Ordinary Democrats are bombarding allies on Capitol Hill with pleas to "fight harder" and "blow this place up," referring to the Senate.
Despite opposition, Republicans have been able to confirm a dozen Trump nominees, with several more expected in the next few days. The Trump executive blitz has left Democrats gasping for air as all they can do is join protests like the one on Tuesday in front of the Treasury Department.
The fact of the matter is, as Republicans learned in 2021, there is very little the political opposition can do to stop a chief executive and a united political party from doing as they please. It's a numbers game, and Republicans have them and the Democrats don't.
That hasn't stopped rank-and-file Democrats from sending angry missives to Washington, ordering their party leaders to do something.
“This is not business as usual, and Senate Democrats should not be treating this as business as usual,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said in an interview. “We need to see a halt on all Trump nominees.”
You expect a simple-minded statement from a simple-minded congresswoman. Other Democrats are equally at sea when it comes to figuring out how to fight.
"What I think we need to do more is: Put the onus on Republicans, so that the calls that we're getting are directed toward Republicans," offered Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal. An unidentified House Democrat told Axios, "There has definitely been some tension the last few days where people felt like: you are calling the wrong people. You are literally calling the wrong people."
If telling voters to blame someone else for the mess Democrats are in is all they got, Democrats are sunk.
More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers and aides said in interviews with Axios that their offices have received historically high call volumes in recent days.
Some staffers said they hadn't seen this many calls since seminal events like the Oct. 7 attack, the Brett Kavanaugh hearings or even the Trump impeachment proceedings.
Aaron Fritschner, a spokesperson for Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), said his office's phones have been "ringing off the hook without pause since we opened yesterday morning."
On social media sites such as X and Bluesky, another aide said, "Every Dem is getting lit up by the neo-resistance folks being like 'do more.'"
What they're saying: "We had the most calls we've ever had in one day on Monday in 12 years," said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.).
AOC and her radical colleagues in the House have been hamstrung by the fact that all the action on Trump nominees is happening in the Senate. They can make floor speeches forever and they have to grapple with the fact that no one is listening.
To be sure, the House minority has not itself been a hotbed of righteous protest targeting Trump. Much as in the Senate, members are sending sharply worded letters, holding news conferences and otherwise trying to win public attention. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, feeling similar heat as Schumer, huddled with his caucus last week on the now-paused spending freeze and sent a letter to colleagues this week laying out his plan for pushback, including using upcoming appropriations talks for leverage.
Related: You Won't Believe Who Senate Democrats Say Is Trump's 'Most Dangerous Nominee'
At some point, Democrats will get their act together and put up a stiff fight. With House Republicans splintered over the budget reconciliation fight, Democrats will no doubt see an opening and try to drive wedges between the various Republican factions in the House.
But the truth is, Democrats can do very little as long as Republicans remain united. How long that lasts depends on Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson and their ability to "herd cats," as the old saying describes, to get anything done in the House.
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