Playbook: Democrats in despair

Politico

02-03-2025

Presented by the Coalition for Medicare Choices
With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
Happy Sunday. You have roughly eight hours to catch up on Oscars movies before the big awards show begins tonight at 7 p.m. Drop me a line: [e-mail].
DRIVING THE DAY
As President Donald Trump, VP JD Vance and their Republican allies were remaking the world order, Democrats were busy face-planting on social media.
On Friday, the DNC's X account posted a 32-point list of 'WHAT DEMOCRATS DID IN FEBRUARY,' seemingly mimicking Elon Musk's five-things email tactic. It included such relatively small-bore items as 'Democrat Ken Jenkins won a special election for Westchester County Executive, soundly defeating his Trump-backed opponent.'
By yesterday afternoon, the post had been so roundly mocked and ratioed that DNC chief marketing officer Shelby Cole felt compelled to respond that the 'template always used to bang for us,' before conceding 'the internet thinks we are morons this time.'
As focus turns this week to Trump's first joint address to Congress on Tuesday, and Democrats' response, the episode was an apt encapsulation of the larger moment unfolding in Washington.
If Trump's first term energized the party's progressives, there are early signs his second term is doing the same for Democratic moderates.
For starters, the party chose the battleground-state moderate Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan to deliver its response to Trump. Slotkin outperformed former VP Kamala Harris by more than a full percentage point in all but 28 of the state's 83 counties, according to a Detroit News analysis.
There are other indications the party's most immediate answers might come from its moderate wing.
In early February, a group of moderate Democratic consultants, campaign staffers, elected officials and party leaders gathered in Loudoun County, Virginia, for a day-and-a-half retreat where they plotted their party's comeback.
The gathering — organized by Third Way, the centrist Democratic think tank, and operated by Chatham House Rules — resulted in five pages of takeaways, a document Playbook obtained from one of the participants. (Not all attendees endorsed each point.)
'In the wake of this election, where it became so evident that the things that the left was doing and saying deeply hurt Harris and down-ballot Democrats, a lot of people are looking to us, not just Third Way, but the moderates in the party, and saying, 'We got to do it your way, because the other way ain't working,'' said Third Way's Matt Bennett, who helped organize the February retreat.
The document itself is perhaps the most comprehensive of its kind following the election — both in its analysis of what went wrong and how to fix it.
The retreat's conversation centered on a disconnect with the working class. Among the causes of that disconnect: weak messaging and communication, failure to prioritize economic concerns, overemphasis on identity politics, allowing the far left to define the party, and attachment to unpopular institutions such as academia, media and government bureaucracy.
Those gathered then laid out 20 solutions for how Democrats can regain working-class trust and reconnect with them culturally.
More than a few stuck out to Playbook:
Which brings us back to the DNC's weekend social media misadventure. The party, many of those gathered argued, needs to 'develop a stronger, more relatable Democratic media presence (podcasts, social media, sports broadcasting).'
What struck Playbook about the DNC's graphic was just how far afield it was from the comeback retreat's conclusions, particularly when it comes to the economy; very few items mentioned voters' bottom lines. Meanwhile, at least five items mentioned DOGE.
'The notion that that's what voters need to hear and see from Democrats? It was profoundly off,' said Bennett. While the 'DNC is not supposed to solve all our problems in a month,' he added, 'it would help not to perpetuate the idea that Democrats are out to lunch by putting out stuff that would strike most voters as fairly disconnected from our lives.'
Related read: 'Furious Democrats filled Republican town halls across America last week to protest President Donald Trump's power grab in Washington,' write AP's Steve Peoples, Lisa Mascaro and Stephen Groves. 'But in recent days, the activists behind those protests have turned their anger toward elected officials in their own party, who they believe are not fighting the Republican president and billionaire adviser Elon Musk with the urgency, aggression or creativity that the moment deserves.'
SUNDAY BEST …
— National security adviser Mike Waltz on the ultimate cease-fire deal, on 'State of the Union': 'This will clearly be some type of territorial concession for security guarantees going forward. … This needs to be a permanent end, not a temporary end. This needs to be European-led security guarantees going forward. Part of that is Europe's contribution to its own defense. … And then, you know, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves — what type of support we provide or not is to be negotiated. But one thing is clear: We do not see Ukraine being a member of NATO.'
— Speaker Mike Johnson on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on NBC's 'Meet the Press': 'Either he needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country to do that. I mean, it's up to the Ukrainians to figure that out, but I can tell you that we are re-exerting peace through strength. … We need these parties to go along with this, and we need President Zelenskyy to do what is necessary.'
— Johnson on whether he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin should step down too: 'I'd like to see Putin defeated, frankly. He is an adversary of the United States.'
— Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on the Oval Office shouting match, on CNN's 'State of the Union': 'The White House has become an arm of the Kremlin. Every single day, you hear from the national security adviser, from the president of the United States, from his entire national security team Kremlin talking points. The last week, the White House has been pretending as if Ukraine started this war. That's essentially saying that Poland invaded Germany at the beginning of World War II. There are still facts in this world. And the fact is this: Vladimir Putin is a brutal dictator. Russia started this war. And the entire pretext for that meeting … was an attempt to rewrite history in order to sign a deal with Putin that hands Putin Ukraine.'
— Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on voting for Marco Rubio as secretary of State, on 'Fox News Sunday': 'I regret that vote, because as a member of the Senate, Secretary Rubio was somebody who stood up for American values and American principles. He acknowledged that Russia was the aggressor against Ukraine. He realized that it wasn't Zelenskyy who was the dictator. And now he's simply taking his direction at the State Department from Elon Musk and essentially parroting the president's position.'
TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week's must-read opinion pieces.
9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR
1. UKRAINE FALLOUT: In the wake of Trump and VP JD Vance's Oval Office blowup at him, Zelenskyy found a warmer reception in London ahead of a European summit there, per Reuters. Plenty of European leaders have rallied around Zelenskyy this weekend, as has much of the Ukrainian populace, AP's Justin Spike reports from Kyiv. British PM Keir Starmer said he'd talked with French President Emmanuel Macron, Zelenskyy and Trump to try to get talks back on track. But Russian officials were excited to see a further U.S.-Ukraine breakdown: NYT's Anton Troianovski, Nataliya Vasilyeva and Paul Sonne write that what happened Friday could provide Putin 'the kind of ammunition he needs to prolong the fight.'
Domestically, some notable Republicans continued to break with Trump over his approach to Ukraine. 'I am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and U.S. values,' Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) posted on X.
How it went down: More reporting from NYT's Tyler Pager and Maggie Haberman suggests that what happened Friday was not a planned ambush, as some Trump critics have baselessly theorized, but a spontaneous expression of anger by Trump and Vance. Even earlier that day, White House officials thought they were on the path to a minerals deal with Zelenskyy and would have a largely positive meeting, WaPo's Michael Birnbaum, Natalie Allison, Matt Viser and Jacqueline Alemany report. For his part, Zelenskyy's past experiences with Trump 'have stiffened Zelensky's resolve against allowing himself to be treated like a pawn again,' sources close to him tell WSJ's Yaroslav Trofimov and Jane Lytvynenko.
2. HEADED FOR SCOTUS: Special counsel Hampton Dellinger should remain in his post despite Trump's attempt to fire the watchdog, federal judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled yesterday, per CNN. Otherwise, Trump would have 'a constitutional license to bully officials in the executive branch into doing his will,' she wrote. But this is likely on its way to a Supreme Court, which could have the opportunity to further remove checks on Trump's power within the executive branch.
More from the courts: A federal judge ruled that Trump's ban on federal funding for minors' gender transition-related medical care is unconstitutional, per The Seattle Times. … A new lawsuit challenges Trump's move to end humanitarian parole programs, per AP's Gisela Salomon. … Lawyers filed suit against Panama — with a corresponding case coming against the U.S. this week — over its treatment of migrants deported from the U.S. and detained there, NYT's Farnaz Fassihi and Julie Turkewitz scooped. … The ACLU backed a new lawsuit seeking to prevent 10 migrants from being sent to Guantánamo Bay, per Reuters.
The big picture: The number of federal lawsuits against Trump policies hit 100 yesterday, NYT's Mattathias Schwartz and Zach Montague report, with 21 rulings already blocking his moves at least temporarily. Now the big question is what happens if Trump doesn't comply.
3. THE LATEST EXECUTIVE ORDERS: Trump yesterday signed a new EO declaring English the official national language of the U.S., per CNN. He also ordered a national security probe of lumber imports from countries like Brazil, Canada, China and Germany — likely the first step toward imposing tariffs, per Bloomberg.
The step back: Trump's deluge of executive orders, intentionally designed by Stephen Miller to flood the zone at a pace far beyond any other recent president, are working. Despite all the lawsuits, a majority of his early moves have survived so far, WSJ's Josh Dawsey and Brent Kendall report. In fact, 'Miller and other Trump advisers were prepared for more lawsuits than have been filed, and have been surprised at the lack of litigation on some of the orders.'
4. THE PURGE: Mass firings continued across the federal government as the General Services Administration axed roughly 70 people in the 18F office, a tech unit that keeps online government services operational across agencies, POLITICO's Danny Nguyen reports. One-third of a NOAA office that acts like 'air traffic control' for satellites in space was canned, Reuters' Joey Roulette and Valerie Volcovici report.
The latest from DOGE: WaPo's Jacob Bogage and Jeff Stein report that the Department of Government Efficiency is again trying to access sensitive personal taxpayer data — to cross-check student loan and food stamps payments for fraud. IRS lawyers determined that doing so would break the law, but acting Commissioner Melanie Krause, who began this weekend, 'has indicated she is interested in complying.' And NPR's Stephen Fowler has a breakdown of more mistakes in DOGE's claimed savings.
Must read: 'The Trump Administration Said These Aid Programs Saved Lives. It Canceled Them Anyway,' by ProPublica's Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Brett Murphy: 'The move consigns untold numbers of the world's poorest children, refugees and other vulnerable people to death, according to several senior federal officials. Local authorities have already begun estimating a death toll in the hundreds of thousands. … Rubio and [Pete] Marocco appear to have taken their dramatic steps without the careful review they've described to the courts, according to internal documents and interviews with more than a dozen officials … which raises fresh questions about [their] legality.'
