Heather Cox Richardson: "a change afoot in the Democratic Party"

[erronis]

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-28-2025

There has been a change afoot in the Democratic Party for a while now as its leaders shift from trying to find common ground with Republicans to standing firmly against MAGAs and articulating their own vision for the United States.

That shift burst dramatically into the open last night when Democratic Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker gave a barn-burning speech to Democrats in New Hampshire. After walking out to the American Authors song “Go Big or Go Home,” Pritzker urged Democrats to stop listening to “do-nothing political types” who are calling for caution at a time when Americans are demanding urgent action, and to “fight—EVERYWHERE AND ALL AT ONCE.”

Pritzker highlighted three ordinary Americans who are opposing the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” by building communities to protest, hanging an upside-down flag on the face of Yosemite National Park’s famous cliff El Capitan, and welcoming Vice President J.D. Vance to Sugarbush Resort in Vermont with a snow report calling attention to the administration’s attacks on veterans, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ Americans, immigrant workers, and people of color. He urged Democrats to lead with the same passion.

He listed the positions on which he wants Democrats to stand firm, beginning: “It’s wrong to snatch a person off the street and ship them to a foreign gulag with no chance to defend themselves in a court of law.” This is not about immigration, he said, but about the Constitution. “Standing for the idea that the government doesn’t have the right to kidnap you without due process is arguably the MOST EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGN SLOGAN IN HISTORY,” he said. “Today, it’s an immigrant with a tattoo. Tomorrow, it’s a citizen whose Facebook post annoys Trump.”

. . .

[Prairie Gates]

1. Gooooooood!

Pro-Pritzker
Pro-AOC
Pro-Hogg
Democrat!

[chicoescuela]

9. We have played way too nice for way too long. Maybe Pritzker

is the kind of person we need. I’m starting to feel this but I’m usually wrong

[calimary]

56. TOTALLY. I'm sick and tired of "we need to play nice."

I never was into it that much, in the first place.

[et tu]

23. kudos! nt

[DownriverDem]

31. Agree except

for Hogg. He needs to resign from the DNC and use his organization to destroy the Dem Party if that is his goal.

[Irish_Dem]

2. Now we're talkin'

J.B. gets it.

[John1956PA]

3. Governor Pritzker is dynamic, intelligent and articulate.

[BeyondGeography]

4. And genuinely funny

[Irish_Dem]

5. He may be our next presidential candidate.

[Chicagogrl1]

12. And

Comes from an immigrant self made billionaire family!!! He’s not afraid to fight. We must fight!!!

[Demsrule86]

27. I like him...maybe he will be president in 2028.

[Magoo48]

14. Yes. Another old Dem for changes in our party. it's time to give fiery enthusiasm and opportunity to lead.

[HereForTheParty]

6. Great speech, but "a change afoot in the Democratic Party"?

She gives no other evidence of that and I'm not seeing it in Washington.

[gab13by13]

11. I agree,

the majority appear to be following the Schumer strategy to let Krasnov burn it all down and then win the next election.

I have posted 139 times here that every Democrat needs to do town halls.

The protests nationwide are being organized by Indivisible.

Democratic leaders need to rid themselves of the notion that only moderate Dems can win in certain districts. How about nominating the best candidate?

[chia]

15. Cory Booker's marathon speech, AOC's oligarchy tour with Bernie, Van Hollen's trip to El Salvador

These have been bright points of courage and/or leadership. Yes we need more, but enough to say a shift? I think, and I hope so.

[Attilatheblond]

24. Booker & Jeffries little sit in on Capitol Steps had a LOT of DEMs join in and get messages out

There IS a shift, more DEMs taking it seriously, and Schumer is gonna get trampled on if he doesn't start getting serious about stopping 2025 Tyranny.

[chia]

25. that too!

