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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTim Walz: People are Sick of Dems' "Strongly Worded Letters"
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz tells Scott Galloway and Kara Swisher that its time for Democrats to start breaking the norms.
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Traildogbob
(12,952 posts)No half time strongly worded letter to your team thats getting an ass kicking on the field has ever came back to win.
dalton99a
(93,736 posts)Last edited Tue Mar 10, 2026, 01:12 PM - Edit history (1)
We have leaders who lead by making speeches when nobody is paying attention
WSHazel
(722 posts)Everyone does not need to do exactly the same thing, but we do all need to resist.
BattleRow
(2,297 posts)RetiredParatrooper
(153 posts)Talk to them in the way they understand in the environment they created and wanted.
Fuck them.
MustLoveBeagles
(15,905 posts)LiberalBrooke
(576 posts)And a future president after 8 years.
Auggie
(33,100 posts)and would retire at the end of Harris' term.
Your thought is wonderful, though.
WhiskeyGrinder
(26,842 posts)leftstreet
(40,212 posts)And "breaking the norms" to do it. Then he says well why can't Democrats can "break the norms" for things like national healthcare, etc.
essentially
WhiskeyGrinder
(26,842 posts)leftstreet
(40,212 posts)hamsterjill
(17,487 posts)Cheat if necessary and DARE anyone to catch them.
Unfortunately, this IS what's needed. I'm sure you will disagree, but the current approaches are getting us no where. It's time for a stronger, more determined and creative approach. How?
Not up to me to decide or make that decision. But it IS up to the Democratic leadership.
WhiskeyGrinder
(26,842 posts)from him in January and February but not a ton of action. So which is it?
hamsterjill
(17,487 posts)He's on his way out, after all, and has nothing to lose.
dickthegrouch
(4,476 posts)We'd list all the LAWS that *rump and allies have broken;
All the LAWS that they say they want to continue to break;
And then list out how we are going to change the LAW to make that harder to do, and to extract personal responsibility for the transgressions, rather than allowing lawless criminals to hide behind institutions.
We need to list out all the ways in which those institutions clearly need to be hardened, and put integrity back into the entire system, a DEM Project 2028, if you will.
Just advocating cheating like they do, is never going to be enough to satisfy people who ardently WANT the rules (LAWS) to be adhered to. Get us the ability to fix it all, AND THEN FIX IT. Takes planning, and a resolve to follow through, just like with Project 2025.
hamsterjill
(17,487 posts)Make no mistake: I want the rules adhered to, myself. But when I see Republicans blatantly flaunting "bending" the rules over and over and over and over again - I start to understand that "going high" isn't going to cut it, unfortunately. When Mitch McConnell was allowed to get away with not having hearings on Merrick Garland's nomination to the SC, THAT was a blatant cheat.
So, I can agree with the premise of your post completely, but we've got to deal with the obvious first. And it's not going to be pleasant any way you look at it. The alternative is to continue down the current path and Republicans will continue to be emboldened and break and stretch the rules even more.
calimary
(89,791 posts)is to continue down the current path and Republicans will continue to be emboldened and break and stretch the rules even more.
Im guessing that there are a couple of possibilities.
1: Either growing numbers of voters will finally have faced reality and will have chosen to support Democrats. Or
2: the Republicans will find a way to dominate. At least for awhile.
But then again, there is a third option: that the whole damn thing eventually collapses, with all our data in various stages of irretrievability.
Mysterian
(6,370 posts)They are the faces of the party right now.
Grim Chieftain
(1,601 posts)should be met with the strongest Democratic leadership in US history. Unfortunately, that's not the case.
yellow dahlia
(5,596 posts)bigtree
(94,042 posts)...those two Democratic 'leaders' aren't executives.
They're not even put into those leadership positions by voters, as this screed against them suggests. They are voted into the leadership by the elected Democrats to represent and organize THEIR priorities, and are challenged to perform that duty by organizing a diverse and disparate collection of interests from around the nation who chose the Democratic party as a legislative vehicle.
The leaders are legislative managers who organize the Democrats who they have available to them around legislation which a majority of them will agree to support.
They don't have the power and authority of presidents to make things happen by fiat, or on their own initiative, so it's substantially inaccurate to portray them as the leaders of the party, as some are wont to do. They are individual Senators or Representatives with two votes between them that they actually control.
We don't vote them in as leader, and the people who sent them to Congress didn't necessarily vote for them to lead Democrats around the nation, as much as they voted for their own interests where they live (pointing to the destructive calls for them to resign their seats entirely from some). They're very likely, and look to be, representing the voters who sent them there with solid individual progressive votes for nearly every Democratic initiative or interest.
