Welcome to Washington: The Democrats’ Tea Party Is Born

What we saw this weekend is what could be dubbed an “everything protest” — a rage against powerlessness not focused on any one issue. Democrats across the country are now demanding their leaders fight, whatever form that might take. It is eerily similar to another protest movement that swept Republicans into power. Welcome to Washington, where this past week Senator Booker delivered the longest speech in Senate history and also won the love of a liberal base that is demanding its elected leaders do something — anything — to thwart the Trump administration. I was in the Senate chamber when Mr. Booker was informed that he had broken Senator Thurmond’s record. In that room I could feel a kind of cathartic release the Democrats apparently have been craving. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people were watching Mr. Booker’s speech live across various social media platforms, cable news, and other video services. Inside the chamber, it was mostly silent as Mr. Booker spoke, until a thunderous applause broke out from the public gallery where people usually sit to quietly watch floor debates. The Republican who was presiding over the chamber at the time, Senator Curtis, informed those in the gallery that he would let them applaud, even though it broke Senate rules. Some attendees — mostly made up of congressional staff — started wiping tears from their eyes as the New Jersey senator spoke. For those who have never been inside the Senate chamber, it is much smaller than it appears on television. But even though there were fewer than one hundred people who had trekked to the gallery to watch Mr. Booker break the record, the energy in the room felt more like a primal scream for those who had been roundly defeated by Republicans last year. While Mr. Booker functionally accomplished nothing besides delaying Republicans’ Senate floor schedule for a day, he was lauded by liberal Democrats who simply wanted their leaders to do something. “There’s a lot of people out there asking Democrats to do more and to take risks and do things differently,” Mr. Booker told members of the press outside of the Senate chamber after he broke the record Tuesday night. “This seemed like the right thing to do. And from what my staff is telling me, a lot of people watched. And so we’ll see what it is. I just think a lot of us have to do a lot more.”In recent weeks, the party’s own voters have soured on leadership after enough Senate Democrats voted to fund the government and give President Trump the power to continue his attempts to slash his way through the executive branch. Senator Schumer is now the least popular major political figure in Washington, and, according to a new poll from Data for Progress, trails Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the 2028 Democratic Senate primary. What Mr. Booker’s 25-hour speech really disclosed was unrepentant rage at Mr. Trump from Democratic voters — a level of frustration and anger not seen since 2010, when Tea Party conservatives embraced protests that called for the whole system to be shut down. Yes, many of the protests around that time were about the Affordable Care Act and government spending. Yet the larger story of that era was the activation of a disaffected, resentful, burn-it-all-down conservative movement. Based on this past weekend, it appears Democrats are ready to embrace the same kind of demonstration against the powers that be. On Sunday, tens of thousands of people marched, held signs, chanted, and demonstrated against the Trump administration in all 50 states. Unlike the more famous protests of Trump 1.0 — like the Women’s March of January 21, 2017, which focused on women’s rights or the protests of late 2017 that demanded Obamacare not be repealed — Sunday’s demonstrations felt different. It is a spiritual shift, in my mind, for Democratic Party voters. The establishment is despised. Leadership is viewed as inept, even though it is locked out of power. Like Congressman Joe Wilson, who shouted “You lie!” at President Obama in 2009, Congressman Al Green has been cheered for his haranguing of Mr. Trump at his recent address to Congress. “Throw the bums out” is the new slogan for Democrats who feel betrayed. If 2010 is any kind of rhyme for 2026, then plenty of Democrats in Congress will be feeling the wrath of their liberal constituents who simply want a fight at any cost.

Welcome to Washington: The Democrats’ Tea Party Is Born

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