Every time they had a chance to fight, they chose to fold. Here’s the timeline.
"To many Democrats, this seemed insane. Some began openly calling for Schumer to resign or face a primary challenge. This was Democrats' first real opportunity to fight back against Trump, and they had folded."
Schumer responds to Trump freezing $2.2B in Harvard funding: "We sent him a very strong letter asking eight very strong questions." Seth Meyers: "Is this a constitutional crisis or a Jane Austen novel?"
After a White House shutdown summit produced no deal, Trump posted an AI-generated video on Truth Social depicting Jeffries in a sombrero and Schumer making racist comments about immigrants. Democratic leadership's response: a press conference.
"That prompted a handful of House Democrats to publicly call for Schumer to step aside as leader." Even Jeffries "conspicuously sidestepped questions about Schumer's leadership."
"After 40 days of stalemate, eight members of the Senate Democratic Caucus voted to advance the bill. Notably, none of the eight are up for reelection in 2026." NYT: "Democrats Were Winning the Shutdown. Why Did They Fold?"
A group of Senate Democrats forms an internal resistance to Schumer's strategy. His spokesman responds: "Our North Star is winning the Senate majority in 2026."
When Trump deployed military to DC, Jeffries praised the DC Attorney General's letter: "I thought that was a strongly worded letter."
"More than 80 Democratic House candidates across the country were either non-committal on backing Jeffries' leadership or outright opposed to it. It's only gotten worse."
Under this generation of Democratic leadership, the party lost 1,042 state and federal seats: 960 state legislative seats, 10 governorships, 62 House seats, and 11 Senate seats. Two presidential elections. And the Supreme Court for a generation. At some point, the definition of insanity applies.
The record is clear. The question is what we do about it.