Trump’s second presidency, Republicans have naturally been taking their victory lap. A flurry of executive actions have dominated headlines, along with Trump getting the Cabinet he’s demanded.
In the meantime, Democrats have been abnormally quiet. Really since the presidential election, the left of American politics has been regrouping.
It's not surprising that after such an embarrassing loss, the Democrats are having a long look in the mirror. Right now, their party lacks direction. Over the coming months, they need to figure out what they actually stand for, rather than what they stand against.
Democrats are lost. They need to find their path forward.
The Democratic Party has tons of problems, and this time needs to be used to sort those out. The next several years cannot be solely used waiting around for the Trump administration to implode. Some in the Democratic leadership, such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are making attempts, but they lack the political capital to truly counter much of Trump's actions.
The Democratic Party is in desperate need of a rebranding, and in doing so its leaders must learn from their mistakes.
One of the glaring issues with Democrats for years was their alienation of moderates. Progressive politics have become increasingly dogmatic, insisting that people agree with the correct stance on a myriad of issues or else they weren’t truly progressive.
The fact that the GOP embraced Trump masked this issue for a long time, but the Democrats were pushing away the middle of American politics when they should have been embracing it.
Trump made gains among most key demographics, including significant gains among Latino voters and young voters, both groups that Democrats historically have thought they could count on.
Democrats desperately need to become more accepting of dissent. Not everyone will agree with you on every issue, and that's OK. If the Democratic Party wants to win, it needs to broaden its coalition rather than shrink it.
The rebranding, regardless of policies, must include tolerance for conflict within Democratic ranks. Republicans have proved they can build a coalition with many disagreements, and although their infighting causes them problems sometimes, it's better than losing voters because you are too rigid.
Democrats must figure out how to run against someone other than Trump
For nearly a decade, Democrats have only had to campaign against one man. Trump sucks all the air out of political discourse, and Democrats recognized that. Rather than trying to convince voters of a rival platform, the Democrats could get away with simply opposing Trump for a very long time.
It worked in the midterm elections and the 2020 presidential election.
Then in 2024, Americans had enough of the failures of the Biden administration and voted for how it was during Trump’s last presidency. Whether he can deliver remains to be seen, but Democrats now need to tell voters how they will make things better, not just how Trump will make things worse.
In 2028, Trump will not be the Republican nominee, and Democrats will need to go head-to-head with any number of capable GOP candidates. Vice President JD Vance already proved his abilities in the campaign debates, but there are a number of other Republicans ready to take the top spot.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris is not a strong candidate, but she remains the leader in polling for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028. That is a huge problem for Democrats.
The Democrats lack leaders who have an argument for the presidency.
People like Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Andy Beshear of Kentucky all have their own merits as the next nominee, but right now the Democrats lack strong leadership at the top of the party.
The Democratic Party's future hinges on whether its leaders can find candidates capable of running against a refined version of the MAGA movement. They have to be able to combat on policies, rather than opposition to Trump.
Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for Paste BN and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.