These are desperate times for the Democratic Party. Their polling is terrible, and voters don’t trust them on the issues that matter most. They’ve been trying hard to scandalize Trump and his administration, but nothing has stuck.
Meanwhile, their supporters are rioting in Los Angeles and other cities nationwide, believing that this will sway the public. It won’t. But that doesn’t mean Democrats don’t have other tricks up their sleeve.
According to a report from Politico, Democrats may have finally settled on a strategy to counter Donald Trump’s success on immigration, but it’s not by fixing the crisis they helped create. Instead, it looks like they’re trying to manufacture viral moments of victimhood, and according to a new Politico report, they think they’ve cracked the code: flip the script by painting Trump’s enforcement as cruel overreach.
Yes, really.
A poll conducted by Democratic-aligned groups Way to Win and Impact Research suggests there may be a narrow path for Democrats to improve their standing on immigration, an issue where they are currently underwater by a staggering 58-point net negative rating among voters. Their hope? Refocus the narrative from border security to sob stories about “legal” immigrants and accidental deportations.
The groups tested messaging that highlighted supposed “overreach” by Trump’s enforcement, including questionable anecdotes like someone deported because their autism-awareness tattoo was mistaken for gang ink, or a U.S. citizen child deported because her parents were illegal immigrants. According to Politico, this messaging dropped Trump’s approval rating on immigration by five points in battleground districts. The idea, they say, is to emphasize the “threats to citizens and noncitizens alike” from deportation crackdowns.
The poll from Way to Win and Impact Research found that voters could be swayed if Democrats hammer Trump for deporting the wrong people—but that’s a big “if,” and one that hinges on rare, sensational examples that don’t reflect the broader reality. Seventy-four percent of voters in the same survey oppose revoking visas or green cards without proof of a crime, but that doesn’t mean they oppose enforcement altogether.
So, obviously, they have to do more, and I think they have been. I would argue that their recent efforts to get arrested are part of this strategy.
In recent weeks, Democrats have been deliberately escalating confrontations with Trump administration officials. They cried foul when Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested after helping an illegal alien accused of domestic abuse escape ICE agents. Instead of acknowledging she broke the law, Democrats painted her as a victim of a lawless Trump administration. They thought they had something… at least until video evidence of her helping an illegal immigrant avoid capture was released.
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However, elected Democrats soon realized that they could effectively push their preferred narrative by being part of the story. So we got the “oversight visit” stunt at Delaney Hall in New Jersey, where three House Democrats and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka forced their way into the ICE facility. Baraka ended up arrested, which didn’t sit well with the left, but when Rep. LaMonica McIver was eventually charged with assaulting federal agents, they were livid.
And of course, there’s Sen. Alex Padilla, who stormed a DHS press conference uninvited, without his Senate security pin, and charged the podium while DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was speaking — an action that prompted Secret Service intervention. Within minutes, the left was screaming “fascism” online, as if the whole scene wasn’t choreographed. He knew what he was doing. It was all a show.
It’s clear what’s going on here: a coordinated political strategy to provoke confrontation, generate viral outrage, and distract from Democrats’ abysmal record on immigration.
What Democrats seem to misunderstand is that immigration remains Trump’s strongest issue, and for good reason. Americans voted for law and order, not viral TikToks of politicians pretending to be victims. Every one of these stunts — from protecting criminal aliens to storming ICE facilities — highlights how disconnected Democrats are from voters’ priorities.