[flying_wahini]

21. I took that to mean she was referring to the "young" Brigade like David "what's his name...".

Sorry just had a brain fart…

[magicarpet]

32. David Hogg,...

David Hogg https://g.co/kgs/ynXgRTQ

[Arazi]

7. K&R. Dems are hungry for fighters

I really like that he gave concrete examples of how Dems can resist in our own communities - the flag at El Capitan and the “snow” reports from Vermont when Vance was there.

JB Pritzker now joins Bernie, AOC, Tim Walz, Pete Buttigieg and others in a national effort rallying Dems across the country.

Let’s go!

[yorkster]

33. And Sen. Chris Murphy of CT, Rep. Joe Neguse of CO

Sen. Ed Markey MA and more.

[DownriverDem]

8. Like Pritzker, not Hogg

Hogg gets a job as VP of DNC and wants to work against the Dems in office. He needs to quit the DNC and just work with his own organization. The DNC has got a lot of blowback on Hogg. Attack me all you want, that's my view of him.

[Fiendish Thingy]

13. Pritzker's and Hoggs' messages are the same

As the excerpt quotes “Dems need fighters, not politicians who are too cautious” or those, such as the Problem Solvers caucus, who seek “common ground” with the MAGAs.

[Mountainguy]

20. One isnt the VP of the DNC

If DNC leadership said they were going to raise millions to primary progressive members, people saying they love Hogg would be losing their minds. It's the same.

[lees1975]

46. Not now, they wouldn't.

I'm willing to vote for a new candidate against an incumbent based on their record. Trump is in the White House because Biden, and the Democratic party elite, helped him get back there by being stupid, irresolute and too concerned about their own interests to help unite the party nationally.

The core, elite leadership of the Democratic party had four years, four years, to use the justice department and two years to use Congress to make sure Trump was removed as a threat to Democracy and they didn't do it. So they weren't so elite, were they? And how serious did they really take this?

Pritzker, and Hogg, and AOC and Bernie, are serious.

[Mountainguy]

47. Its Bidens fault that Trump got elected?

Absurd.

[lees1975]

58. Whatever you want to think.

Biden was in office four years. For two of those four years, he had a Congressional majority. What did that majority accomplish toward preventing a charged criminal from running again? Why didn't he can Merrick Garland who was doing nothing to move Trump's insurrection trial and stolen documents trial forward?

Why did he stand in the way of Senators breaking the filibuster in order to amend the judiciary act and pack the court when that was clearly the solution to the whole Trump mess? Why not pack the court, ensuring that they expedited Trump's trials, maybe even took them on themselves, and adjudicated the indictments, branding him as an Insurrectionist, making him ineligible for runnning again? If he was an existential threat to democracy, as they kept insisting, then why not do whatever it took, risky as it might be, to make sure he was convicted and jjailed?

So yes, he must share some of the blame. He had the power to stop it and sat on protocol and tradition and wouldn't do it.

Absolutely NOT absurd.

[Mountainguy]

59. You wanted Biden to dictate who and how the DOJ prosecuted cases??

That's what we complain about Trump doing.

Again, absurd.

[msfiddlestix]

69. Unfortunately, you are correct. And this was completely predictable. 100%, and obvious, yet insanely dismissed.

in a word, an extremely weird denial of the psychopathic elephant in the room four short years ago.

[murielm99]

22. Pritzker is not working to get incumbent Democrats

voted out of office. Hogg is doing just that. Pritzker is trying to light a fire under all Democrats. I don't trust Hogg. JB is my governor and I know how good he is. He gets things done.

[Fiendish Thingy]

26. It's still early- let's see who JB supports in the midterms

Does he support “fighters”, whether they are incumbents or primary challengers, or does he simply support any D incumbent?

So far, his words indicate he would do the former, not the latter.

We shall see.

[KPN]

29. I don't know. Seems more like the DNC deserves a lot of blow back. I stopped contributing to the DNC more than

a decade ago, exactly for it's "moderating". Many Democrats have for decades felt our party should be fighting more and appearing moderate less -- especially against an adversary that quite obviously considered Democrats their enemy, not just opponent.

