Yes. Total agreement. As a lifelong and proud democrat last night's "response" left me shaken with disappointment. The rules of engagement have changed utterly since 2009. The democratic "leadership" is flighting the last war. I honestly don't know what the right response might have been, but I think AOC and the other few who skipped out entirely, had the right idea. An effective response would have haven every single democratic attendee standing with their back to the podium, and/or all walking out of the chamber, at once, by the hundreds, in unison. Or - as you suggest - Al Greening, every 60 seconds, until they're all outside the chamber. Whatever response they made should have been coordinated and unified. The actual response was an embarrassment.
Hakeem Jeffries in a leadership roll damn sure isn't the answer. Zero charisma and/or vision. They stick with this corporate middle of road shit and they will not win another meaningful election in the near future. Let the progressives loose. If your gonna go left, go way left. Otherwise your only hope is to get lucky in the mid terms.
Could not agree more with you on this one Ken. The democrats are a feckless disappointment and I don't know who I can't stand more at this moment, the democrats or the republicans. Except for two or three dems, I would say they are on equal footing.
In what way does a protest at the speech check Trump's power? I agree that it would feel better to have the democrats protest in a more substantial way, but I don't think it would do any more than make us feel better. If you do, can you explain how?
Public opinion is the only lever they have since they don’t control any branch of government. Protest or other public engagement can influence public opinion.
Anything democrats do will be meaningless unless and until they can get a leader that has a fucking vision. I have a feeling we'll be waiting a while for that.
"Protest or other public engagement can influence public opinion."
This was an interesting point about protest that was made in the Atlantic recently:
"But I think it’s actually just that the structures of movement organizations have changed so dramatically, such that movement building is now both really easy and really hard.
Any individual person can put up a flyer or an Instagram graphic and say, Hey, we’re gonna do a protest here. And that doesn’t require an organizational capacity to really get someone out and be a part of a group. And that means that people are just showing up for something—or not showing up for something—and it’s completely unrelated to whether they’re being drawn into a broader group.
In the past, you had an NAACP that could speak credibly and say, We actually have organized the groups and the individuals who care a lot about racial justice in this country. And if you don’t vote X or Y way on a bill, that means that we’re going to turn up and we’re going to protest you. But now they can’t credibly say, No one will protest you if you do X or Y, because anyone can do it."
acting like a bunch of petulant teenagers shooting spit wads at a teacher... "Mr. Trump's class is soooo lame... yeah, civics is totally stupid... look, we're not even paying attention..." this shit went uncool after/during middle school... but really? seriously? from a bunch of unsightly plus-sized senior citizens? it's self-parody that hurts them like Michael Dukakis in the tank, I think.
I'll go one step further. The "dismal" Dems are the most dangerous, cowardly, criminals, who sully the concept of patriotism, all the while masquerading as the "good guys" while watching it all go down. It sickens me, while scaring the sh-t out of me!
Ratchet effect. Democrats sit there and do nothing as Republicans destroy the state, and when Democrats get into power they whine about the Parliamentarian not letting them do anything
Armchair quarterbacking. Look, I admire your investigative digging Ken, it’s why I subscribe. And what does everyone here propose the Dems do? They’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t. A majority of adult citizens in this country are totally taken in by perception, unchecked assumptions, and emotional volatility over facts. Just read what the legacy media is writing and how they continue to frame the situation, ie: “Dems sullen and silent.” It’s pathetic. Why should anyone listen to their framework?! Their framework helped get us here! The blame sits squarely on all those lazy and complicit GOPers- not Dems- who aren’t doing their jobs to uphold their constitutional duties, including passing bills, and instead are allowing Muskovite to do their and Project 2025’s dirty work.
The train left the station and it’s going to take everyday citizens to get off their comfy capitalist behinds and support each other; either get into the streets en masse or participate in an across the board general strike. Bring the mofo down, where it hurt$ the mo$t. Quit participating in and cooperating with greed. What does history have to teach us about steps to take? The sad truth is this country is in the midst of a collapse. Prepare accordingly.
So right Ken. One news source described the Dems as "sullen and silent" they need to stop moping and start shouting
Yes. Total agreement. As a lifelong and proud democrat last night's "response" left me shaken with disappointment. The rules of engagement have changed utterly since 2009. The democratic "leadership" is flighting the last war. I honestly don't know what the right response might have been, but I think AOC and the other few who skipped out entirely, had the right idea. An effective response would have haven every single democratic attendee standing with their back to the podium, and/or all walking out of the chamber, at once, by the hundreds, in unison. Or - as you suggest - Al Greening, every 60 seconds, until they're all outside the chamber. Whatever response they made should have been coordinated and unified. The actual response was an embarrassment.
