New Dems ready to move party and country beyond Trump chaos
Good people across the country are angry at Washington – and for good reason.
From North Carolina and Nebraska to Washington and Georgia, people of all political backgrounds are demanding an explanation for the chaos created and the damage caused in just the first two months of the second Donald Trump presidency. They are decrying Elon Musk's dismantling of government programs and agencies, and fearful about the Administration's efforts to undermine our Constitution.
And they are outraged at the amateurish incompetence of many of Trump's closet advisors, as exemplified in the clumsy, dangerous sharing of war plans on an unsecured Signal chat chain that was not only an embarrassment for our intelligence and defense apparatus, but also a serious threat to our security.
At home, families are struggling with rising prices directly caused by Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs, many levied against our closest allies. The whiplash of the president's daily deluge of chaos has killed job growth, with layoffs increasing 245% in February alone – levels not seen since the Great Recession.
The country is facing dual measles and bird flu outbreaks that threaten the lives of children and livelihoods of farmers as vaccine-denying crockpot Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismantles public health.
Meanwhile, thousands of veterans have lost their jobs as Musk arbitrarily hacks away at the federal workforce – nearly one-third of whom are veterans.
Furthermore, Musk's plan to lay off 80,000 Department of Veterans Affairs employees would disrupt critical services like the Veterans Crisis Line, compensation for disabilities, and cancer treatments for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits.
As the costs of Trump's chaos economy become increasingly clear, Americans are looking to congressional Democrats to fight for them. They want us to defend the balance and powers established in our Constitution, to uphold the rule of law, and, importantly, to offer an alternative vision for a better path forward.
That is exactly what the New Democrat Coalition – a group of 115 pragmatic, center-left House Democrats dedicated to finding commonsense solutions – is offering. As a growing majority in the House Democratic Caucus, New Dems are prepared to lead from the center with strong voices and bold policy ideas. We are championing a unity agenda for our party and the country that can rally Americans across the political spectrum.
What does this mean in practice? Our vision for the path forward is grounded on three pillars: economic growth and lowering costs, healthy and safe communities, and strong national security and defense.
First, New Dems are working to create an abundance of new, well-paying jobs, to raise the nation's standard of living, and to help Americans achieve financial freedom – not just to make ends meet, but to get ahead. Working families should be able to comfortably afford a nice home. Students should be able to get an education without taking on mountains of debt. And everyone should be able to plan for a secure and dignified retirement.
Second, we are committed to ensuring people feel safe and secure in their homes and on their way to work, school and play. New Dems are working to protect communities from crime and violence while ensuring every American has access to clean air and water, affordable housing, education and more.
Finally, we are determined to finally fix our broken immigration system and secure our borders. We are working to modernize our defense, diplomatic and development capabilities to advance American interests at home and abroad. And we are actively responding to a rapidly changing climate by improving the resiliency of critical infrastructure and investing in the clean energies of the future.
The 2024 election was about lowering costs and helping people get ahead, securing our border and protecting our communities, and strengthening our national defense and Americans' security. People want a government that listens to them, understands their needs and priorities, clears barriers, and opens pathways to opportunity. That's the vision of the New Dems.
Our nation is at a critical crossroads, and New Dems are steeled for a long fight. We will not shy away from confronting the president and congressional Republicans to defend our values and protect our democracy. Nor will we hesitate to work together for the good of the nation.
As Sun Tzu famously said in The Art of War, "In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity." He also said, "It is the unemotional, reserved, calm, detached warrior who wins, not the hothead seeking vengeance and not the ambitious seeker of fortune."