We have to ask, before we delegate all of these expectations of leadership of the party, in which no voter outside of the Democratic membership in Congress actually cast a ballot directly to elect any Democratic leader, why they persist in those roles?
It's obviously because they represent the collective will of their respective memberships, almost without fail, in each and every utterance of support for each and every initiative that comes out of the Democratic caucus.
That's how the leadership is structured, and that's how it operates. They are there because they represent the collective will of our elected majority in Congress to a fault; I'd even go so far as to say they've proven individually MORE progressive in their voting than the majority in some notable instances, than what's sometimes emerged as consensus among Dems.
People put them out there, cast them as something they're just not; don't have the individual power to effectively make all of these aspirations people have for them come true; especially in a minority.
I'd remind everyone that Schumer, for instance, presided over and fought behind the scenes for EVERY plank of the historic legislative accomplishments of the Biden term that emerged from committee and was successfully voted on when we held the last (slim) majority.
They are a direct reflection of the membership who voted for them to lead THEM. Nothing more, despite all of the performative expectations outside of those very vital and important legislative duties,
Almost every Senator, and every Rep thinks they could be president. That's what these two manage every day, so it's really something for anyone to expect they would, or should, be acting like they have the liberty to go beyond the expectations of the people who put them in those roles.
Thing is, they have a very firm grasp of the reality of the numbers of votes they have to work with to do more than the performative expectations some seem to think is their primary function.
But, it's always interesting to me how strident and insistent the demands are from folks who don't seem to be accounting for or taking any responsibility for giving these leaders sufficient numbers of Democrats to actually set the agenda and advance legislative solutions in the majority.
Betty Boom
(436 posts)If the polling shows disapproval of Democrats, a huge share of it, doesnt have anything to do with policy. Its got to do with why the hell arent you doing something? Stop acting as if norms apply. We are in the upside down now. We are through the looking glass. And every time we turn the other cheek or take the high ground, the other side looks at us and thinks were wimps. Im not a wimp. Im mad as hell and I want my country back.
Bettie
(19,591 posts)"I'm not voting for them"....it means we can and should do better.
The right wing and the media don't do nuance, but I know plenty of Democrats who are frustrated with our party, but also loyal voters.
I am one of them.
We need our leadership to stop with the idea that the other side are our "friends across the aisle"...they aren't. They are a very real threat to the existence of our country.
DJ Synikus Makisimus
(1,404 posts)Joinfortmill
(20,946 posts)popsdenver
(2,179 posts)with these NEW Republicans since the 1980 election.......They have been fighting the war, using guerrilla tactics, and the Dems have been using pea shooters......."we will take the high road", "I am going to write a sternly worded letter", " I am REALLY concerned"....etc etc etc........
Many of us have been hammered, for even daring to say even the slightest of constructive criticisms......
We have over 200 U.S. Reps and Senators, and with the exception of a few select ones, that we never hear a peep from.......
Colorado has THREE of them.......TWO SENATORS AND OUR REPRESENTATIVE FROM DENVER............l
I think it would be hard to figure out, if the Dems have had any true leader/leadership for a long time.........
Once again, I feel that:
They have been walking down the jungle path, swatting at mosquitoes, completely oblivious to the herd of charging elephants.
Pun Intended...................
And so folks, here we are today....................
dalton99a
(93,736 posts)all of which are true.
leftstreet
(40,212 posts)Linda ladeewolf
(1,136 posts)In an alternate Universe, Kamala won the election. There is no war, and they have free healthcare. Trump is in prison for life there (or whats left of it) and they are happy and laughing.
Historic NY
(39,947 posts)stick it too them every turn.
DownriverDem
(7,006 posts)I'm not sick of the Dems.
Bettie
(19,591 posts)the "Strongly Worded Letters" which do nothing except make Republicans laugh at how ineffective our party is.
Snackshack
(2,581 posts)I would add we are also tired of being told 'we need to look forward not backward'.... that will not suffice this time.
dalton99a
(93,736 posts)Best way to make sure the zombies will reemerge
jfz9580m
(16,921 posts)No..we need to go over the past targeting the people who made the most money and destroyed the planet and human life and all the dynamics that helped them on their path. And not nitpick over the few people (e.g. Dr.Fauci) who actually get stuck with these messes.
As far as I can tell these bogus elites are such a disgusting lot that even the few scientists or doctors who are respectable but just by position have at some point signed off on something shitty end up getting targeted as Dr Fauci was.
Scientists and doctors (the best and most decent ones) are usually overworked and targeted as fall guys while the real parasites and their hench people skate over and over..
