Democrats Want to Fight Trump, but They Can't Stop Fighting Each Other
Many Democratic leaders and activists have grown frustrated with the state of their national party operation, worrying that a spate of internal divisions and unflattering feuds threatens to hinder their fight against President Donald Trump's Republican Party.
The Democratic National Committee, typically the domain of nuts and bolts political activity, has been rocked by clashes that reflect broader generational and ideological strains in the party. Now, some prominent Democrats are openly questioning the direction of the DNC under the leadership of Chair Ken Martin, with some suggesting it is stifling input from dissenting voices and refusing to change in a way that is risky for future elections. Others are blaming rival factions for adding to the party's challenges by intervening in primaries and embracing personal vendettas. And many are simply fed up with all the rancor.
The criticism is still flying.
The DNC has 'got to do a better of job of communicating with members and Democratic electeds and other members of our coalition,' Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Michigan) said Tuesday. She added that the problem is 'contributing to significant tension right now' and that Martin 'needs to be pulling people together.'
'There's more division than unity,' said Dingell, who helps lead House Democrats' messaging.
While the task of rebuilding for 2026 and 2028 will fall to manyentities and leaders beyond the DNC, which tends to have a narrower mission, the committee's challenges highlight a party struggling to find its way after a crushing political defeat shut them out of power in Washington. Widespread anger with Trump's agenda has presented Democrats with an opportunity to regain lost ground, but they disagree on the best ways to accomplish that.
Two influential labor leaders recently left the DNC and their departures became public this week. One of them, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, cited disagreements with Martin and suggested the party was 'not enlarging our tent.'
That followed a months-long showdown between Martin and Gen Z gun control activist David Hogg over Hogg's decision to involve his political group in some Democratic primaries, including against some 'out-of-touch, ineffective' House incumbents. Martin and other Democratic officials said Hogg should stay neutral as a party officer.
Facing the prospect of being ousted, Hogg opted to step down from the DNC last week, as Dingell and Weingarten praised him. 'It's clear this culture of staying in power until you die or simply fail to do a good job,' he said on the way out, 'has become an existential threat to the future of this party.'
In an interview with The Washington Post this week, Martin said others 'want to create internal party drama,' but that he is focused on pushing ahead with his plan to remake the committee.
'I know there is news of that these last few days. I just have to stay focused on my guiding principles and what we are trying to scale up so we can win again,' he said.
A DNC spokesperson said the party's committees still include many members with union backgrounds and defended the party's communication with other groups, saying the organization has daily meetings with House and Senate leadership and campaign committees and talks frequently with the messaging committee Dingell leads. Dingell said that communication is between staff.
Many Democratic leaders defended Martin and directed their anger at his critics. 'Some people want to argue,' said Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), who praised the DNC's work with her as one of the committee's associate chairs. 'Chair Martin wants to win elections and that's what separates him from the creatures of DC.'
But some Democrats have not been pleased with what they see.
'You really have to work hard to step in the pile of s— that they're stepping in,' said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin), a supporter of Hogg, speaking of how the situation had become a distraction from Democrats' agenda. 'Like you literally would have to go directly towards a path to step in it, in order to make this be the news coming out of the DNC.'
Howard Chou, a DNC member from Colorado, complained that recent public squabbling distracted Democrats from their larger mission of calling out Trump and the Republican agenda. 'We dropped the baton, we tripped and we fell,' he said. While he did not blame Martin, Chou said it is incumbent on the new chairman to fix things: 'You're the head coach, you're going to have to take some of it.'
The concerns Hogg and Weingarten expressed have captured the attention of other Democrats, who worry the DNC is alienating some elements of the party's base.
'Randi Weingarten, Lee Saunders, and David Hogg are critical voices in our party. They want a worker centered agenda with trade schools and support for collective bargaining,' said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California). 'They have called for a new generation of leaders. We need to be a big tent party that includes them.'
