We Need an Opposition Party

Democrats need to meet the moment

Author

Mary Drummer
29 Jan • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

After being defeated by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans in November — a defeat that  wasn’t anywhere near a landslide — Democrats are doing what they’ve always done, use terrible messaging on very important topics.  

According to NBC News:

“After Trump delivered his lengthy inaugural speech, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the former House speaker, issued a statement highlighting “what he didn’t mention” — “his promised tax cuts for the rich.”

Top Democrats are zeroing in on the massive party-line bill that Republicans are crafting to pass Trump’s agenda, describing it as a tax cut for his wealthy friends that could be paid for by cutting safety net programs that middle-class people rely on.”

Many provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (colloquially known as the Trump tax cuts) expire in December of this year, but Republicans in Congress want to extend them even further and make them permanent in most cases. Hammering the cuts and how they’re bad for the average American and the economy is good, but the messaging offered by Democrats sucks. 

I know there’s a character limit when it comes to tweets, but this is lazy and unacceptable coming from any elected official, much less the Senate Minority Leader. 

54% of Americans say they get at least some of their news from social media — a figure that has increased from last year. If Democrats are going to reach people where they are and explain why Trump’s economic policies suck and why Democrats' plans are better, they need to be more effective at explaining that online instead of using the same tired talking points they get from consultants who have been around since Bill Clinton was in office. 

“If Trump’s tax proposals were in effect in 2026, the richest 1% would receive an average tax cut of about $36,300 and the next richest 4% would receive an average tax cut of about $7,200.

All other groups would see a tax increase with the hike on the middle 20% at about $1,500 and the increase on the lowest-income 20% of Americans at about $800.”

The stakes couldn’t be higher: Charles Koch and his right-wing astroturf group, Americans for Prosperity are launching a $20 million blitz in support of not only making the Trump tax cuts permanent, but making even more cuts. The campaign includes digital ads, podcast appearances, social media posts, door-to-door canvassing, and 1,500 visits to Capitol Hill to lobby members of Congress. 

We need an opposition party that will meet the challenge and fight back against this, but instead we have Democrats voting to confirm Trump cabinet nominees and promising to work in a bipartisan manner with people they claimed were a threat to democracy just a few months ago. 

Republicans are not popular. Donald Trump won the popular vote by 49.9% — 1.6% over then-Vice President Kamala Harris and the third smallest POTUS electoral victory since 1888 and the smallest since Nixon in 1968.

The breakdown for the House of Representatives is 218 Republicans to 215 Democrats — the thinnest House majority in over a century. That majority will become even thinner if Rep. Elise Stefanik is confirmed as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. The Republicans only have a 6 seat majority in the Senate — well below the 60 threshold they need to avoid a filibuster. 

All this means is that Democrats have an excellent chance to block harmful legislation if they unify and move as one band, one sound. 

Trump has been in office less than two weeks and has already sowed nothing but chaos and cruelty. We need a party that can stand up to that and Democrats need to do it now.