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ORGANIZERS REPORT LONGTIME ‘LOYAL’ DEM VOTERS FED UP WITH
PARTY’S INACTION AS TRUMP 2.0 TAKES HOLD  
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Julia Conley
January 27, 2025
Common Dreams
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_ Leaders of the grassroots group Indivisible said voters are eager
to beat the Trump agenda, and called on Democratic leaders to act as a
true opposition party. _

An Indivisible chapter in Chicago held a strategy session with more
than 600 attendees on January 25, 2025., Michelle Singleton/Bluesky

 

A week into Republican U.S. President Donald Trump's second term in
the White House, high-profile advocates with close ties to the
Democratic Party expressed frustration at congressional Democrats'
response to the slew of unconstitutional, xenophobic, and bigoted
executive actions already unleashed by Trump.

"Democrats in Congress: WHAT IS THE PLAN?" Shannon Watts, founder of
Moms Demand Action, demanded to know
[[link removed]]on Monday.

Watts cited Trump's purge
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least 12 inspectors general at federal agencies on Friday—an action
that was met with outrage from Democratic lawmakers including Sen.
Elizabeth Warren [[link removed]]
(D-Mass.), but little in the way of specific action from party
leaders.

"There's no sit-in? No filibuster? No direction to voters? And in
fact, some of you are actually voting for Trump's agenda?" asked
Watts, an apparent reference to Democrats such as Sens. John Fetterman
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(D-Va.), and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who voted
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in favor of some of the president's Cabinet nominees and the
anti-immigration Laken Riley Act
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be sent to Trump's desk, last week.

Watts suggested in a series of posts on the social media platform X
that she has typically been aligned with the Democratic establishment,
calling herself a "loyal 'normie Dem.'"

Leah Greenberg, a former Democratic congressional staffer who
co-founded the grassroots advocacy group Indivisible, said
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members across the country are sharing the same "exact sentiment" as
Watts.

In addition to Trump's mass firing of officials tasked with overseeing
federal agencies, the president in the week pardoned
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people who were convicted or charged in the attack on the U.S. Capitol
on January 6, 2021; launched an immigration enforcement crackdown
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issued an executive order revoking birthright citizenship—an action
that was swiftly blocked
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by a federal judge who said the order with "blatantly
unconstitutional."

As _Common Dreams_ reported
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refusal to aggressively stand against the GOP, which now controls both
chambers of Congress as well as the White House, has frustrated
progressive lawmakers including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
[[link removed]] (D-N.Y.).

Last week she told Jon Stewart on his podcast, "The Weekly Show," that
the entire Democratic Party must differentiate itself from the GOP by
becoming unapologetic "brawlers for the working class"—but suggested
that with many Democrats taking donations from corporate lobbyists and
the ultrarich and trading stocks in numerous industries, it's the
party must make major changes to remake itself as one that fights for
working people, many of whom swung to the right in the November
elections.

Watts highlighted
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Ocasio-Cortez's speech
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House floor last week when she opposed the Laken Riley Act—a bill
that would require immigration officers to detain undocumented
immigrants who are accused of theft, including shoplifting, and allow
state attorneys general to file legal challenges to detain specific
immigrants—as "the energy we need."

In her speech, the congresswoman pointed to members of Congress who
take donations from the private prison companies that will inevitably
be "flooded with money" as the federal government looks to detain
undocumented immigrants swept up in raids.

The Laken Riley Act passed in the House with the support of 46
Democrats who joined the GOP, and in the Senate with 12 Democrats
joining the Republicans.

As the bill headed to Trump's desk, House Minority Leader Hakeem
Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Sunday garnered scorn by wrapping up the
president's first week in office with a message one critic likened
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and prayers."

"This is what the Democrats have after a week of historic racism,
homophobia, illegality, and fascism by the Trump regime," said
[[link removed]] civil rights
attorney Scott Hechinger. "Here's the leader of the opposition party
just leaving it to God."

Watts, Greenberg, and Ezra Levin, who also co-founded Indivisible,
called on voters to put pressure on their representatives to act as a
true opposition party and, as Josh Marshall of _Talking Points
Memo_wrote
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last week, "focus in on making [Republicans'] unpopular actions as
painful as possible" for the GOP.

As an example, Marshall warned that Democrats are attempting to
"court" Republicans who could vote against Trump's nominees by
tempering their criticism of the potential Cabinet members.

"Far from courting potential defectors, they should be attacking
them," Marshall wrote. "The criticisms of the bad nominees should be
as intense as possible and all focused on the support of these
senators. No one does you a favor in these settings for being nice:
Senators defect when they think they may pay a price at the ballot
box. That is the only way to have messaging that takes the initiative
and stays on the attack. If things get too hot and the senator pulls
their support, great. If not, that just lays the groundwork for
beating that senator in the next election."

"The job of the opposition is quite literally to oppose," he added.
"Get to it."

Greenberg emphasized Monday that calling Democratic lawmakers and
demanding that they stop "cowering in terror from Trump" will make a
difference.

"It would be really cool if we had a party of principled and authentic
leaders capable of acting like an opposition party without us
constantly yelling at them," said Greenberg. "We do not have that
right now! So we need to keep yelling at them!"

Levin reported that, contrary to claims by the corporate media, voters
across the country are eager to fight the Trump agenda, and to demand
that Democratic lawmakers join them.

"At the Chicago Indivisible meeting I joined yesterday, they filled
the theater and an overflow room," said
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Levin. "In North Carolina where Leah Greenberg was yesterday, it was
standing room only. We've had ~250 *new* Indivisible groups form since
the election, and leaders report surging membership."

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Julia Conley is a staff writer for Common Dreams.

* Democratic Party; Indivisible; Resistance to Trump Agenda;
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