By Jeffrey A. Rendall
Dem voters demand a more aggressive resistance to Trump; it explains the rise of the DSA
Are the current group of Democrat lawmakers being too nice to Donald Trump?
You’d almost think so if the results of a recent survey were any indication.
It’s not a concept many conservatives need to stop and ponder. Regular consumers of the news buzz that constantly envelopes the president and his administration understand how Democrats rarely, if ever, have anything positive to say about Trump, and most of the time, if they themselves are queried on the subject, practically invoke their Fifth Amendment privilege to avoid implicating themselves.
If asked to name the color of the carpet in the Trump sphere-of-influence, Democrats would freeze up like Dr. Anthony Fauci did a couple weeks ago.
But this doesn’t mean Democrat voters give Democrat pols credit for standing up to Trump. It’s the opposite, in fact. Democrat ballot-punchers think elected Democrats must do more to knock Trump off-balance.
In an article titled, “Nearly 3 in 4 Harris voters say Dem lawmakers should challenge Trump more: Poll”, Tara Suter reported at The Hill last week:
“In The Economist/YouGov poll, 74 percent of Harris voter respondents said that congressional Democrats challenge the president ‘too little,’ while only 2 percent of the same group said they challenge him ‘too much.’ Eighteen percent said they challenge the president ‘about the right amount,’ and 6 percent were unsure.
“Overall, 40 percent of all respondents said congressional Democrats challenge Trump ‘too little,’ while 32 percent said the opposite. Fourteen percent said Democrats on the Hill challenge the president ‘about the right amount,’ and 14 percent were unsure.
“The poll coincides with the rise of anti-establishment political figures on the left in the last year, with democratic socialist and progressive candidates seeing success in their Democratic primary challenges against more establishment figures.”
Translation: Democrats covet blind leftist antagonize-ers, not pompous bloviators and paper-shufflers! “Chucky” Schumer no longer meets their fancy!
One need not seek poll results to come to the same conclusion as the respondents offered to the pollsters. Democrats’ anti-Trump feeling has been evident since the outsider first-time politician entered the arena. their reaction to Trump was visceral from the outset and has only grown over time with events unfolding at a rapid-fire pace.
Cackling Kamala Harris appears to have learned her lesson as she’s stepped up her attacks on the president and his policies. But what would you expect from the 2024 loser? Kamala makes a good living by uttering outlandish things about the Republican president. Democrat voters just eat it up.
The soft establishment media thinks otherwise, or they wouldn’t work so earnestly to insist that “mainstream” Democrats are “moderate”. Does this make sense?
What is the definition of a “moderate” Democrat, anyway?
Democrat honks seem to be as confused as the rest of us. Last week, the morning after the Michigan primary, the left-leaning politics-only publication Politico featured images of the contenders running in several of Tuesday’s races, offering (probably AI-generated) depictions of the candidates with little “The Progressive” and “The Moderates” labelled boxes above their heads.
Now, we all know Politico has a definite pro-Democrat point-of-view, but it appears even establishment media liberals struggle with pinning an accurate descriptive brand on the party’s candidates in 2026. Don’t they all claim to be “progressives”? Don’t they hang the term around their necks like a badge of honor these days?
Ever since Democrats roundly rejected the “liberal” term in favor of the “Progressive” description some years ago, political liberals have objected to being called the former designation. But now that the Democratic Socialists of America have made major strides in claiming the entirety of the Democrat party, the bluebloods now prefer to be called “Moderates”.
Are you fooled? Nope.
You shouldn’t be. Democrats – and Democrat Socialists – aren’t “moderate” in any sense of the word. A “moderate” would find him/herself in the middle of many a political issue discussion, opting against strongly advocating for either side of the matter. A “moderate”, for example, could possibly concede that abortion is an abomination and seek to make the procedure limited to cases of incest, rape and life of the mother.
That type of middle ground is just not happening in today’s Democrat party. There simply aren’t “moderates” any longer in Democrat ranks, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman possibly being the lone exception, except the tall Keystone State pol isn’t really “moderate” in the political sense, either. Fetterman will occasionally oppose Democrat leadership on certain legislative procedural strategies, but that doesn’t make him “moderate”.