5. LOOK WHO'S BACK: Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo jumped into the NYC mayoral race, saying he'd lift the city out of 'crisis' and tackle crime, POLITICO's Nick Reisman reports. The moderate, who'll hit the campaign trail today, could be a formidable opponent to incumbent Eric Adams given his name recognition and polling strength. But he's trailed by plenty of scandal too, including a state report that concluded he'd sexually harassed 11 women. He denied the claims.
6. TRUMP GETS RESULTS: 'Trump Threats and Mexico's Crackdown Hit Mexican Cartel,' by NYT's Natalie Kitroeff and Paulina Villegas in Culiacán: 'A barrage of arrests, drug seizures and lab busts by the Mexican authorities in recent months has struck the behemoth Sinaloa Cartel, according to Mexican officials and interviews with six cartel operatives, forcing at least some of its leaders to scale back on fentanyl production in Sinaloa state … The government crackdown on organized crime intensified after the Trump administration threatened retribution unless Mexico halted the supply of fentanyl … [S]everal operatives said that for the first time in years, they genuinely feared arrest or death at the hands of the authorities.'
7. SURVEY SAYS: The latest CNN/SSRS poll finds Trump slightly underwater, with 48 percent of the country approving of his job performance and 52 percent disapproving. By a 6-point margin, Americans (especially young people) say his policies are moving the country in the wrong direction, and by a 12-point margin, they say he hasn't had the right priorities. The latest CBS poll has some better numbers for Trump, 51 percent approval vs. 49 percent disapproval. It finds that while Americans like his approach on immigration, they're roughly split on DOGE/Musk and they think Trump needs to focus more on inflation and the economy.
8. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: 'Israel Halts Gaza Aid After Hamas Balks at New US Truce Idea,' by Bloomberg's Dan Williams, Alisa Odenheimer and Fares Alghoul: 'Israel halted all humanitarian aid and other imports to the war-shattered Gaza Strip as a six-week truce with Hamas expired on Sunday and the Iranian-backed Palestinian faction balked at a US bridging proposal to extend the suspension of hostilities. … Under the 11th-hour proposal brought by White House envoy Steve Witkoff, Israel said it was willing to enter a new truce that would span the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish festival of Passover.'
9. CLIMATE FILES: ''Full on Fight Club': How Trump Is Crushing U.S. Climate Policy,' by NYT's David Gelles, Lisa Friedman and Brad Plumer: 'In a few short weeks, President Trump has severely damaged the government's ability to fight climate change, upending American environmental policy with moves that could have lasting implications for the country, and the planet. … [T]he Trump administration has reneged on federal grants, fired workers en masse and attacked longstanding environmental regulations. All new presidents have their own agendas, but the speed and scale of Mr. Trump's efforts to uproot climate policy is unprecedented.'
TALK OF THE TOWN
JD Vance was protested by hundreds of demonstrators on a ski weekend in Vermont.
Donald Trump, Vance and Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Oval Office showdown received the 'Saturday Night Live' treatment.
Ron and Casey DeSantis had breakfast with Trump in West Palm Beach, per WSJ's Meridith McGraw.
Mia Love is moving away from treatment for her glioblastoma as the cancer has stopped responding to treatment, her daughter announced.
Francis Collins, former director of the NIH, announced that he has retired from the agency.
Maye Musk, Elon's mother, is in demand these days.
SPOTTED: Jake Sullivan having charcuterie and a beer at McClellan's Retreat on Friday afternoon.
ERASURE: Miles Taylor was famously 'Anonymous' in the NYT. Now he's anonymous at his former position at the Department of Homeland Security, our Ben Jacobs writes in.
A plate commemorating Taylor's service as chief of staff at DHS has been removed from a plaque that shows each successive chief of staff for DHS and their term of service since its 2002 founding, according to a person who viewed it.
Taylor became an overnight celebrity when he revealed himself in 2020 as the author of an anonymous 2018 NYT op-ed entitled 'I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.' The editorial was hugely controversial at the time as a rare open attack on the Trump administration from an official within it. Taylor left the administration in 2019 and vocally backed Joe Biden in 2020 before revealing his identity as the anonymous author.
The removal of Taylor's plate isn't the first time the second Trump administration has discarded items commemorating the service of a critic. Two portraits of Mark Milley, the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have been removed from the Pentagon in recent weeks. A spokesperson for DHS did not provide a comment.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Ami Bera (D-Calif.) (6-0) … Ken Salazar (7-0) … Kevin Madden … Brookings' Robin Lewis … Liz Oberg … Laurie Van Hall of Bee Compliance … Erik Hotmire … POLITICO's Brakkton Booker, Caitlin Floyd, Collins Onodugo and Eli Zimmerman … Emily Miller … Javelin's Dylan Colligan … Yuri Beckelman … Ven Neralla … DaVita's Javier Martínez … BGR Group's Syd Terry (4-0) … Caitlin McFall … Ellie Warner … former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) … Joe Garofoli … Ashley Chang of the Rockefeller Foundation
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