WASHINGTON – President Trump and Republican lawmakers have overcome tough odds to basically steamroll through his second-term agenda. That has left Democrats with a party in an identity crisis filled with questions about how they can recover.
Ever since Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election to Donald Trump, Democrats have been soul-searching. As they try to diagnose the myriad of factors leading to their defeat, being out of touch on cultural issues stands out far above the rest.
CNN commentator Van Jones said, “Calling everybody sexist and racist and transphobic and every other name and then say, ‘Please follow us?’ That’s not a good strategy, folks.”
Rahm Emanuel, another Democrat who works as a CNN Commentator, said, “The reason why Democrats are where they are is we started talking about basically transgender issues, Latin X, defunding the police, a whole host of cultural topics.”
Chuck Todd, the former host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” who now hosts “The Chuck Toddcast,” tells CBN News this disconnect is a potential pothole on the political roadmap. “If there’s another national election that’s more cultural based, the Democrats are in deep trouble,” Todd said.
There’s no doubt that the progressive wing is taking greater control of the Democrat Party. Almost a decade ago in 2016, 48 percent of Democrats considered themselves either liberal or very liberal. Today, that number has jumped seven points.
“The energy is clearly in the younger progressive base of the party, and yet their problem is with swing voters who are slightly older,” Todd said.
And that’s where the Trump train comes in. He has picked up many of those blue-collar Democrats, leaving the party in the political wilderness.
Texas State Rep. James Talarico (D) said, “We have to do something different, something dramatically different.”
Talarico, who wears his faith on his sleeve, is finishing up his seminary degree. He sees this rough patch as an opportunity.
“God works out in the wilderness. And I think that can be true in politics, too. I think the Democratic Party should embrace this time in the political wilderness because this is where we can discover who we are,” he said.
Right now, voters are still wandering, and part of the problem is that Democrats still haven’t found a Moses to lead them through the midterms and 2028 presidential race.
“Normally, when Democrats are in the wilderness, they look for brand new,” Todd said. “In 1973, nobody was talking about Jimmy Carter. In 1989, Bill Clinton was not on the radar screen. And in 2005, Barack Obama was thought of as, oh, there’ll be somebody interesting in the next decade. Maybe he’ll run for governor of Illinois.”
“If you’re naming the person now, they’re probably already too stale for where they’re going. I think that you will see, think ‘new and not from Washington’ is gonna be the two most important characteristics for the Democratic primary in 2028,” he said.
But first things first: right now, Democrats are struggling within their own ranks. Just 23% expressed positive sentiments about their party; 35% called it weak or ineffective; and 73% felt that congressional Democrats have not done enough to oppose Trump.
Democrat researcher Jonathan Voss said, “In focus groups, when we talk to voters and we ask them, what’s the animal that you think of when you think of the Democratic Party, people will say things like, ‘I think of a turtle,’ right? They move slowly and then they kind of hunker down within their shell when the going gets tough.
“And right now, I think what Democratic rank and file want to see is they don’t want to see the turtle,” he said.
Over the last few months, Democrats have tried to shed that image. Case in point, Cory Booker’s Senate filibuster against the president’s policies, where he declared, “It’s time for Democrats to have a backbone. It’s time for us to fight. It’s time for us to draw lines.” Then there was House Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries’ marathon speech against the president’s Big Beautiful Bill.
Voss said, “We need to make the case that we can do a better job helping people in terms of their mobility and their wellbeing without being saddled as the party of the status quo.”
Indeed, the Democrats must change their stripes. Up until now, the question has been will it be toward the middle or left?
The recent trend in local primaries is far left as mayoral candidates in New York, Seattle, and Minnesota have defeated the more traditional liberal Democrat. Ultimately, however, the Democrats’ march toward a better political future may just simply ride on how Americans, especially those once blue-collar Democrats and swing voters, feel about Trump’s economy.
“Either they like this economy and he can create a durable, long-term realignment, or if they continue not to like the economy like the previous turn, then those voters may reluctantly come back,” Todd said. “I think we’re still in a period where that group of voters is still vacillating.”
Talarico said, “We’re the party of the New Deal. We’re the party of the Great Society, another Texas Democratic president. You know, that is our heritage, is fighting for working people, fighting for the people who are left out and left behind, not coastal elites and not billionaire donors.”
Voss said, “If the Democratic Party can establish itself as a party of change, as a party that can make life better for people, I think it has a better opportunity in 2026 and 2028.”
Until then, it’s safe to say the Democrat Party is a work in progress.
