If Democrats got off their asses, here's what they'd be doing now - Robert Reich

[justaprogressive]

Friends,

We have endured more than six months of the most despotic regime in American history.

Republican members of Congress have disgraced themselves and the nation by enabling it. They are traitors to the Constitution, the rule of law, and American democracy.

What of the Democrats? Individually, some have shown real heroism. But as a party they are disunited, ineffective, seemingly afraid of their shadows. “Epsteingate” offers a chance for Dems to derail Trump for a time, but it is not a strategy.

What would that strategy look like if the Democrats were bold and united? Here are nine critical steps (adding to those from someone named Pru Lee):

1. Don’t let Trump get away with his lies.

Have a truth squad that responds immediately with the facts and cites sources.

When Trump claims that Washington, D.C., is rife with crime, for example, get the truth out: that its crime rate is actually the lowest it’s been in 30 years. That Republicans have literally defunded the police in D.C. by stealing more than a billion dollars from the city. That Trump is dismantling the FBI and putting corrupt, unqualified jerks at the top of our federal law enforcement.

Point out that red states have higher murder rates than blue ones.

Make sure the truth gets out by repeating it over and over. If it’s not reported in the media, find out why.

2. Plan and announce ways to catch up with what we’ve lost on the environment, human rights, voting rights, labor rights, and safety nets.

Even when the orange Caligula on the Potomac is history and his lackeys are out of power, America will have a huge amount to repair, rebuild, and catch up on.

Tell the nation how you’d make up for the time and momentum we’ve lost. What sacrifices will be entailed. Explain what we must do to get back on track toward a just society, a strong democracy, and an environment that isn’t collapsing around us.

Tell us how you’ll rebuild the government that Trump and his Republican sycophants have decimated. How we’ll get back the talent we’ve lost — in science, health, the environment, worker safety, the foreign service. How we’ll build back morale.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/if-democrats-got-off-their-asses]

[yardwork]

1. I agree with Robert Reich.

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. Agree completely, there's not a single person here who has unconditionally supported this party and the candidates

Of this party more than I have, many the same as I have but none more.

We are running out of time, this is way worse than even many here understand, RFK junior‘s actions alone will kill millions of us soon.

Drastic measures must happen immediately.

[creeksneakers2]

20. Like what drastic measures?

[synni]

24. Read about what the South Koreans did to rescue their country from their Trump-like madman

Their minority party had the courage to do what our minority party needs to do.

[Duncan Grant]

35. I think they had a better understanding of "doing enough".

I think it’s a valuable exercise to look at other countries who have solved the threat of corrupt authoritarian rule. What were their strategies? What actions did they ultimately take? How did they change public opinion? What was the message? What was most effective?

I specifically recall that days of mass non-violent mobilization produced results. In any event, the “enough” strategy isn’t stopping the overreach, criminality, and corruption. I think more should be done — and the longer we wait to do it, the harder it will be.

[JustAnotherGen]

4. The thing is

We are off of our asses. It's the language of 'Dems Suck and Aren't doing anything'.

We are. And we don't suck.

They are morally inferior to us. That's a good start.

[PatrickforB]

23. Many posts on this thread blame Reich for 'turning against' the Democratic Party or at the least not helping, but

here's the thing:

In 1980 when Ronald Reagan campaigned on 'trickle down' economics, which HW Bush called 'voodoo' economics, everybody KNEW that the idea that if we reduced corporate taxes so many new jobs would be created that the increase in payroll tax revenue would more than offset the loss in corporate tax revenue WAS NOTHING MORE THAN A LIE. But they did nothing.

When Reagan busted the Air Traffic Controllers Union, it started a massive corporate movement to kill unions which has worked nicely for Wall Street financiers and billionaires. Union participation went down over the years while at the same time wages stagnated. Where were the Democrats then, fighting tooth and nail for America's union workers?

In 1987, when Reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine, it just quietly died, but in the face of deregulation of cable TV, it was a disaster because it allowed Fox to be born and become the right-wing propaganda organ, along with Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the AM hate-jocks. Where were the Democrats then, fighting for TRUTH in news?

And when Clinton and the rest of the Third Way institutionalists passed NAFTA we lost almost a million GOOD middle class jobs over the next decade. That didn't do anything for the middle class either, except it turned whole swaths of working class people dead-set against the Democratic party.

And where the hell were Dems when the Supreme Court stopped the vote counts in FL so W won in 2000 when it should have been Gore???

And how about Mitch McConnell, who froze hundreds of Obama's nominees and then packed the courts with hand-picked 'justices' who will vote with the Heritage Foundation, Cato, ALEC and the Federalist Society party line? Where were the Democrats then? They should have been hitting the streets and getting downright UGLY.

We can go down the line, year by year, but I won't belabor that. What I will say, speaking for myself, is this:

I donated hundreds of dollars to Harris and downticket Dems, and when Trump supposedly flipped ALL swing states, why were there no Democrats yelling 'CHEAT!!!' and demanding recounts???