We are offering a carte blanche to so many of the worst people that attacking Dr. Fauci is about attacking science. Because good scientists cannot just say what people want to hear. Scientists are human and have flaws and contradictions, but they are a far better bet than these unprincipled mercenaries.
It is not possible for every piece of shit in this to cover their rear and tumble along confusingly and confused scamming their ways ahead. Parasitic growth..
I am filing some serious complaints against the tech sector which started hogging everything some 15-16 years ago. But I dont want to be the beagle in beaglegate. Just because I continue to be cut out of the loop for being an obvious and overt complainant.
Six117
(327 posts)Waiting for permission to defend ourselves is paving the way to disaster.
QueerDuck
(1,564 posts)... that our elected leaders have not yet thought of. Share it with us. What is it that a minority party can do to bully our way to success? I'm all ears!
Scrivener7
(59,335 posts)Because if a teacher or deli worker can't tell them a good political plan, who can?
LiberalArkie
(19,691 posts)usually with the government executive like Neville Chamberlain. It is present a lot, really.
JBTaurus83
(1,226 posts)Ive had it up to my ears with that useless shit.
twodogsbarking
(18,422 posts)He has been through so much and knows the dangers from Trump as well as anyone.
Speak up and encourage conversation. Sitting in silence does little.
summer_in_TX
(4,136 posts)Great insight, Coach.
The habit of courteous behavior without the courage to confront and hold the line, and the principled conviction as to when and where to do that, are main reasons the Dem Congressional leadership is as ineffective as their strongly worded letters.
OldBaldy1701E
(10,976 posts)It won't work.
The sooner we realize this, the sooner we can change things.
Scrivener7
(59,335 posts)SunImp
(2,692 posts)We give in too easily to their talking points on issues like immigration, trans rights, policing, etc instead of holding strong to what we believe is right. We throw them a bone by hiring or saying we'll keep a few Conservative judges to look impartial to the general public. We should forget trying to please them or put food on their plate. They need to get up and get it their selves from now on.
J_William_Ryan
(3,465 posts)Because Republicans will always oppose national healthcare; and even if enacted, it will be struck down by the Trump Court.
Walzs frustration is understandable, but its fundamentally nonsense.
iemanja
(57,740 posts)If we do MAGA's job for them, we have no place in the political system.
hadEnuf
(3,598 posts)while the Republicans have been repeatedly kicking us in the groin.
That's the problem.
Kid Berwyn
(24,106 posts)Polls showed it worked, cutting through the Corporate McPravda Trump Sound Machine. Then some suit told him to shut up and stick to the script.
ihaveaquestion
(4,605 posts)Not that I don't think she should have shut up...I do, she was unhinged and driven crazy by her extreme dieting, etc. But, if she had told all the 'sane' republicans to pound sand and if McCain had joined in, they might have actually won against Obama.
bigtree
(94,042 posts)...sometime they send letters.
They have NEVER BEEN INTENDED AS THE TOTALITY OF DEMOCRAT'S RESPONSE OR ACTION.
It's all some people focus on, to the exclusion of what Democrats are actually saying and doing,
It's a fucking canard, and people need to think before they play into this 'Dem wrong' bullshit as if doing this in public is some genius messaging.
Walz should keep do what he's doing, whatever that still is while he's still in office. Imagine that. The guy that's quitting lecturing the people who are staying in the fight.
betsuni
(28,997 posts)Initech
(108,511 posts)betsuni
(28,997 posts)Last edited Tue Mar 10, 2026, 04:37 PM - Edit history (1)
QueerDuck
(1,564 posts)Its the ultimate "circular firing squad" strategy. No matter what Democrats actually "do" in the face of a GOP majority, the goalposts move so fast its a wonder anyone can keep up. If they dont perform a literal miracle on the Senate floor every week, theyre branded as "weak" or "complicit."
It would be helpful if some folks took a quick Civics 101 refresher to remember how a minority party actually functions in government. Demanding an expletive-laced temper tantrum might feel cathartic, but fist-banging doesn't magically override a majority vote. And when this tactic fails, it suppresses our own side's enthusiasm.
Honestly, if I were a GOP strategist, I couldnt dream up a better way to maintain control than by convincing Democratic voters that their own party is the enemy.
Its short-sighted, it suppresses the vote, and Im sure this latest round of finger-wagging will finally be the thing that magically flips the House.
betsuni
(28,997 posts)Somehow offensive to ask that one understands how government works and the reality of majorities and to vote Democratic.
OldBaldy1701E
(10,976 posts)However, there is a big difference between 'circular firing squad' and 'debate'.