For other Democrats, the timing of the latest party drama was especially infuriating. They were eager to seize momentum coming out of a weekend of nationwide anti-Trump protests – and focused on grieving a tragedy in Martin's home state of Minnesota. As news of the labor union departures broke this weekend, Martin – the former chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party – was mourning the killing of his close friend Melissa Hortman, a Minnesota lawmaker, and her husband, Mark Hortman. Authorities said the attack was politically motivated.
Martin said the weekend 'just reinstills my singular focus … which is to actually help us win elections again and not to be deterred by anything else.'
Other party officials are eager to move on. Plenty of DNC members cheered Hogg's exit last week, and Martin's allies pointed to a lopsided vote to redo the vice chair elections – on procedural grounds – as a sign that many members were not happy with the young activist. Martin's complaints about Hogg on a private Zoom conversation became public this month, prompting some DNC members to accuse Hogg, without evidence, of leaking it. Hogg denied it.
'Every minute we're not talking about Donald Trump overstepping his authority, and we're having to talk about David Hogg and the DNC, we're losing,' said Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha. 'This is just fodder to show people that the poor Democratic Party can't even govern itself.'
Some DNC members complained about Weingarten and accused her – along with labor leader Lee Saunders – of adding to the drama. Weingarten and Saunders supported a rival candidate for DNC chair this year, and Martin recently removed them from the DNC's powerful Rules and Bylaws Committee. Weingarten and Saunders declined Martin's offers to continue as at-large members of the DNC.
Weingarten told others during the chair race that she would step down if Martin was elected, according to multiple Democrats involved in the chair race, and earlier resigned from the board of another political group, Latino Victory Fund, over its endorsement of Martin, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Saunders did not respond to a request for comment. Weingarten said in statement that she wants 'the Democratic Party to work for working families.'
'That's what FDR did, that's what Joe Biden did, and that's what we should expect from the party, not anonymous commentary,' she said.
One DNC member, who, like others in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to more openly discuss the situation, fretted about the Republican National Committee's cash advantage and said the national party was not visible enough in the fight against Trump. A DNC spokesperson said Martin had raised more in his first three months than any chair in party history.
'Do all of us as Democrats, including the DNC, need to do more? Yes. No one understands that more than the Chair and his team,' said Sam Cornale, a former committee CEO. 'But rebuilds take time, he added, and 'we should be marching in lockstep, and marching forward.'
The DNC has a long history of infighting after the party loses a presidential election. In the aftermath of the 2016 election, the DNC spent months addressing accusations that it had favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders in the primary.
'Even on your own side, people play politics. And it's frustrating,' said Jaime Harrison, the DNC chair who preceded Martin and voiced confidence in his leadership. 'There are moments where you just want to break down and say, 'God, it is just not worth it,' and then you step back and see it really is worth it.'
Leaders across the party acknowledge that they have a brand problem and deep vulnerabilities to address. However, some are growing tired of intraparty criticism.
