Congress
‘Giving bingo’: Democrats’ silent protest against Trump falls flat
President Donald Trump mocked Democrats who sat in front of him Tuesday night, needling them with a grin, “nothing I can say or do to make them happy.” Democrats mostly responded with silent protest — wearing pink, waving placards emblazoned with “FALSE” and “Save Medicaid.” More than a dozen walked out of his speech early, some revealing shirts that said “No Kings Live Here.”
The shambolic scene was emblematic of Democrats’ larger problem after facing a brutal election cycle that locked them out of power as they struggled to communicate in a vastly fragmented media environment. Though the official Democratic response, delivered by Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, got carried on major networks, much of what Democrats had to say didn’t play out on voters’ TVs.
“We’re all trying to get up to speed as fast as possible to take this fight right to Republicans,” said Shasti Conrad, associate Democratic National Committee chair, in an interview with Blue Light News after the speech. “But there’s a little bit of a delay.”
Absent a sharper, in-the-room response, frustrated Democrats vented online, complaining that the Democrats’ signs were “giving bingo” and “not landing,” as former Joe Biden spokesperson Symone Sanders Townsend put it on X. North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton added: “why did democrats go to this tbh,” while late-night host Stephen Colbert mocked Democrats for their signs, making one of his own that said: “Try doing something.”
Democrats’ protest was “very silly, and unserious, but I can’t help but feel some level of empathy for them,” said a Democratic strategist granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly. “I’m sure they feel like they have to do something, anything, [but] that wasn’t it.”
Outside the chamber, Democrats sharpened their political attacks on Trump. Some Democratic lawmakers headed to the party’s influencer spin room, where they invited 30 progressive-aligned social media influencers, like Brian Tyler Cohen and Liz Plank, to Capitol Hill. Social media creators pumped out political content before, during and after Trump’s speech — a first-of-its-kind effort for the party during such an address.
Those videos started to pop on social media, starting with Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), who told YouTuber Adam Mockler inside the spin room: “We’re fighting with Greenland, we’re fighting with Canada, we’re fighting with Mexico — yet we’re in love with Putin? What is happening? This is not America. This is a terrible nightmare. Somebody slap me and wake me the fuck up.”
A House Democratic aide, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly, acknowledged that “a key learning” from the 2024 loss was that Democrats “have a lot more work to do to reach people online.”
“Local TV is still really important, but it has to be a both-and strategy,” the aide added.
Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), offered a pre-buttal to Trump’s speech in a series of direct-to-camera videos, featuring senators using the same “shit that ain’t true” script. Republicans mocked Democrats for the videos’ hokeyness, including Elon Musk and Libs of TikTok, but they also elevated the videos on their own social media channels.
Booker argued in an interview with Puck that the Republican retweets “drew attention to our message today,” which “shows that we can do their playbook just as well, which is to use our ecosystem of connected progressive voices to get a single message out.”
Conrad, who said she did an Instagram live earlier in the day to prebut Trump’s speech, added she was “confident” Democrats understand the assignment and are ready to “both go to the outlets that are already there, but also to build our own.”
Trump, for his part, did offer up a series of clippable moments for Democrats from his speech that could be used in future campaign ads and social media posts. Democrats seized on Trump’s acknowledgment that “there will be a little disturbance” due to his tariffs levied on Canada, Mexico and China.
“‘There will be a little disturbance’ is a genuinely Soviet way to describe people not being able to afford their groceries,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) posted on X.
Some Democrats, including those eyeing possible 2026 congressional bids and 2028 presidential runs, looked for non-traditional ways to respond. Among them: Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who opted to deliver his first TV interview following Trump’s inauguration on Colbert’s show.
Buttigieg criticized Trump on his preelection pledge to lower grocery prices.
“The biggest issue on people’s minds — the affordability of everyday life — is not something that got more than a few seconds of mention in his speech,” Buttigieg told Colbert. He added, “If eggs are $10 and you’re a billionaire, that’s a little disturbance for you, but not for most people.”
Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who is like Buttigieg weighing a Senate bid to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters, took to Instagram to answer questions.
“People are sick and tired of performative nonsense,” McMorrow told Blue Light News. “They don’t want to see their elected officials try to be cute or clever. People are anxious and scared and angry and energized and want to see substance and clear direction.”
McMorrow added, “Democrats need to think about how we actually cut through … not just adding to the noise.”
