ROOKE: Democrats Seem To Be Setting Themselves Up For More Chaos And Division

President Donald Trump and Republicans could have a short-lived victory in passing their One Big Beautiful Bill. In just ten weeks, Republicans will face another funding battle to avoid a government shutdown. But, fortunately for them, Democrats are still undecided on how to respond.

There are open discussions about Democrats’ limited options when fighting against Republicans, Politico reported Monday. Rather than come up with a plan to find leverage to get what they want, Democrats, such as Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, blame Republicans for following Trump’s lead and complain that Republicans are unwilling to include Democrats in the budget decision-making process.

“They’re just throwing stuff against the wall because they’re losing this fight,” Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy told Politico.

Democrats don’t seem to understand why they were defeated in November or how to gain back voter confidence in the new Trump era. While Democrats are “furious with the Trump administration and their Republican counterparts for undercutting government funding negotiations,” there is no “unified strategy” in place for the next major funding bill, set to be voted on before the government shutdown Oct. 1, according to Politico.

This week, we heard Democrats shout:

– Shut down the city
– We are at war
– Fight in the streets

Their party is completely broken. They have no vision and no leader.

All they have is relentless opposition to President Trump. pic.twitter.com/i3CVVxs4Y8

— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) February 6, 2025

“To be blunt, I don’t think there’s one tactic or approach that is going to solve this from any individual Democrat,” Schatz told the outlet. “The Republicans have to decide whether they want to be totally lobotomized or not.”

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer attempted to work with Republicans on Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, but received significant pushback from his fellow party members.

“‘He’s done a great deal of damage to the party,’ said Ezra Levin, co-founder of the liberal group Indivisible, which has scheduled an emergency call with its New York chapter and other local leaders to “seriously consider if the current [Democratic] leadership is equipped to handle the moment we’re in,’” Politico reported.

This puts any Democrat looking to side with Republicans in a terrible position. If they cross the aisle, they risk the Schumer treatment, but if they don’t, they get blamed for shutting down the federal government and all that entails.

Of course, Republicans have a few stragglers who seem to sympathize with the Democratic Party’s position against slashing funding for abortion and DEI hiring practices for the federal government. (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)

Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski were the lone two votes against Trump’s $9 billion rescissions package, which ended funding for some of the establishment’s favorite projects, including foreign aid, PBS, and NPR. As Appropriations Committee chair, Collins told her fellow members that countering Trump and his White House budget chief, Russ Vought, is “to continue to work in a bipartisan way.”

One faction of the Democratic Party aims to persuade more Republicans to join their side during these budget negotiations. The other seems to think the only way to stop the “Trump train” is to derail it using their favorite weapon: lawfare.

Van Jones: “We’re screwed. Democrats don’t know what to do. This is a nightmare. The Democratic party is going through a massive set of internal crises”

pic.twitter.com/Q4HMZbVc7p

— America (@america) March 10, 2025

Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the House’s top-ranking Democrat appropriator, appears to strike a balance between both sides. She told reporters that Democrats need “to make sure that there are several others on the other side of the aisle who have the stomach and the strength and the spine to stand up” to Trump and Republicans. Still, she added that her party needs to boost the number of lawsuits against the Trump administration. (ROOKE: Democrats In One State Seem To Find Sneaky Way To Hurt Trump’s Economic Comeback)

Democrats have one major card in their pocket to play before it is all over. With their slim majority in both chambers of Congress, Republicans need Democratic votes to pass their budget bill and avoid a government shutdown. However, despite that obvious strategy, Democrats have been reluctant to use it against Republicans.

The democrats are in complete chaos. They don’t know whether to shut the government down or keep it open. They are fighting among themselves. It’s all about how it’s going to make them look they couldn’t care less about the American people. It’s all about politics and power,…

— Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) March 14, 2025

I guess they realize that some money is better than no money.

Democrats are increasingly becoming a neutered party with no real message to win, except that “Trump is bad.” But outside of its hardcore base, the rest of American voters are looking for someone who will answer questions on how to fix the issues that directly affect them, like the economy and illegal immigration.

Democrats are so far unable to determine the path to victory in the new Trump era, let alone take any action to help Americans, leaving them in a difficult position as they enter what will be a challenging midterm battle against a more unified Republican opponent.

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