'I think the party does have a message. Three freakin' words … Make life better. Go repeat it,' said Malcolm Kenyatta, a Pennsylvania Democrat who was elected vice chair of the DNC this year. 'Let's talk about what we are, instead of constantly talking about what we're not.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yomiuri Shimbun
17 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Supreme Court Limits Nationwide Injunctions, but Fate of Trump Birthright Citizenship Order Unclear
WASHINGTON (AP) — A united conservative majority of the Supreme Court ruled Friday that federal judges lack the authority to grant nationwide injunctions, but the decision left unclear whether President Donald Trump's restrictions on birthright citizenship could soon take effect in parts of the country. The outcome represented a victory for Trump, who has complained about judges throwing up obstacles to his agenda. Nationwide, or universal, injunctions had emerged as an important check on the Republican president's efforts to expand executive power and remake the government and a source of mounting frustration to him and his allies. But the court left open the possibility that the birthright citizenship changes could remain blocked nationwide. Trump's order would deny citizenship to U.S.-born children of people who are in the country illegally or temporarily. The cases now return to lower courts, where judges will have to decide how to tailor their orders to comply with the high court ruling, which was written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Enforcement of the policy can't take place for another 30 days, Barrett wrote. Even then it's unclear whether the court's decision could produce a confusing patchwork of rules that might differ in the 22 states that sued over the Trump order and the rest of the country. The justices agreed with the Trump administration, as well as President Joe Biden's Democratic administration before it, that judges are overreaching by issuing orders that apply to everyone instead of just the parties before the court. Judges have issued more than 40 such orders since Trump took office for a second term in January. The administration has filed emergency appeals with the justices of many of those orders, including the ones on birthright citizenship. The court rarely hears arguments and issues major decisions on its emergency, or shadow, docket, but it did so in this case. Federal courts, Barrett wrote, 'do not exercise general oversight of the Executive Branch; they resolve cases and controversies consistent with the authority Congress has given them. When a court concludes that the Executive Branch has acted unlawfully, the answer is not for the court to exceed its power, too.' The president, speaking in the White House briefing room, said that the decision was 'amazing' and a 'monumental victory for the Constitution,' the separation of powers and the rule of law. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York wrote on X that the decision is 'an unprecedented and terrifying step toward authoritarianism, a grave danger to our democracy, and a predictable move from this extremist MAGA court.' Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing in dissent for the three liberal justices, called the decision 'nothing less than an open invitation for the government to bypass the Constitution.' This is so, Sotomayor said, because the administration may be able to enforce a policy even when it has been challenged and found to be unconstitutional by a lower court. The administration didn't even ask, as it has in other cases, for the lower-court rulings to be blocked completely, Sotomayor wrote. 'To get such relief, the government would have to show that the order is likely constitutional, an impossible task,' she wrote. But the ultimate fate of the changes Trump wants to make were not before the court, Barrett wrote, just the rules that would apply as the court cases continue. Rights groups that sued over the policy filed new court documents following the high court ruling, taking up a suggestion from Justice Brett Kavanaugh that judges still may be able to reach anyone potentially affected by the birthright citizenship order by declaring them part of 'putative nationwide class.' Kavanaugh was part of the court majority on Friday but wrote a separate concurring opinion. States that also challenged the policy in court said they would try to show that the only way to effectively protect their interests was through a nationwide hold. 'We have every expectation we absolutely will be successful in keeping the 14th Amendment as the law of the land and of course birthright citizenship as well,' said Attorney General Andrea Campbell of Massachusetts. Birthright citizenship automatically makes anyone born in the United States an American citizen, including children born to mothers in the country illegally. The right was enshrined soon after the Civil War in the Constitution's 14th Amendment. In a notable Supreme Court decision from 1898, United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the court held that the only children who did not automatically receive U.S. citizenship upon being born on U.S. soil were the children of diplomats, who have allegiance to another government; enemies present in the U.S. during hostile occupation; those born on foreign ships; and those born to members of sovereign Native American tribes. The U.S. is among about 30 countries where birthright citizenship — the principle of jus soli or 'right of the soil' — is applied. Most are in the Americas, and Canada and Mexico are among them. Trump and his supporters have argued that there should be tougher standards for becoming an American citizen, which he called 'a priceless and profound gift' in the executive order he signed on his first day in office. The Trump administration has asserted that children of noncitizens are not 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States, a phrase used in the amendment, and therefore are not entitled to citizenship. But states, immigrants and rights groups that have sued to block the executive order have accused the administration of trying to unsettle the broader understanding of birthright citizenship that has been accepted since the amendment's adoption. Judges have uniformly ruled against the administration. The Justice Department had argued that individual judges lack the power to give nationwide effect to their rulings. The Trump administration instead wanted the justices to allow Trump's plan to go into effect for everyone except the handful of people and groups that sued. Failing that, the administration argued that the plan could remain blocked for now in the 22 states that sued. New Hampshire is covered by a separate order that is not at issue in this case. The justices also agreed that the administration may make public announcements about how it plans to carry out the policy if it eventually is allowed to take effect.
