Mike Tyson famously said, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." The idea being that the best laid plans can be crushed by the unexpected—especially if that unexpected is as lethal as a Tyson punch.
That is exactly what Democratic leaders need to do to Donald Trump—from a political point of view, that is. Every single day Democratic leaders need to ask themselves: What can we do to punch Trump in the face today?!
And every day they need to plan to deliver a punch that will knock Trump off his game and grab headlines. Sure, they won’t succeed every time, but taking the fight to Trump and his anti-American agenda is what the Democratic base is demanding!
This is backed up by a rash of articles about rank and file Democrats—plus even some Democratic governors--increasingly frustrated and even angry with Democrats in Congress. Callers to my show have been jamming the phone lines for weeks demanding Democrats be more aggressive, much louder, and far more effective in fighting back against Trump—from flooding the airwaves to blocking what they can in Congress to proposing headline grabbing ideas.
Instead, we see people like Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer boringly stand behind a podium in the Senate building where he reads a statement in his typical monotone fashion.
This led Jon Stewart on The Daily Show Monday to make a direct to camera plea to Democrats to stop with Schumer as the face of the Democratic Party. Stewart asked, “What is the decision-making process here? ‘Hey, who should we get out there to effectively battle one of the most savvy presidential media manipulators in history?’” Stewart quipped, “Oh, I don’t know, how about Schumer? He’s uninteresting, but at least he’s monotone,” adding, “Oh wait, and Chuck, before you go out there, you look too young! Put on these readers and lower them on your nose. perfect!'”
Stewart could not be more correct. In fact on Tuesday, Schumer held a press conference with House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries behind a podium in the Capitol Building. Schumer “slammed” Elon Musk for his attempted takeover of the federal government by awkwardly reading a Musk tweet defending his proposed cuts and then declaring, “Give me a break…Mr. Musk.” When “Give me a break” is your best comeback, you need to sit down!
Those comments were followed by Jeffries who pledged to “shortly” introduce the “Stop the Steal Act” to block Musk from accessing private data. (Yes, he’s using the term “stop the steal.”) Jeffries saying he will “shortly” introduce this legislation is the key word meaning that it’s not even drafted yet despite the grave urgency we are told is confronting us.
Now, to be fair, there are some great fighters in the Democratic Party. And on both Monday and Tuesday we saw examples of Democratic officials thinking outside of the box in an effort to punch Trump in the face.
On Monday there was a press event—complete with cheering supporters—outside the offices U.S. Agency for International Development in response to “President” Elon Musk seeking to close down the agency. Speakers included Rep. Ilhan Omar who declared, “This is what the beginning of dictatorship looks like when you gut the Constitution, and you install yourself as the sole power.” Omar’s comments so outraged apartheid loving Musk that he shared a doctored video of Omar on Twitter that made it appear like she was calling for immigration laws to be broken.
And on Tuesday, more Democratic leaders rallied with an even larger crowd of several hundred outside the U.S. Treasury slamming Musk for having access to our private data. As Rep. Maxwell Frost from Florida told the crowd, "We are here today because an unelected billionaire and his team have been given full and unfettered access to our taxpayer money and our government."
Below is an awkward looking Schumer at Tuesday’s protest saying “fight” but at least he left the Capitol to get press:
While corporate media barely covered these two events because they are very much pro-Trump, both are a good start—with some clips even going viral on social media.
But what is still woefully missing is a unified, powerful message by Democratic members of Congress. There are some Democrats in Congress who want to find “common ground” with Trump while some want to fight him—yet many more are silent waiting to see which way the political winds blow.
As a NY Times article from this past weekend summed up so well, “We Have No Coherent Message’: Democrats Struggle to Oppose Trump.” The Times interviewed more than 50 Democratic leaders from governors to members of Congress to grassroots leaders. What they found “revealed a party that is struggling to define what it stands for, what issues to prioritize and how to confront a Trump administration that is carrying out a right-wing agenda with head-spinning speed.”
One of the fiercest Democratic fighters, Rep. Jasmin Crockett, was quoted in the article saying, “We have no coherent message.” She added about Trump, “This guy is psychotic, and there’s so much, but everything that underlines it is white supremacy and hate. There needs to be a message that is clear on at least the underlying thing that comes with all of this.” While other Democrats urged we talk to voters about lowering prices.
The exact message that will work to win elections will take time to develop. But what the Democratic base wants now—as I hear nightly on my show—is that Democratic leaders stop talking “common ground” with Trump and instead solely focus on beating the crap out of him.
That means coming up with more non-traditional ways to grab press—such as organizing a massive walk out from the House and Senate to flag an issue. Announcing potential investigations into Trump and Musk. (Republicans in Congress would often get press—even when they were in the minority--by publicly telling people: “preserve your papers.”) Coming up with more headline grabbing proposals-especially on populist ideas like getting big money out of politics.
Democrats spent over $2 billion on VP Harris’s campaign. Now spend money to come up with unique and compelling ideas to grab the attention from Trump. Democratic leaders should be spending time every day coming up with ways to punch Trump in the face. And not just once, but over and over like in a John Wick movie. Except in this movie, Democrats are John Wick and Trump is the villain who doesn’t make it the closing credits.
You know you’re on the right track to fighting Trump when you quote the great philosopher Mike Tyson. Seriously, we need that attitude
The oligarchs the Maga, most people in the White House right now none of them play or fight fair. The opposition should not fight fair either.