They’re playing a different game
A cycle of outrage keeps Trump in power. Building a majority is how we win it back.
During this campaign, people frequently ask what Democrats in Congress can do to restrain the Trump Administration. It seems like we aren’t doing anything—yes, the government is shut down, but there are still troops and masked agents in our streets, intimidation of the President’s rivals, illegal tariffs choking our economy, and on and on. It’s so tempting to make up something powerful we can do, like holding tough hearings, but it wouldn’t be honest.
To see why, take a look at Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Senate testimony this week. Democratic senators asked her about the politicization of the Justice Department—the Epstein files, Tom Homan’s bribery scandal, the firing of a United States attorney who wouldn’t bring charges against James Comey—and she responded to each with personal attacks. She deflected questions from Sen. Blumenthal by referring to misstatements he made fifteen years ago. She called Sen. Schiff a “failed lawyer” and said she would have fired him if he’d worked for her. And to my own senator, Dick Durbin, she said, “I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump.”
For comparison, when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified in 2007 about the politicized firing of US Attorneys, both Republicans and Democrats pressed him on the impropriety and called for his resignation. In the media, he was lambasted not for attacks on Senators, but for repeatedly saying, “I don’t recall.” Things have changed.
Bondi’s performance is the latest in a series of aggressive testimonies from senior Trump administration officials, following HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and FBI Director Kash Patel. What’s changed goes beyond their tone. In past administrations, hearings like these were recognized as part of the constitutional order, since it’s Congress’s duty to hold the government accountable. The officials called to testify might have been cagey or combative, but they were there to defend their records.
This administration repeatedly refuses to recognize Congress’s authority, working instead through illegal executive action, and the hearings are an extension of that. The fights with senators and members of Congress are not incidental—they are the point. They give the administration a chance to publicly reject Congress’s authority, and to create the kind of confrontational moments that grab attention online and deepen our polarization. As Bondi was speaking, you could imagine the YouTube titles (“Bondi DESTROYS Democratic senator…”). Democrats will make videos too, slamming her performance, but that’s OK—the administration needs them to create the back-and-forth rage that forces everyone apart and keeps Trump in command of his base. Twenty-first century media are a centrifuge that pushes us away from one another and to the extremes, and Bondi was there to make it spin.
There are two lessons to take away. First, and most obviously, Senate Democrats were powerless in the hearing. In theory, they had the authority to oversee her agency. In practice, she attacked them, answered softballs from Republicans, and walked out to get back to work. This isn’t the Obama or even W. Bush era, when administration officials took Congress seriously. This administration does not believe it is bound by Congress’s authority and wants to make that abundantly clear. Making that point and those attacks was why Bondi even showed up. Any Democrat promising to get to Congress and start holding the administration accountable should watch the testimony and reconsider.
The second lesson is that the backlash is part of the plan. The administration does not mind when Democrats shout at them. In fact, they need us to, because the backlash from Democrats energizes and hardens the Republican base. That’s why the AG didn’t leave her provocations to chance—she researched and prepared them in advance. Bondi’s testimony built the political capital Trump cares about—not consensus, but division—measured by how deep and lasting the outrage is. It will die out, but it’s no matter, because the next Trump Administration official is no doubt already thinking about how to top Bondi’s performance.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
In my race, and in races around the country, candidates are competing on how loud they can shout against the administration. I believe that they genuinely think that they are fighting, but they are just part of the plan. Donald Trump’s favorite Democrat is one whose outrage feeds the fire but who doesn’t have a plan for winning elections.
His least favorite is one who understands the game and won’t play. That’s why I’m focused on delivering a positive vision—a New American Century—that can reach new voters, build a majority, and remove the President and his miserable movement from office.