Hakeem Jeffries in a leadership roll damn sure isn't the answer. Zero charisma and/or vision. They stick with this corporate middle of road shit and they will not win another meaningful election in the near future. Let the progressives loose. If your gonna go left, go way left. Otherwise your only hope is to get lucky in the mid terms.
Amen.
I'd have to agree with this.
Could not agree more with you on this one Ken. The democrats are a feckless disappointment and I don't know who I can't stand more at this moment, the democrats or the republicans. Except for two or three dems, I would say they are on equal footing.
Spot on again, Ken.
In what way does a protest at the speech check Trump's power? I agree that it would feel better to have the democrats protest in a more substantial way, but I don't think it would do any more than make us feel better. If you do, can you explain how?
Public opinion is the only lever they have since they don’t control any branch of government. Protest or other public engagement can influence public opinion.
That's true. Maybe a bigger protest would have been more effective. They have to try something.
Or simply doing interviews, social media, etc.
Anything democrats do will be meaningless unless and until they can get a leader that has a fucking vision. I have a feeling we'll be waiting a while for that.
"Protest or other public engagement can influence public opinion."
This was an interesting point about protest that was made in the Atlantic recently:
"But I think it’s actually just that the structures of movement organizations have changed so dramatically, such that movement building is now both really easy and really hard.
Any individual person can put up a flyer or an Instagram graphic and say, Hey, we’re gonna do a protest here. And that doesn’t require an organizational capacity to really get someone out and be a part of a group. And that means that people are just showing up for something—or not showing up for something—and it’s completely unrelated to whether they’re being drawn into a broader group.
In the past, you had an NAACP that could speak credibly and say, We actually have organized the groups and the individuals who care a lot about racial justice in this country. And if you don’t vote X or Y way on a bill, that means that we’re going to turn up and we’re going to protest you. But now they can’t credibly say, No one will protest you if you do X or Y, because anyone can do it."
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2025/03/the-end-of-wokeness/681904/
I think protest was so over done during the first Trump administration that it's become background noise at this point.
And everyone knows that things like one day boycotts of Amazon are just social media performance art.
The purpose to the Democratic Party isn't to govern; the purpose of the Democratic Party is to make sure no New Deal Democrat ever governs again.
acting like a bunch of petulant teenagers shooting spit wads at a teacher... "Mr. Trump's class is soooo lame... yeah, civics is totally stupid... look, we're not even paying attention..." this shit went uncool after/during middle school... but really? seriously? from a bunch of unsightly plus-sized senior citizens? it's self-parody that hurts them like Michael Dukakis in the tank, I think.
Yeah, I liked Al Green before he started waving his cane all the time. I wish he'd go back to singing "Let's Stay Together." https://youtu.be/uSu6tcbMOu0?si=-9HzR4fn08byH5lx
I'll go one step further. The "dismal" Dems are the most dangerous, cowardly, criminals, who sully the concept of patriotism, all the while masquerading as the "good guys" while watching it all go down. It sickens me, while scaring the sh-t out of me!
Ratchet effect. Democrats sit there and do nothing as Republicans destroy the state, and when Democrats get into power they whine about the Parliamentarian not letting them do anything
Armchair quarterbacking. Look, I admire your investigative digging Ken, it’s why I subscribe. And what does everyone here propose the Dems do? They’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t. A majority of adult citizens in this country are totally taken in by perception, unchecked assumptions, and emotional volatility over facts. Just read what the legacy media is writing and how they continue to frame the situation, ie: “Dems sullen and silent.” It’s pathetic. Why should anyone listen to their framework?! Their framework helped get us here! The blame sits squarely on all those lazy and complicit GOPers- not Dems- who aren’t doing their jobs to uphold their constitutional duties, including passing bills, and instead are allowing Muskovite to do their and Project 2025’s dirty work.
The train left the station and it’s going to take everyday citizens to get off their comfy capitalist behinds and support each other; either get into the streets en masse or participate in an across the board general strike. Bring the mofo down, where it hurt$ the mo$t. Quit participating in and cooperating with greed. What does history have to teach us about steps to take? The sad truth is this country is in the midst of a collapse. Prepare accordingly.