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The Hill
34 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump and Musk fell out because Trump just doesn't get principled people
There are limitations to President Trump's transactional view of the world. This is evident in his growing tension with Elon Musk, which risks creating political problems that threaten his agenda. Trump usually gets his way through a mix of flattery, favors and intimidation, but Musk is less inclined than most to respond to these techniques. Musk holds a lot of cards. His Tesla factories employ tens of thousands of American workers. His SpaceX rockets underpin our national aspirations in space. He is also the wealthiest person on the planet, and his wealth facilitates a natural tendency to speak out when his principles are challenged. That was illustrated in late 2023 when he invited advertisers to stay off his social media platform. It is possible to disagree with everything Musk does and still concede that the man is principled. This is why our less principled President is struggling to understand Musk's hostility to the tax and spending bill, the oddly named One Big Beautiful Bill Act, so named after an utterance by Trump. Musk carried out his work at the Department of Government Efficiency without humanity and with childish antics. But if his methods were wrong, his beliefs were real. His opposition to a spending bill that negates his work by increasing federal debt by more than $2 trillion is rooted in deeply held principles. His life would be easier and his businesses more secure if he had stayed quiet and joined other Republicans in supporting a bill they know leads our nation one step closer to fiscal ruin. Musk is different. He was willing to alienate himself from liberal consumers by taking up his position at DOGE and supporting Trump, but equally willing to alienate himself from MAGA consumers by opposing the Trump tax bill on principle. This type of principled stand is difficult for someone like Trump to understand, and I believe he is being honest when he says he can't understand Musk's opposition to the bill. In Trump's eyes, he offered Musk a favorable transaction: Publicly support my policies, and I will maintain your access and influence. Musk refused the deal because staying quiet meant violating his principles. This is foreign to Trump, who values public appearance and profit over principles. Musk isn't the only person President Trump is struggling to understand. Chinese president Xi Jinping is equally principled and believes what he says about the 21st century belonging to China. Xi is committed to erasing the last vestiges of China's subordination to the West. He is telling the truth when he discusses the belief that China should play a central role in the world and dominate Asia. The Chinese president is committed to taking control of Taiwan because its de facto independence represents a contemporary manifestation of an earlier and weaker time in Chinese history. American power can deter Xi from invading, but there is no deal imaginable that will cause him to change his mind about the inevitability of seizing Taiwan. Xi holds the principle too deeply to let it go, and here again Trump struggles to understand. Xi cannot capitulate to American demands on either trade or Taiwan without resurrecting in his own mind the idea of a weak and subordinate China. This is one important reason among several why he hasn't acquiesced to American demands on trade and seems to be preparing for a prolonged standoff — something that probably wasn't part of Trump's initial plan. Xi's principles make it difficult for our transactional president to understand the man and predict his actions. Russian President Vladimir Putin is another example of someone Trump fundamentally fails to understand. Putin acts immorally but is still more principled than he is transactional. Trump's offer to reintegrate Russia into the world economy and deepen American economic ties with Russian companies might have worked to end the war in Ukraine if Putin were as transactional as Trump. Our president offered Putin an objectively good deal — an escape from relative isolation and a chance to increase Russia's national wealth and the personal wealth of its president and closest collaborators. But Putin is being honest when he says Ukraine should be part of Russia. He has so far been unwilling to accept Trump's generous offers because they don't comport with his principled belief. Like Xi, Putin refuses to accept even the appearance of Russian subordination to the West. His principled stand means Trump's transactional offers are unlikely to succeed. American interests are better served by forcing Putin's hand — by weaking Russia's economy and hurting it militarily by supporting Ukraine's resistance. Trump cannot easily see this because he doesn't understand how the Russian president sees the world. Putin is not primarily transactional — he pursues his principles until sufficient counterforce is applied. This is a different way of engaging with the world than Trump's dealmaking. It requires an American approach to Russia that Trump has so far failed to understand and embrace. Trump believes everyone has a price and will eventually make a deal. He has been successful because he has often been proven right in this. Consider, for example, the Republicans in Congress who sacrificed their principles to safeguard their reelections by supporting a fiscally irresponsible bill. Their actions once again affirmed Trump's instinct that everyone has a price. But not everyone is so transactional as that. Men like Musk, Xi and Putin see the world through a principled lens. As good as he is at dominating transactional people, Trump struggles to understand and then anticipate and control the actions of people who are primarily guided by principle. This has political consequences for Trump himself and geopolitical consequences for our nation. Until Trump better understands the motivations of principled people, our country will continue offering deals to people who are entirely uninterested. Trump is also risking his legacy and agenda by antagonizes potential critics like Musk by miscalculating their reactions when his actions violate their principles. One of Trump's most redeeming qualities is his honest desire for peace, but his transactional approach to America's adversaries will never create the stability he seeks. Just as he should have anticipated Musk's opposition to the spending bill, he should have anticipated Xi's intransigence on trade and Putin's desire to continue his war. The understanding that some people act on principle is a blind spot for our transactional president, and this makes it difficult for him to understand the principled parts of the world.