Yomiuri Shimbun
17 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
University of Virginia President, Pressured over DEI, Resigns Rather Than ‘Fight Federal Government'
WASHINGTON (AP) — The president of the University of Virginia, facing heavy pressure from conservative critics and the Trump administration over the school's diversity, equity and inclusion practices, announced Friday that he was resigning rather than 'fight the federal government.' The departure of James Ryan, who had led the school since 2018, represents a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration's effort to reshape higher education. Doing it at a public university marks a new frontier in a campaign that has almost exclusively targeted Ivy League schools. It also widens the rationale behind the government's aggressive tactics, focusing on DEI rather than alleged tolerance of antisemitism. Ryan had faced conservative criticism that he failed to heed federal orders to eliminate DEI policies, and his removal was pushed for by the Justice Department as it investigated the school, according to a person who was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press. Ryan referenced the Trump administration pressure in a statement to the university community Friday in which he said he had submitted his resignation with a 'very heavy heart.' 'To make a long story short, I am inclined to fight for what I believe in, and I believe deeply in this University,' he said. 'But I cannot make a unilateral decision to fight the federal government in order to save my job.' Ryan had already decided that next year would be his last, he said, and remaining in his position until then would be 'knowingly and willingly sacrificing this community.' The New York Times first reported on the resignation and the Justice Department's insistence on it. In a CNN appearance Friday, the Justice Department's assistant attorney general for civil rights denied that Ryan's removal was an explicit demand but said the agency 'significantly lacked confidence' in his leadership. 'I don't have any confidence that he was going to be willing and able to preside over the dismantling of DEI,' Harmeet Dhillon said. Ryan's removal is another example of the Trump administration using 'thuggery instead of rational discourse,' said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, which represents university presidents. 'This is a dark day for the University of Virginia, a dark day for higher education, and it promises more of the same,' Mitchell said. 'It's clear the administration is not done and will use every tool that it can make or invent to exert its will over higher education.' Virginia's Democratic senators react In a joint statement, Virginia's Democratic senators said it was outrageous that the Trump administration would demand Ryan's resignation over ''culture war' traps.' 'This is a mistake that hurts Virginia's future,' Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine said. After campaigning on a promise to end 'wokeness' in education, Trump signed a January action ordering the elimination of DEI programs nationwide. The Education Department has opened investigations into dozens of colleges, arguing that diversity initiatives discriminate against white and Asian American students. The response from schools has been scattered. Some have closed DEI offices, ended diversity scholarships and no longer require diversity statements as part of the hiring process. Some others have rebranded DEI work under other names, while some have held firm on diversity policies. The University of Virginia became a flashpoint after conservative critics accused it of simply renaming its DEI initiatives. The school's governing body voted to shutter the DEI office in March and end diversity policies in admissions, hiring, financial aid and other areas. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin celebrated the action, declaring that 'DEI is done at the University of Virginia.' Among those drawing attention to the Charlottesville campus was America First Legal, a conservative group founded by Trump aide Stephen Miller. In a May letter to the Justice Department, the group said the university failed to dismantle DEI programs and chose to 'rename, repackage, and redeploy the same unlawful infrastructure under a lexicon of euphemisms.' The group directly took aim at Ryan, noting that he joined hundreds of other college presidents in signing a public statement condemning the 'overreach and political interference' of the Trump administration. On Friday, the group said it will continue to use every available tool to root out what it has called discriminatory systems. 'This week's developments make clear: public universities that accept federal funds do not have a license to violate the Constitution,' Megan Redshaw, an attorney at the group, said in a statement. 'They do not get to impose ideological loyalty tests, enforce race and sex-based preferences, or defy lawful executive authority.' Ryan has been leading the school since 2018 Ryan was hired to lead the University of Virginia in 2018 and previously served as the dean of Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. Earlier in his career he spent more than a decade as a law professor at the University of Virginia. A biography on Harvard's website credits Ryan with increasing the 'size, strength and diversity' of the faculty, adding that building a diverse community was a priority. Robert D. Hardie, leader of the University of Virginia's governing board, said he accepted Ryan's resignation with 'profound sadness,' adding that the university 'has forever been changed for the better as a result of Jim's exceptional leadership.' Until now, the White House had directed most of its attention at Harvard University and other elite institutions that Trump sees as bastions of liberalism. Harvard has lost more than $2.6 billion in federal research grants amid its battle with the government, which has also attempted to block the school from hosting foreign students and threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status. Harvard and its $53 billion endowment are uniquely positioned to weather the government's financial pressure. Public universities, however, are far more dependent on taxpayer money and could be more vulnerable. The University of Virginia's $10 billion endowment is among the largest for public universities, while the vast majority have far less.