John’s just not insane. I can’t say for sure, but wouldn’t Fetterman label himself a “Progressive,” too?
So-called “traditional” Democrats are besieged this year because confused party backers can’t decipher the difference between the old, deal-making, do-anything-for-a-vote Bill Clinton-style spineless liberals (“Moderates”) and the true communist/socialist believers (Democratic Socialists). The main distinctions, at least as far as I can tell, lie in support for Israel and degree of willingness to go to bat for immigration and law enforcement personnel.
Should ICE exist? Should Israel be cut off from U.S. aid? Should prisons be abolished? Defund the police?
Isn’t this just a slightly different rendering of the same ideological strife that’s gone on for years if not decades? Weren’t Democrats demanding that law enforcement be curtailed during the Obama years (and beyond) whenever there was a police-involved shooting of a black individual at the hands of a non-black person/officer?
Trayvon Martin, anyone? Ferguson, Missouri? “Hands up, don’t shoot!” The 2020 George Floyd riots spurred on by Kamala Harris and senile Joe Biden from his basement?
The only difference is today’s Democratic socialists aren’t shy about adopting the “socialist” label. They and Democrats believe basically the same things. Being a “traditional” Democrat sure as heck doesn’t make one “moderate”, and no amount of spinning or appearances on “The View” is going to sway the impressions of most voters. If anything, the Democrat base is clamoring for authenticity from politicians.
It’s like they’re shouting, “Say what you believe and believe what you say!”
Pretending to be “moderate” is disingenuous. Even Democrat voters recognize it. They obviously don’t want politicians to “pretend” to be “moderate” and feign cooperation with the hated MAGA-promoting Donald Trump. They despise Trump the person, but they abhor MAGA voters even more so.
Democrats don’t favor politicians who are half-in when it comes to vigorously combatting Donald Trump. Frankly speaking, if a Democrat feigned to be “moderate” towards Trump the man and his agenda, said person would be voted out of office. Or fail in a primary. Same thing. If you’re a Democrat and you can’t bring yourself to summons a bellyful of angst against Republicans – and Trump especially – you’re an endangered species in Washington!
By the same token, I’m not sure what Democrat voters would like their politicians to do in order to “challenge” Trump more. It seems to me Democrats have already reached the extreme edge of behavioral limits to articulate how much they detest Trump, so, short of displaying physical opposition to the man, there doesn’t seem to be much left to try and display more defiance.
Last week’s news that yet another armed “individual” was caught casing the grounds of Trump’s golf club in Los Angeles… in addition to the most recent foiled assassination attempt a few months ago at the White House Correspondents’ dinner… Well, it just means Trump’s political opponents have employed their full allotment of demonstrable “challenge” avenues.
Democrats have shown an eager willingness to force government shutdowns, withhold their votes for essential government functions and regularly appear in the media to rip Trump and Republicans as much as they possibly can.
What will make a difference?
The Democratic Socialists have introduced a new form of Trump resistance – a call to distance the United States from Israel – but Democrats must walk a fine line between opposing Israel and appearing to be Anti-Semitic. Other than that, most Democrats – socialists included – yearn for socialized medicine, punishing “the rich” with confiscatory taxes, climate change environmental stupidity and making sure every “birthing human” has access to an abortion clinic.
They’re all radicals now, even if Democrats sometimes call each other by different titles.
Democrat voters don’t want their leaders to moderate in their dealings with President Donald J. Trump and Republicans in Congress. The tone of political debate isn’t likely to soften anytime soon, including when Trump finishes his second term in the White House. Democrat voters want zealous advocates for their issue preferences, not capitulation to normalcy – or basic common sense.
Jeff Rendall is editor and publisher of GolfintheUSA.com and has written about golf and politics for over a quarter of a century. A non-practicing attorney from California, he moved to the east coast three decades ago to pursue and combine his interests in all things American history and culture. Jeff has worked as an intern on Capitol Hill and in various capacities in grassroots organizing and conservative organizations and publications, including a nearly two-decade stint at ConservativeHQ.com. Column republishing or other inquiries: Rendall@msn.com .