New York Post
36 minutes ago
- New York Post
Musk suggests creating a new political party as feud with Trump continues to rage
Elon Musk floated the idea of a new political party as his rapidly escalating feud with President Trump reached a tipping point — with more than 80% of the millions who voted wanting change. The world's richest man posted a poll on X asking followers whether they supported the idea of a party to take on the Republicans and Democrats. 'Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?' the poll asked. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as Elon Musk looks on in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30, 2025. AP Well over 4.7 million votes had been cast as of early Friday — with more than 80% agreeing a new party was needed. The poll was posted soon after Musk and Trump's once-close relationship imploded late Thursday when the men started hurling blistering attacks at each other. Musk also encouraged Republicans torn over who to back to side with him. 'Oh and some food for thought as they ponder this question: Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years,' he wrote in one tweet. The verbal punches erupted after Trump criticized Musk in the Oval Office on Thursday, telling reporters he was 'very disappointed' in the Tesla founder for denouncing his sweeping tax-cut and spending bill. Elon Musk shared the poll to his X followers on June 5, 2025. @elonmusk/X Trump quickly posted on Truth Social that Musk had been 'wearing thin,' that he had 'asked him to leave' his administration and that the tech titan had 'gone CRAZY.' Trump then threatened that he could save taxpayer money by canceling government contracts and subsidies for Musk's companies. Musk, for his part, fired back by expressing support for impeaching Trump and even accused the administration of withholding documents related to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein because the president would be mentioned. 'Time to drop the really big bomb: Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!' Musk post on X.
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Germany's Merz says he found Trump open to dialogue and committed to NATO
BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday, a day after meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, that he encountered a U.S. administration open to discussion and returned confident that Washington remains committed to NATO. Merz described his Oval Office meeting and extended lunch with Trump as constructive but also candid, noting that the two leaders expressed different views on Ukraine. "Yesterday, in the meeting at the Oval Office, I expressed a distinctly different position on the topic of Ukraine than the one Trump had taken, and not only was there no objection, but we discussed it in detail again over lunch," Merz said in Berlin after his return. Thursday's White House meeting marked the first time the two sat down in person. Merz, who became chancellor in May, avoided the kind of confrontations in the Oval Office that have tripped up other world leaders, including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy and South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa. The two leaders opened with pleasantries. Merz presented Trump with a gold-framed birth certificate of the president's grandfather, Friedrich Trump, who emigrated from Kallstadt, Germany. Trump called Merz a 'very good man to deal with.' The American administration, he said, is open to discussion, listens, and is willing to accept differing opinions. Add he added that dialogue should go both ways: 'Let's stop talking about Donald Trump with a raised finger and wrinkled nose. You have to talk with him, not about him." He said he also met with senators on Capitol Hill, urging them to recognize the scale of Russian rearmament. 'Please take a look at how far Russia's armament is going, what they are currently doing there; you obviously have no idea what's happening,' he said he told them. 'In short, you can talk to them, but you must not let yourself be intimidated. I don't have that inclination anyway.' Merz, who speaks English fluently, stressed the need for transatlantic trust and said he reminded Trump that allies matter. 'Whether we like it or not, we will remain dependent on the United States of America for a long time,' he said. 'But you also need partners in the world, and the Europeans, especially the Germans, are the best-suited partners. 'This is the difference between authoritarian systems and democracies: authoritarian systems have subordinates. Democracies have partners — and we want to be those partners in Europe and with America.' He reiterated that the U.S. remains committed to NATO, particularly as Germany and others boost their defense spending. Trump has in the past suggested that the U.S. might abandon its commitments to the alliance if member countries don't meet defense spending targets. 'I have absolutely no doubt that the American government is committed to NATO, especially now that we've all said we're doing more. We're ensuring that we can also defend ourselves in Europe, and I believe this expectation was not unjustified," Merz said. "We've been the free riders of American security guarantees for years, and we're changing that now.' The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
