Democrats Are Busy Fighting Over What to Fight Over

 The Democratic Party, overpowered by President Trump’s command of the national political debate, is fighting over how to fight back.

When Rep. Al Green of Texas stood up, shook his cane and yelled at Trump during the president’s address to Congress this week, the progressive group Indivisible called it the leadership the party needs. “It was behavior that raised the alarm about how extreme this administration is,” said the group’s co-founder, Ezra Levin.

To Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York, Green’s outburst was a distraction from the bread-and-butter issues that win elections. “Instead of focusing on protecting Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare…too many Americans are talking about a member of Congress being removed from the chamber,” he wrote online. “This is not helpful.”

Their diverging strategy perspectives reflect a schism inside the party over Democrats’ most promising pathway back to power. Progressives want constant action and are urging core supporters to flood town hall meetings and congressional phone lines to demand an aggressive response to Trump. Moderates say that approach risks turning off centrist voters in highly competitive districts—such as Suozzi’s—who dislike partisan politics and vote their pocketbooks.

The pro-confrontation crowd believes that angry voters turning out at town hall meetings have scared GOP lawmakers, who in turn could become a moderating force on Trump. Many progressives reject the idea that their party has little ability to counter the president’s efforts to fire federal workers, idle entire agencies and unwind longstanding ties with U.S. allies, even though Democrats don’t control the House, the Senate or the White House.

“Be in their faces,” said Michele Harney, 68, who attended a constituent meeting held recently by Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D., Va.). She recited the slogan of former first lady Michelle Obama, “When they go low, we go high,” then added: “I’m tired of going high.”

“We can’t just go about like it’s business as usual. We need wartime leaders at this point, because that’s what this is,” said Daniel Callahan, 42, who attended a town hall meeting held by Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D., Pa.) and said he was frustrated by what he said was her bipartisan posture. Both Harney and Callahan voted for Democratic candidates in recent elections.

Evan Roth Smith, a Democratic pollster with the firm Blueprint, urged a more cautious approach. The party right now isn’t a compelling alternative to Trump, he said, even with stock prices sinking, inflation proving durable and consumers worried that Trump’s tariffs could make it worse.

In a mid-February Blueprint poll, 65% of voters agreed with the statement “No one has any idea what the Democratic Party stands for anymore, other than opposing Donald Trump.” Smith said that Democrats should discard any gesture that distracts from showing how the party would help voters if they regained power.

“Voters expect something very clear from the Democratic Party: ‘You are the center-left party, the party of Social Security and Medicare and the little guy when we are being stepped on,’ ” Smith said. “Be center-left. Don’t be a spectacle.”

Rahm Emanuel, former congressman and White House chief of staff to former President Barack Obama, has said that confrontation won’t help Democrats reach voters. “They’re close to having you on mute, anyway. If it’s only one tone, they’ll shut you down,” Emanuel said at a February panel of the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas.

Rather, Emanuel said Democrats should use Trump’s policies to draw contrasts that show they understand what is most important to voters. “You want to build housing in Gaza? No, we’re going to build housing right here,” he said by way of example. Rather than focus on USAID and foreign aid, he suggested that the party’s governors call an emergency meeting on low student reading scores.

“If you’re going to do a protest, I would do it because eighth-graders can’t read,” he said.

The divide over tactics surfaced again on Thursday, as Suozzi and nine other Democrats joined all Republicans in voting to censure Green for his breach of decorum, a gesture to the political center. Five of the Democrats represent highly competitive districts, including three where a majority of voters backed Trump last year.