So here's my situation:
- $10 K in HEALTHCARE DEBT.
- I've had a call into the Social Security Administration for FOUR MONTHS and no one has called me back.
- My Social Security Old Age Pension is in danger of being privatized.
- My Medicare is in danger too because of the 'big beautiful bill.'
- Prices are now increasing across the board, but my pay hasn't AND I'M STILL FUCKING WORKING AT AGE 66 AND 8 MONTHS.

LAST YEAR I PAID $10,122 IN FEDERAL INCOME TAX, $6,871 IN SOCIAL SECURITY PAYROLL TAX AND $1,607 IN MEDICARE TAX.

That is $18,600, folks!

I'm being taxed without representation, and I'm really, really, really pissed - not at Wall Street or the billionaire parasites, nor at ALEC, Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute or all the rest of the right-wing so-called 'think-tanks'.

Nope. I'm mad at my Democratic Party which has let everything good that I held dear go down the fucking drain without a fight. We need to get rid of the institutionalists because they aren't doing me a darned bit of good at my kitchen table. I'm getting fucked every which way but loose and my government is now a government of, by and for Wall Street and billionaires.

Now we are starting to fight back. Newsom and the rest of the Dem governors, but Congress???

So feel free to alert on this post if you want, but my government is no longer responsive to me at all, and I am in fact being taxed without representation. The Dems let it get this way because of the Third Way institutionalists who have not done the middle class driddle squat in terms of economic good.

[Duncan Grant]

36. Thank you for this post.

Not to put words into your mouth, but I wonder how much privilege must one enjoy to believe democratic leadership is “doing enough”.

So, before anyone feels the need to take me down a few pegs, refute PatrickforB’s post, then we can talk.

[JustAnotherGen]

3. He's not helping now

And he's still focused on policy instead of attacking the magapub culture.

It's time to appeal to 'indies' who don't want to be associated with hateful sexist racists and make fun of the magpubs and their Temu President.

[thebigidea]

5. "What sacrifices will be entailed."

"What sacrifices will be entailed." is a loser at the ballot box and is not going to rally people to vote for you. This is the country that had a shitfit when Jimmy Carter asked us to put on a sweater sometimes, after all.

Going on about "norms" for years did zip. Sacrifices? Plural? Good luck selling that one.

[emulatorloo]

11. Agreed. In general Reich is pretty tiresome as far as I'm concerned.

[Nixie]

43. Exactly. It's also time the anti Democrats change their messaging

and admit that their 10-year war on billionaires has resulted in a presidential cabinet full of billionaires. Until they own up to their failed messaging that resulted in the rejection of Democrats, Reich is the last person to listen to.

[ClimateChangeisReal]

6. It should've started 25 years ago

with supporting Al Gore's fight to have the uncounted Florida votes counted and not letting W steal the 2000 election. Leah Littman's book "Lawless" does a good job of explaining that the nightmare we're now living in is the result of the Rehnquist 5's Bush vs Gore ruling.

[usonian]

7. Follow posts in Activist Headquarters.

All action items there. Easy to find with the fewer posts.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1011

[mcar]

8. Another day, another OP bashing Democrats

here on Democratic Underground.

[emulatorloo]

10. Yes, may as well rename it "I_HATE_DEMOCRATS_UNDERGROUND". As to the Pundit-class,

they’ve figured out there’s only two ways to make money as “influencers” these days.

- Pro-MAGA

or

- Lying about and Bashing Democrats.

[mcar]

14. It does seem to be an industry

[betsuni]

26. The effort to turn this into Democratic Undermine is pathetically transparent, I thought the

Democrat-bashing business had run out of gullible audiences. Guess not.

Of course the Yelling Ghost of '60s Misunderstood Revolution still roams the land falsely accusing Democrats of corruption and urging votes for purity test independents. Maybe their angry dreams of punishing the Democratic Party will come true and Republicans take over to finish wrecking the U.S. and then they'll be happy. If the purity test people took over they'd have to work together, compromise, agree on budget, plans, details -- wouldn't last five minutes before screaming that colleagues are establishment elites taking status quo money from billionaires.

[mcar]

27. They started complaining about 20 minutes after Obama took office

he wasn't issuing enough EOs, he hadn't done xyz, he's weak, he's a sellout - and of course, the infamous POSUCS.

[betsuni]

34. Everybody was against the Bush administration, then overnight some of the most vocal were suddenly

against Obama. I felt stupid not to have realized that it was show business or just being against whoever was in change or other things.

"But even before he was elected, I was driving with friends to a movie when the guy in the back seat, an old '60s radical, began ranting about how Obama was just a corporate shill, as bad as the Republicans. My heart sank. I knew what this meant. I went online, and there they were, the baby-boomer radicals and their political descendants, all foaming at the mouth. ... It would take them a while, but they would make life hell for him. ... At a MoveOn meeting after his first midterm election, the few radicals there were crowing that ... he was 'such a disappointment.' Right. In two years all he'd done was prevent another Great Depression, save the auto industry and pass Obamacare, the first big addition to FDR's agenda since 1965.