There have been too many times that I have seen 'debate' quashed because it questions the basis for things we have. Well, that is why the debate has to happen. Otherwise, we are just an 'echo chamber' that accomplishes nothing.
Blind conformity is one the things that put us here. I will not participate in such a thing.
I will question anything that does not make sense to me. If the others don't want to explain it, then I will see about finding out.
But, I will not participate in an 'echo chamber'. Just because it has a 'D' beside it does not automatically mean it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. And, I will not act like that for any reason (other than getting something that meets that criteria). The Democratic Ideal is a great thing. But it is still an abstract ideal because of our society and how it operates. It can never be implemented because our very way of life is not analogous with that ideal. And, because of that same way of life, we cannot question why we cannot fix these things.
This is one of the main reasons why this nation is so screwed up. Blindly following something without discourse or examination. We have done it for too long.
I would add that it is also offensive to suggest that we just blindly follow the current situation as it is without discussing how to break free of the programming and stop these animals from ruining everything. Stopping them is going to include some 'rules breaking'. It will require doing more than maintaining the status quo in Congress.
Stopping the entire thing from ever happening again is going to take some serious consideration and examination for the very foundations of this nation. It will require debate on things that may not have been considered in the past. But, we have little choice. We have to do something. Now.
Will we?
bigtree
(94,042 posts)...EVERY TIME Democrats are in the majority.
It's easy to slam a minority party for only doing the little they have the actual ability to do. It's opportunistic bullshit, imo.
The 'programming' is coming from the republican party about 'breaking the rules.' That's not a Democratic value, or a democratic one, either.
If Democratic voters will get off of their asses and go to the polls when we have a chance to vote next, we can eliminate most of the resistance to change, roll back most of the nonsense, and set ourselves up for the next presidential election.
Pretending like we've already had that opportunity in a minority because, breaking the rules, something, something, kinda distracts from that absolutely necessary goal of achieving a majority, and actually threatens to keep us arguing about our own party in the minority for another term.
What's really fucked up is how some people bought into this bullshit at election time, when we should have all been focused on opposing republicans and electing more Democrats. THAT'S how all of this actually works, not his backbiting, navelgazing defeatism some seem to think is some political messaging genius.
OldBaldy1701E
(10,976 posts)We have had complete control before, and we did not 'eliminate most of the resistance to change' then, nor did we 'roll back most of the nonsense'.
Why do you think that is suddenly going to happen now?
Bt the way, it has to happen, or we will just be right back here in ten years or so.
Yes, we have to address the current situation. But, doing so without also implementing the means to stop this from happening again is little short of folly.
So, where are those plans? Because we are just putting a coat of paint on a rotten house if we don't address this.
Which is exactly what the rich oligarchs want us to do. They prefer this house as it is and do not want us to build another... mainly because they know that the social beliefs and the materialism that gave them their power and position would be gone. They will not allow this to happen.
This has to be addressed.
Now.
And, we are not doing so.
I do not see this position as "...backbiting, navelgazing defeatism".
(I suspect that our 'overlords' would want us to see it that way, though)
bigtree
(94,042 posts)...at least not to someone who paid attention to those fights.
We haven't had a veto-proof majority or a filibuster resistant majority in ages, so it's really something to portray those losses as some lack of Democratic party will when you should know well that we not only faced filibusters, but had two republican friendly Democrats, TWO, who kept us from achieving SOME planks of our Democratic agenda, both in committee and on the floor in the respective chambers.
What you've written here is a projection, not proof of anything except maybe your own disappointment that something or the other didn't get accomplished.
The thing is, without a Democratic majority, NONE of what you want will EVER get accomplished.
What we saw last election were some very stupid protests against Democrats which assumed there was going to be some epic changes to the Democratic party that would come about by just sitting on their hands and allowing republicans to get control of all branches of government.
Brilliant plan from these folks who can't seem to grasp the fact that our party is a coalition of often disparate and diverse interests which have chosen to unite to give their initiatives a chance to advance through the legislature into action of law.
Not every initiative or interest is guaranteed in that process, but politics isn't always a zero-sum enterprise.
The 'overlords' projected here as omnipresent and overpowering only have one vote apiece. Their interest is to divide our Democratic votes, and they did a good job of that divisiveness last election, even though we got damn close in the House.
Vote for the Democratic nominee, elect a Democratic majority, and argue all of that out in a position of power. Ignore the people insisting on perpetually fighting those primary battles as if they can magically make legislative solutions happen without building coalitions of like-minded legislators who may well disagree on some things.
