Democrats are furious. And they want their leaders to get mad, too.
“I wish you’d be angry,” a constituent told representative Gil Cisneros, a Democrat of California, at a recent town hall. At an event in Minnesota featuring a panel of Democratic attorneys general, an activist voiced a similar sentiment: “Get angry, man,” punctuating the message with a profanity.
The anger roiling the party, slow to build, is now a forceful current coursing through the electorate and pulling in Americans terrified that the country is descending into authoritarianism. Democrats – with no leader to guide them and little power to wield in Washington – are scrambling to harness the sudden fury.
At rallies, town halls and protests, voters are venting their fury with Donald Trump and his empowerment of Elon Musk’s full-frontal assault on federal agencies, stoking what progressive activists believe are the embers of a populist backlash against the president – and the Democratic leaders they believe are not meeting the moment.
And apparently some people don’t like reality, based on the downvote(s). But we don’t live in a fantasy Democratic-socialist republic with ranked choice voting and districts without gerrymandering and more than two political parties. We live in this current shithole hellscape called reality and the likelihood of AOC getting the nod or being leader of the DNC is less probable than the second coming. It would be very nice but it ain’t happening.
Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch said it best.
“If you agree with me 51%, vote for me. If you agree with me 100% see a psychiatrist.”