"... Michael Moore summed up the radicals' view: 'Mr. Obama, when the history is written of this era, this is how you'll be remembered: "He was the first Black president." Okay, not a bad accomplishment, but that's it. A big disappointment.' No Republican could have been more damaging than this inside hit job."

Steven Stoft

The inside hit jobs designed to depress the vote, make would-be Democratic voters disgusted and cynical are the most damaging. Here we go again.

[mcar]

37. Here we go again

[emulatorloo]

38. No doubt you remember that very popular DU troll who endlessly claimed Obama had a 'secret plan' to

cut Social Security. Every time there was a SOTU, he proclaimed Obama was going to announce cuts to SS.

Of course it never happened, but his fanboys just ate up that bullshit w a spoon.

[betsuni]

39. Oh yes. Obama wanted to cut SS, not Republicans!

There was a troll claiming to be so disappointed with Obama that he left the country in 2009. Of course that wasn't true, he'd left the country during the Bush administration, said it was because he didn't want his taxes going to fund war.

[mcar]

44. I'd forgotten about that one

[creeksneakers2]

19. I wish it would stop

It hurt turnout last election. These people are going to mess up the midterms too. And it isn't true. Democrats are doing all they can.

[mcar]

28. It did hurt turnout, creek

[creeksneakers2]

46. Yep

Pollsters found it.

[Martin Eden]

41. Do you disagree with the strategy Robert Reich outlined?

If you agree with all or most of it (as I do), the follow-up question is:

Is our Party leadership working to build consensus among Democrats in Congress to implement that strategy?

If not, Reich has offered some very constructive criticism -- which simple "bashing" would lack.

[mcar]

45. Get off your ass

Is not constructive criticism. I’m not going to read further with a click bait header like that.

[leftstreet]

9. DURec

[GoodRaisin]

12. I agree with number 1 whole heartedly, something they never do that continually frustrates

me to death. I would then make number 2 number 3, and make a new number 2 about what democrats want to do about the economy and escalating prices that Trump policies have destroyed (and he lied about).

A strong economic message needs to be in front of everything else on his list.

[JCMach1]

13. Build a fecking Shadow Government with the best possible communicators

And minds in each area serving as a kind of shadow minister of truth. Rotate who does point among people considering a Presidential run. For example begin with Gavin Newsome for 6 months.

Organize the shiteshow and stay on message.

I don't WANT to hear from Jefferies or Schumer. Work on fund raising and legislative obstruction, or GTFO.

[erronis]

18. Exactly. And use that structure to help when/if we get back the executive branch.

[Orrex]

15. Waiting for the gatekeepers to scold Reich for falling out of lockstep

[Ping Tung]

16. In a democracy the people are allowed. even encouraged, to criticize their leaders. Even Democrats.

Last edited Fri Aug 15, 2025, 02:37 PM - Edit history (1)

Even Robert Reich who is a well known Democrat.

As an aside: Robert Reich also criticizes Republicans. As is illustrated in the OP.

[creeksneakers2]

17. They say stuff all the time

But MAGAs are brainwashed and refuse to listen to a word of it.

[B.See]

21. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but what

I get from Reid's commentary is, "stop bringing knives to a GUNfight. Something I've been saying for nearly a decade now.

[GusBob]

22. For months in our household we've been saying

"Things are getting worse everyday" And they have, its true. Every. Single. Day. We are getting steamrolled

We have been told that there are Democrats that are doing "enough" of something.

If that were the case things would not continue to get worse everyday.

I agree with Mr Reich

[MorbidButterflyTat]

25. Not again.

No more shitting on Dems.

[betsuni]

29. It's the exact same myth the revolution people all believe, that the solution is easy: just explain using the

right words and then everyone will understand and stop voting against their own economic self interest.

Wrong.

[thebigidea]

40. exactly. It's so condescending to bleat "they vote against their own interests"

no, their interests and our interests are fundamentally opposed. Pretending the poor voter simply doesn't understand the difference is just silly.

[BoRaGard]

30. Day truth squad for sure

and make it a spectacle

[Ferrets are Cool]

31. "Have a truth squad that responds immediately with the facts and cites sources." TO WHOM???

We have youtube sites getting the word out in mass every day. Still many, some here, bitch that "their titles are too aggressive" so they refused to even click on the sites to help them.
Tell WHO Robert? The MSM?

[Koinos]

32. Democrats Need to Create a Shadow Government

Democrats need to create a shadow government of experts who report daily to the American People. That is the only way to counter a regime built on lies.

This effort will require organization and working together on a large scale. Democratic leaders must become teachers and educators.

[spanone]

33. K&R

[Hotler]

42. They all took an oath to protect and defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.

No one has the gumption to go before the floor mic and call the fascist admin. domestic enemies. Say those words out loud.