It’s not all bad news for Democrats who are still reeling from the divisive spending bill vote that saw 10 of their own senators, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), cross party lines to approve Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) continuing resolution.
A new opinion piece in The Washington Post has identified at least six Democratic politicians ready and able to lead the party through the political wilderness and toward victory with a spirit that’s been lacking for far too long, according to columnist Perry Bacon, Jr.
If you think California Gov. Gavin Newsom is on the list, think again. Bacon claimed Newsom was even worse than Schumer after bizarrely deciding, “this is the time for him to start a podcast with softball interviews of pro-Trump conservatives such as Stephen K. Bannon and Charlie Kirk.”
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The Democrats (and one Independent) who made Bacon’s list “are showing real fight and resolve — and have from the start of Trump’s second term,” Bacon wrote. “They are not only voting against his initiatives but attacking him in ways intentionally designed to get media attention and galvanize opposition against the new administration.”
Bacon called them “the stars of Resistance 2.0,” figures who have “distinguished themselves in ways that others in the party should emulate.”
They include: Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz.
“It’s possible that nothing these six — or any other Democratic officials — do will rein in Trump, particularly until the midterms,” Bacon wrote. “A president with Congress, the federal courts and about half the state governments aligned with him has huge power.”
However, Bacon postulated that there may be some hope yet with these six politicians, who “were some of the earliest to speak up and break with the Jeffries-Schumer nonaggression posture. They are likely to be actually leading the party over the next few years, even if none of them are formally senior Democratic leaders.”