Amid that noise, Democrats appeared to plead with Americans to listen to them.
“Pick just one issue you’re passionate about and engage. And doom scrolling doesn’t count. Join a group that cares about your issue and act. And if you can’t find one, start one,” Slotkin said.
She said, “Don’t tune out.”
SYRACUSE, New York — President Donald Trump came to New York on Friday to help a Republican win an uphill race for governor. But his visit was also a reminder of the complicated role he plays in his party’s fight to keep control of Congress.
Trump rallied alongside GOP gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman, calling on New Yorkers to fire Gov. Kathy Hochul and, referring to the state attorney general, “her totally corrupt sidekick, Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James.”
“Your city and state are dirty, filthy places, and everybody wants to leave,” he told some 5,000 attendees at a convention center in downtown Syracuse — which, he noted, was “a short distance from the beautiful shores of Lake America.”
“You gotta get your act together, and I tell you what, Bruce Blakeman will get your act together,” Trump said.
For Republicans, the president’s appearance underscored a political dilemma that extends beyond New York: Even as Trump increasingly appears to be a drag on their ticket, they need his loyal supporters to energize their base. While voters have soured on the president’s handling of the economy and costs, he remains a potent force in turning out MAGA voters — even in an otherwise Democratic-dominated state.
“The targeting of where the president goes is not a random exercise,” Marist University pollster Lee Miringoff said. “They’re looking to stir the base without stirring the opposition. They’re picking and choosing, that’s not uncommon. For him to come to New York to help the turnout upstate is a positive for the Republicans and his base.”
Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, hasn’t distanced himself from the president — nor have most of the top officials in New York’s GOP. Nearly every Republican running a competitive congressional race in this half of the state came to Friday’s rally, eager to make their presence known.
“I’m always happy to be with the president,” said Anthony Constantino, who’s running in a nearby red district that’s inched into toss-up territory. “He’s the leader of the free world, and I’m excited to have a great relation with him.”
Some GOP operatives, however, have quietly grumbled that their candidates need to start creating some distance from the president. Republicans from other parts of the state like Rep. Mike Lawler decided that campaigning in their districts was more valuable than trekking to be seen with Trump — as did several down-ballot candidates in Central New York. Democrats, notably, have been just as eager to highlight the visit.
“This is supposed to be a swing district. And the feedback I get is that the president is very unpopular,” said Democratic Rep. John Mannion, who represents Syracuse and the surrounding Central New York area. “He still certainly will have his core base of supporters, but I do think he’s lost support here compared to what he had around the 2024 election.”
Blakeman, for his part, isn’t worried about Trump’s drop in popularity.
“Kathy Hochul should be worried about her drop in popularity,” he said before taking the stage in Syracuse. “She’s the most unpopular governor in the history of the state of New York.”
Trump’s visit came against the backdrop of a darkening political environment for New York Republicans.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement shot a man in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon, stirring fresh condemnation of Trump’s aggressive deportation policies. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who has a surprisingly warm relationship with the president, called on him to cease all ICE activity in the five boroughs. Hochul stressed that the shooting took place with a five-year-old child present and demanded that federal authorities “provide answers.”
Immigration is one of several areas where Blakeman has hewed close to the Trump wing of the party throughout his campaign.
“I’m outraged with Kathy Hochul for taking sides with somebody who was a convicted felon, someone who was an alleged drug dealer, a gang member,” he said Friday about the shooting in Manhattan.
While Trump’s speech repeatedly careened back to the rhetoric one could expect from any of his rallies — boasts about the stock market, complaints about ‘Dumocrats’ — he did manage to seamlessly blend almost all of Blakeman’s oft-used talking points into his stump speech.
“Since Hochul took office, she’s raised your utility rates 48 times, and energy prices in New York have skyrocketed 100 percent,” Trump said. “If Bruce Blakeman gets in, he will cut your electric bills by 70, 80, 90 percent.”
The climate outside of deep blue New York City is also turning increasingly hostile to the GOP. Constantino, who’s running to succeed Rep. Elise Stefanik in upstate New York, trails his Democratic foe Blake Gendebien by 4 points, a Siena Research Institute survey released Friday morning found. A Blue Light News poll showed that nationally one in four Trump voters believe Republican candidates should break from the president in order to win in November.
The wisdom of appearing with Trump has been debated by Republicans throughout the country at a time when gas prices are high and a foreign war drags on. And New York Democrats aren’t viewing the presidential visit as a concern.