Resist those who treat governing like a campaign, and can't or won't tell you the actual legislative plan or political path to what they say they want, because, for any political movement to succeed it must have a legislative solution at it's end, as well as sufficient numbers of Democrats in office to make those aspirations and ideals happen.
Anyone who strays from that equation is auguring for even more of this bickering in the minority, instead of the progressive progress that ALL Democratic majorities achieve, every time they're in power.
Thew
(165 posts)It's genuinely shocking a Democrat ever gets any votes when facing:
attacks from Republicans and conservatives with their huge media advantages
attacks from Moderates and "independents" as "both sides" nonsense that still seems to punish Democrats and excuses Republicans (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murc%27s_law )
attacks from the left for not being pure enough
and... attacks from fellow Democrats in an effort to build some sort of credibility.
I don't believe Democrats are above reproach or criticism, but there is one vector out of this mess and it's through the Democratic party. Reflexive blaming Democrats is getting really old.
Deminpenn
(17,430 posts)but Dems do need to document the facts. This is important to any future legal proceedings.
orangecrush
(29,962 posts)YES WE ARE
republianmushroom
(22,251 posts)luv2fly
(2,635 posts)How dare he criticize our leaders!
Orrex
(66,976 posts)At least, when someone on DU says the same thing, the cheerleaders scold them.
LPBBEAR
(651 posts)Last edited Wed Mar 11, 2026, 07:34 AM - Edit history (1)
shortly after the January 6 attempt to overthrow our government by Trump and the Maga goons, I called into Thom Hartmann's show and spoke with either Mark Pocan or Ro Khanna. I can't remember which. It was obvious to me, based on my opinion of Trump's obsessive compulsive behavior that even though he lost the election we weren't done with his sorry ass BS.
Thom asks callers to ask a question of the congress people visiting the show.
My question was "What will the Democrats be doing to "Trump Proof" the presidency?"
Nothing was done. No action was taken by the Democrats to bar Trump from running, declare him unable to hold public office due to his involvement with January 6. Not a damn thing was done to correct the issues that a criminal like Trump was able to take advantage of while in office. Nada, Zilch, Zip, Nothing.
Instead the Democrats scurried around trying to fix all the stuff Trump broke in his first term and did nothing to prevent future versions of Trump or Trump himself from coming back and doing it all over again.
The Democrats are like ants busily working away, following the rules, building their nest, earnestly laboring away to keep everything in working order. Repairing the damage they go on never getting beyond the repairing phase.
The Republicans are like the giant boot that comes along regularly smashing the carefully built ant nest, stomping it into oblivion, destroying everything the ants so carefully built.
Of course the ants dutifully come back each time and quietly begin attempting to rebuild everything, laboring diligently, trying to put everything the giant boot destroyed back in order.
Tim Walz, while well meaning is wrong. While the Democrats do need to eventually rebuild the nest, address health care for example, the first thing the Democrats need to do after taking power is......take a god damn giant chainsaw to that boot wearing leg and remove it completely so that we don't continue to have endless cycles of Democrats dutifully coming back to quietly rebuild the ant colony back to order.
In other words...THIS TIME....put the criminals in prison where they belong. Trump proof the Presidency. Purge the federal government of corrupt Supreme Court Justices who accept bribes. Imprison congress people who "give tours" to J6 criminals. Rescind pardons issued by a criminal President. Remove all Republican political appointees in federal positions. Arrest elected officials who colluded with foreign dictators and committed treason. Give them all the penalty reserved for treason in this country.
Only by doing this first can we go back to quietly rebuilding the ant colony and have any hope of progress in this country not being repeatedly stomped into oblivion.
Nuremburg.
ihaveaquestion
(4,605 posts)bigtree
(94,042 posts)...anyone can criticize a party out of power.
Democrats ALWAYS take care of business in a majority. When they get the numbers, they will act on that opportunity.
Expecting a minority party to deny Trump the ability to run is really some ask, considering that the Consititution allows anyone facing charges, or even convicted to run for office, even assume the presidency - even from jail.
This reads like fantasy, considering everything that actually took place.
Aepps22
(374 posts)I agree with you 100%. I respect the governor but when you are in the minority you do what you can knowing that most of what you do will be overcome in fairly short order or isnt strong enough for some people. I keep hearing about how Dems need to fight but they are fighting but people want results when they dont have the actual numbers to stop the harm. Even when Minneapolis was taken over by ICE all the governor could do was tell people to document things which was all the power he had. He didnt deploy the national guard or do any bold actions because I think he knew it wouldnt work. We as voters need to take some responsibility for this nonsense because even if you didnt vote for Kamala, no excuse not to vote for the house seat which would have given more power to stop some of this stuff.