President Donald Trump delivered the most authoritarian Joint Address to Congress in U.S. history Tuesday night. He repeatedly attacked and singled out Democrats. He called Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) “Pocahontas” while criticizing her support for Ukraine. And through his roughly 30 blatant lies, Republicans stood to cheer for each one. They even chanted his name in a disturbing submission to Executive power.
After a speech more weaponized than Trump claims the Justice Department was, Democrats should have had a field day with their response. It should have been a rallying moment and a declaration that they were ready to fight for democracy.
Instead, it was an afterthought—a surrender before they even bothered to pick a fight.
Former CIA operative and newly-elected Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) delivered an uncharismatic fact-checking for only 10 minutes. She offered a tepid rebuttal that at best felt more like a policy seminar than a battle cry. She praised Ronald Reagan, mentioned China more than Trump did, and advocated for small changes that won’t break the status quo.
There was no passion, no clear contrast, and no memorable moment to seize the narrative from Trump’s iron grip. Instead of calling out his authoritarian rhetoric with the urgency it deserved, Slotkin opted for cautious critique, as if afraid of mobilizing the very voters Democrats need to win.
I understand why she emphasized Reagan’s differences to Trump. On the surface, it seems like a strong attack that hits the Republican Party at its base. But Kamala Harris tried this by making Liz Cheney a top campaign surrogate, and she ended up with fewer Republican votes than Joe Biden in 2020.
The truth is Republicans don’t care what Reagan would think. The only people who do care are those who still feel the worst effects of his disastrous policies: young people, gay men, and people of color; all of whom are demographics Harris lost ground on. So when Slotkin said she’s thankful she grew up under Reagan, that doesn’t exactly increase Democrats’ standing.
And then there’s China. Obviously, China is an authoritarian regime the U.S. should compete with. But it’s absurd to bring it up multiple times in her speech while it wasn’t even a fraction of Trump’s, especially when she also said, “We need friends in all corners.”
Americans are much more concerned with domestic issues, and the foreign policy they do care about right now involves Ukraine and Israel. It goes to show if you’re trying to counter Trump and gain the support of the working class, you probably shouldn't make your chief messenger a former CIA analyst and beneficiary of the military-industrial complex.
Meeting this moment is crucial. Trump and his right-wing cronies have dominated the media ever since he made that dreaded descent down the golden escalator. Democrats played defense ever since, and they haven’t played it well. Just last month, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) surrendered power in another messaging blunder when he said, “What leverage do we have?... It's their government.”
That brings us to the core of the problem. There’s a reason Democrats were much more organized against campus protests and progressive primary campaigns than either of Trump’s administrations.
At its heart, the Democratic Party is a corporate entity. It would much rather continue trading power with the far-right than actually making transformative change, because then at least it can keep fundraising and protecting its corporate power.
Instead of forcefully reclaiming the narrative, Democrats retreat to weak institutionalist arguments and cling to notions of decorum. Slotkin’s speech wasn’t just a missed opportunity—it was a symptom of a party that still doesn’t understand the stakes.
But all hope is not lost. In the midst of Trump’s rancor and Slotkin’s monotones, the Working Families Party, a progressive group that organizes both inside and out the Democratic ranks, held its own State of the Union.
Freshman Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.) told a profound story that cut deep into Trump’s propaganda. She recounted her past as a disabled teenage mother working multiple jobs and her husband’s struggle with terminal cancer.
Not only did she rebuke Trump’s lies like Slotkin, but she included progressive policy solutions to each one. Universal healthcare, reproductive freedom, affordable housing, a living minimum wage, a federal jobs guarantee, and campaign finance reform are just some of the policies she laid out in a bold agenda to protect the working class against attacks from the ultra-wealthy.
“They’ve never had to struggle to put food on the table or save up to make rent every month,” she said while criticizing Trump and Elon Musk. “My life’s work has been about making sure that all of us, that everyday people, don’t fall through what we know are huge cracks in society. And that when they do—if they do fall through those cracks, we collectively reach down and help them up.”
That’s the kind of speech that could have changed the conversation. That’s the kind of leadership Democrats need if they want to prove they’re more than just the lesser evil. But until the party stops fearing its own base, stops clinging to a failed strategy of appeasement, and starts actually fighting for working people, Trump will continue to dominate the stage unchallenged. The battle for democracy won’t be won with half-measures and centrism. It will be won by those bold enough to call out corruption, take on corporate power, and give the people something worth believing in.
If Democrats don’t learn that lesson soon, they won’t just lose another election. They’ll lose the country.
Photo Credit:
[Header]: Created on Canva with images from:
[1]- 2025 Getty Images
[2]- Paul Sancya – Pool | Getty Images
[Embedded 1]: Democratic Party; obtained through Yahoo
[Embedded 2]: Working Families Party via YouTube
Sources:
Commenti