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While the Trump administration has been busy dismantling the US system of checks and balances at home, and undermining the international rules-based order abroad, many people have been wondering why the official opposition, the Democratic Party, has not been offering more robust resistance.
For weeks a battle has been raging within the party, largely behind the scenes, over how best to handle this moment. Some members want the party to take more forceful action now, given the gravity of the political crisis. Others argue for letting Trump’s decisions play out, and then capitalising on the chaos which his policies are causing, to win back voter support in time for the mid-term elections in 2026.
Tensions within the party erupted into broad daylight late last week, when the Democratic leader in the Senate, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, broke with most of his party, to vote in favour of a Republican-drafted bill to extend government funding for another six months.
His rationale was that failure to approve the bill would result in a government shutdown, which would cause federal workers even more pain, and allow Trump and his henchmen, like Elon Musk, even more leeway to slash government agencies and operations, possibly for good. He also worried that the Democrats would take the lion’s share of the blame for the disruption in the court of public opinion, since they would be the ones forcing the shutdown.
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His critics, which include most Democrats in the House of Representatives, all bar one of whom voted to block the budget resolution, and influential party bigwigs, like former speaker Nancy Pelosi, believe that Schumer not only destroyed party unity, but also threw away the best tool the Democrats had to resist the administration. This is because the budget bill, unlike most legislative measures, could not be passed by simple majority, but needed 60 votes in the Senate, making it dependent on Democratic votes. They accuse Schumer of folding too easily, and, even worse, without obtaining any concessions in return.
Many grassroots activists seem to share their anger. Self-identified Democrat voters say they want their party to hold the line even if it leads to gridlock. Amidst the frustration, the Democratic party’s favorability rating has plunged to a record low. According to an opinion poll conducted by CNN in early March, 54% of surveyed adults currently have an unfavorable opinion of the party, up from 48% in early January. Schumer is now facing calls to step down as leader in the Senate, or face a primary challenge when he next runs for election, in 2028.
The main dilemma for the Democrats appears to be how to push back against the administration, without appearing to defend unpopular policies, which voters rejected in November. Although many Republicans voters are also uneasy about the ruthless, if not to say, lawless, way in which the administration is going about business, most still seem to support Trump’s broad aims to reduce the size of government, cut immigration, and end “woke” policies such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.
To help me understand better what is going on inside the party, I recently spoke to former Democratic Member of Congress, Tom Malinowski, who represented New Jersey for two terms in the House of Representatives, between 2019-2023. Prior to entering politics, Malinowski held prominent positions in both the Clinton and Obama administrations, and before that, was the Advocacy Director for the human rights organization, Human Rights Watch. He is currently Chair of the Hunterdon County Democratic party in New Jersey. He is also on the Board of the US-funded media outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – which provides fact-based news and information to 23 countries where a free press is absent or restricted – and which has also just had its operations suspended by the administration.
Malinowski said he thought Schumer had made the wrong decision. The party should have forced a shutdown, in order to focus attention on what the Trump administration was doing, and show voters that the Democrats were not just wringing their hands, or complaining on social media, but actually fighting for their principles. Part of Trump’s appeal was that he was seen as a man of action, forceful and decisive. The Democrats had not yet learned to be the same. They should have taken a risk, and blocked the bill.
By caving so completely, Schumer had given Republicans an easy win, and Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) a virtual free hand to continue dismantling government. A shutdown would certainly have caused federal workers short term pain. But all Schumer had done was buy them a few more weeks pay, before their jobs were possibly cut forever. Federal workers probably would have supported this.
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Malinowski’s view is borne out by the fact that one of the biggest unions representing federal workers, the American Federation of Government Employees, actively lobbied Democrats to vote against the Republican Bill – writing to Senators that despite the crippling effects of a shutdown on their members, it would still be preferable to giving President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress carte blanche to continue their attacks on the federal civil service.)
Malinowski described most Democrats now as “deeply frustrated”. Schumer was completely missing the gravity of the moment. Traditionally, Democrats did believe it was irresponsible to allow a shutdown. But, these were not normal times. The public would have welcomed radical action to expose the administration’s “lawlessness.”
Schumer was also guilty of clinging to another traditionally “correct” notion, that it was the job of the party in opposition to position themselves for the next elections, even if that meant not blocking the government now. In normal times, this made sense. But, Malinowski said, America could not afford to wait until the mid-terms. “In two years time, there might not be any institutions left to rebuild. Our allies will not wait two years to see if our country switches back. Our enemies certainly won’t wait to see if Democrats win the mid-terms.”
He added “America might find itself in a constitutional breakdown in the next few weeks”.