I'm all in with Hogg ... and Pritzker, AOC, Bernie, Booker, and others who are calling it boldly, unambiguously, and provocatively like they see it.

[Cirsium]

40. Hogg?

What does this have to do with Hogg?

[Skittles]

63. Hogg too sees the need for Dems to fight

he thinks Dems doing "business as usual" need to be CHALLENGED

HE IS NOT WRONG

[Cirsium]

70. Agreed

...

[iemanja]

60. You don't get a better Democratic Party without

democracy. The commitment to a Horse of Lords where people serve for life is as anti-democratic as it gets.

[mac56]

10. See

[Joinfortmill]

16. This! This is not a time to Pussyfoot Around; it's a time to Stand Your Ground!

[TRHST82]

17. I want a super charismatic, trash-talking candidate for 2028.

He would probably be unbeatable.

[LymphocyteLover]

35. I'm not sure how charismatic he is, but he's a fighter and has a lot of other things going for him

[Sky Jewels]

18. Okay, that's 45 years too late, but we'll take it.

[Skittles]

64. it's NOT too late

don't be defeatist, THAT IS WHAT FASCISTS WANT

[Hekate]

19. Kick for: "a change afoot in the Democratic Party"

[Moostache]

28. Everywhere. Every day. All at once!

Pritzker 2028

J.B.? Contact me. I will work for you for free in a campaign as long as you are willing to take the figjht to them and stop the "sharply worded letter" response vector. Its brass knuckles and rumble in the rain time. Let's get it on!

[dlilafae]

30. It about time someone in the Dem

authority got an orange belly full.

[orangecrush]

34. This guy

[W_HAMILTON]

36. I like his fighting attitude, but more aiming it towards Republicans rather than Democrats, please.

I mean, what Democrat DOESN'T believe that "it’s wrong to snatch a person off the street and ship them to a foreign gulag with no chance to defend themselves in a court of law?"

If you want to go after our own, name names -- don't just slur the Democratic Party as a whole for stuff that doesn't apply to the vast, vast, VAST majority of us.

[Cirsium]

41. There it is

Two steps forward, and then three back. That is why we can't build a solid opposition to the totalitarian threat.

Pritzker urged Democrats to stop listening to "do-nothing political types."

He urged Democrats to lead with the same passion.

He listed the positions on which he wants Democrats to stand firm.

How is he slurring the Democratic Party as a whole?

[W_HAMILTON]

51. We can't build a solid opposition because our prominent leaders are constantly engaging in circular firing squads.

What is the point in going after Democrats as a whole? The vast majority agree with him on pretty much every position -- is he listening to the "do-nothing political types" as well? Is that how he arrived at the same damn position as the rest of us? And for the small handful that may disagree with him, does he think him "not-calling" calling them out is going to get them to change their position? Like I said, stop smearing Democrats as a whole and fucking name names if you want to lob these sorts of attacks.

[Cirsium]

54. Oh, please

The same old tired cliches. Disagreements are not "circular firing squads"

If, as you say "the vast majority agree with him on pretty much every position" then we would not even be having this discussion.

No one is "smearing Democrats as a whole." That is simply false. Naming names would produce exactly the sort of internecine warfare you say you oppose. Calling for that suggests that you are not actually opposed to "circular firing squads," you just want those who disagree with you to shut up.

[Roy Rolling]

43. Do-Nothing political types exist

Denying their existence will not change anything. Denying that the Democratic Party is too good to improve is actually advocating to do nothing about a systemic problem facing both Democrats AND Republicans—voter apathy.

At least he sees an accurate picture, not a vision created by a PR-guided approach that has failed to increase voters at the polls.

People like Pritzker create voters at the polls—mostly Democratic voters. That’s the real world.