Yomiuri Shimbun
18 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Accused of Acting as a Chinese Agent, NY Governors' Ex-Aide Now Faces Pandemic Fraud Charge, Too
NEW YORK (AP) — Already charged with acting as an illicit agent of the Chinese government, a former aide to two New York governors is being accused of illegally profiteering off the state's pandemic-era scramble for face masks. Linda Sun — who worked for Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul, both Democrats — and husband Chris Hu were indicted Wednesday on bribery and other charges in the alleged mask graft. 'When masks, gloves and other protective supplies were hard to find, Sun abused her position of trust to steer contracts to her associates so that she and her husband could share in the profits,' Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said in a statement Thursday. The couple is due to answer those charges in court Monday, and Sun's lawyer said she will vigorously contest the allegations. 'The newest allegations continue the government's trend of making and publicizing feverish accusations unmoored from the facts and evidence that we expect will actually come out at trial,' attorney Jarrod Schaeffer said. Hu's attorneys, Nicole Boeckmann and Seth DuCharme, said they remained confident in him and that prosecutors were 'scrambling to try to come up with some new charging theory' as the trial approached. The couple already pleaded not guilty to the earlier charges of subtly using Sun's state jobs to advance Chinese government perspectives and priorities in exchange for lucrative financial benefits. A trial is set for November. With the new charges, the case now weaves together two significant threads that federal prosecutors have been pulling in recent years: pandemic fraud and rooting out alleged covert agents for China and other countries. The new indictment accuses Sun and Hu of reaping millions in kickbacks by exploiting her role on a Cuomo administration team that procured much-needed personal protective equipment in the spring of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold. At the time, New York was a hotspot for the virus and, like other U.S. states and other nations, was scouring the globe for masks and other supplies. A naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, Sun used her homeland ties to help New York wrangle PPE from the country where much of it was made even as exports had dwindled because of China's own battle with the virus. Sun connected the state with vendors the Chinese government recommended. But, according to the indictment, she also forged documents to falsely claim that Chinese contacts had suggested two additional companies. One was run by a second cousin of Sun's, and the other by a business associate of her husband's, the indictment said. Sun didn't disclose those relationships to New York's government, which signed contracts with both companies in March 2020 and went on to pay them over $44 million in all, according to the indictment. The cousin funneled about $2.3 million back to Hu, the indictment said. It doesn't specify whether Hu's associate allegedly paid anything. Hu worked in state government for about 15 years, starting in Cuomo's administration and eventually working for his successor, incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul. Hochul's administration has said it fired Sun in 2023 after 'discovering evidence of misconduct.' Cuomo got national attention in 2020 for his daily pandemic briefings. He has since faced — and vociferously contested — criticism and congressional and federal Justice Department inquiries about his administration's handling of the virus in nursing homes. After resigning amid sexual harassment allegations in 2021, he conceded a Democratic primary race for New York City mayor this week. A message seeking comment on the new charges against Sun was sent to Cuomo's spokesperson. He has previously said Cuomo very rarely interacted with her. Sun also is accused of quietly doing the Chinese government's bidding by, for example, banishing any mention of Chinese human rights issues from a Hochul video celebrating the Lunar New Year. In return for Sun's efforts on China's behalf, prosecutors allege, Hu got assistance with business ventures in China. Prosecutors say the financial boost helped the couple buy multimillion-dollar properties and luxury cars.