[W_HAMILTON]

52. There will never be a world in which a political party cannot improve.

So, do you advocate constantly criticizing the whole party for positions that only a few may take? Why would you not name specific individuals that are causing the problems rather than smearing our party as a whole when most of us -- including our elected leaders -- agree with Pritzker on just about every-damn-thing? Do you think that's productive? You think that will somehow motivate people to the polls rather than helping CREATE the voter apathy you are upset with?

[Nixie]

68. They can't name specific individuals because then they would have to admit

that their districts elected them and that regional red/blue and many mixed purple regions exist. They prefer their generalized smears against our party, even after Katy Porter flamed out in solidly blue California against Schiff using their phony corruption smear tactics. Even blue California didn’t want them.

The easiest way to fight fascists is not let them in office — a lesson they are desperately avoiding. Don't weaken our party, which has been happening for 10 years now.

[Karadeniz]

37. This is what david hogg is trying to accomplish.

[QED]

38. Meanwhile, Schumer writes a strongly worded letter.

[Roy Rolling]

44. Too funny

[TBF]

39. It's about time. nt

[rickyhall]

42. He was my president. Grew up poor like me.

He could have taken Trump apart..

[lees1975]

45. When Trump is arrested and jailed for his failure to follow court orders, let's say then that change is afoot in the

Democratic party.

Until they can somehow push and facilitate that, I'll wait and see and give my money to Bernie, AOC and David Hogg.

And if J. B. wants to start running for President now, I'll donate to him, too.

[iemanja]

61. Who is going to arrest him?

And how do you suppose the Democratic Party can effectuate that?

[Skittles]

65. .....

start with the Trump whores

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=20280569

[Initech]

48. MAGA are the enemies of the United States.

They do not work for the betterment of the country and her allies. They work to advance the cause of Trump and the Fox News cult of personality, and Vladimir Putin. They are aiding and abetting the enemy. People like Stephen Miller, Pam Bondi, RFK Jr, and Tom Homan think they are above the law. They are terrorists. It's time we treat MAGA like terrorists.

[BurnDoubt]

49. One arm of our campaigns...

needs to be RDF. Search and destroy EVERY Lie, mis-characterization and misinformation the instant it hits the airwaves, by a team of experienced veterans of the fight. Field a team that can bring gravitas and trust to the conversation and hard facts about the consequences of policy going forward, and the alternatives available. Stick to the Facts and leave the grab-ass to those with form in that area. It will take stubborn persistence and commitment for the Long Haul... it took most of my lifetime for the wall of shit to grow this tall, and it won't come down in a day. Fight on, all the while teaching our children the righteousness of Humanity, and equity toward all mankind, and the necessity to labor to keep it so, and the will to resist when it isn't.

[moonshinegnomie]

50. pritzker is governor of illinois. illinois politics is a no hold barred slugfest

if hes tough enough for illinois hes plenty tough to take on the party of putin

[DENVERPOPS]

53. Heather Cox Richardson's daily article

should be on the DU front page EVERY DAY.

I read her daily commentary every day first thing, before DU........

[dlk]

55. Pritzker would make an excellent president

He's a fighter.

[randr]

57. Making America Great is a down grade.

[Skittles]

62. HE GETS IT

DEMS NEED TO GET ONBOARD OR GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY

NO MORE "BUSINESS AS USUAL"

FIGHT THESE FASCIST FUCKS

[Patton French]

66. If only that message would take hold.

We need a united and energized front. We don’t need attacks on each other

[poozwah]

67. shoomer

democrats need to get younger and more aggressive. if they don’t, they will disappear. the middle of the road is where chickens go to die.

[BobTheSubgenius]

71. HCR is a treasure!

She is the one that ushered my wife into liberal politics. She always had the sensibilities, but lacked any real motivation or urgency.

It does irk me a little that my wife was the one that "found" HCR and introduced me, though.

[erronis]

72. I know! We want to be the discoverer - the first. But there are so many other wise commentators

that surely you can introduce to your wife. Marcy Wheeler, Joyce Vance, ... the list goes on.