Much of Hochul’s messaging this year has focused on making sure New Yorkers know Blakeman and Trump are friends. Her most-aired TV commercial features a puppeteer saying one Republican would do the other’s bidding.
“Puppets are my life. You tell them what to say, they say it,” the narrator says. “But that’s not what you want in a governor.”
Earlier in the day during an MSNOW interview, Hochul dismissed the rally.
“It’s obviously a very political event,” she said. “It seems like a last-ditch effort to breathe some life into a campaign that’s on life support.”
Despite his low approval ratings with voters, Trump’s visit stands to light up a Republican base that Blakeman will need to turn out next month to help him defeat Hochul.
Polling has shown the governor leading the GOP nominee by as much as 18 points in this deep blue state. Yet some Trump supporters maintain the president can help generate much-needed enthusiasm for Blakeman, especially in areas of upstate New York where the Long Island native is not well known.
“We actually have the ability to win these elections, but I just don’t see the enthusiasm out there,” Conservative Party Chair Gerard Kassar said. “Hochul has won the day as far as being a terrible governor, but now we’ve got to get our people out to vote.”
Winning is still a tall order for Blakeman — especially in a tough national political environment where polls show GOP candidates in red states like Texas, Ohio and Kansas struggling against Democratic challengers.
Republicans have not won statewide in New York since George Pataki secured a third term in 2002. Since then, the GOP has lost all levers of statewide power, and Trump’s tariffs as well as his decision to launch a war in Iran have not helped him fulfill his campaign pledge of addressing voters’ cost concerns.
The president’s political woes aren’t going unnoticed.
Privately, Republican operatives grumbled that the president’s visit put swing seat candidates in an uncomfortable spot.
“There’s a lot of commiserating between folks within the party structure — why is this happening? Why is he doing this?” said one Republican operative who was granted anonymity to freely discuss the dynamic. “Then you’ve got the blind loyalists who say, ‘Yay Trump’s coming’ — people who are too politically dumb to understand the ramifications of it.”
Yet the head of the Republican party kept his message very much in line with Hochul’s.
“Please pretend I’m on the ballot,” Trump told Central New Yorkers.
Sen. Chris Murphy wants Democrats to go big for Angie Nixon in Florida’s Senate race — and he’s pushing to raise some “serious money” to help.
“I do believe that we’d make a big mistake if we slept on Florida,” the Connecticut Democrat told Blue Light News on Friday. “I know it feels like a longer shot, but I just think this year is looking exceptional.”
Murphy plans to hit the trail with Nixon as part of a campaign swing for Senate candidates over the next three weeks that will take him through North Carolina and Florida, as well as events with Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota and Chris Pappas in New Hampshire. Murphy will serve as a surrogate for El-Sayed in the spin room at his next debate, and said he’s “just a big believer” in the Michigan Senate nominee.
Murphy’s bullishness about a blue wave comes as Senate Democrats are pushing the boundaries of a midterm battle map that is shifting further into red territory. The Chuck Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC has dropped roughly $5 million apiece into Texas and Kansas over recent days, and the minority leader has included Kansas and Mississippi in his pitches to donors.
“If I were in charge, I would definitely put some resources in Florida,” Murphy said. “When you have an exciting candidate like this, it’s a good long-term investment” in growing Democrats’ activist base.
Still, Murphy stressed he’s “not making any formal recommendations” on where Schumer or top Democratic campaign groups should move their money.
“They’ve got so many mouths to feed,” Murphy said. “That’s why I’m going to try to step up and do some work on my own.”
Murphy, who is considered a potential 2028 presidential contender, has spread roughly $2.5 million across candidates, campaign arms and other organizations this cycle. That includes transferring more than $500,000 to Democrats’ three top campaign arms and 25 state parties.
Prominent Democrats have been ramping up their attention on Florida. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has funneled $250,000 toward Nixon’s campaign, along with other resources. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) also told Blue Light News he hopes to campaign with Nixon.
But Democrats across suddenly competitive red states are clamoring for more cash and Florida is an expensive state, complicating the chances of a significant investment from national groups.
Nixon also faces an uphill battle against GOP Sen. Ashley Moody in the Sunshine State. A progressive state lawmaker, Nixon aligned herself with the Democratic Socialists of America over the summer in a state where many voters, especially those with ties to Cuba, reject such an ideology. Also, Republicans in Florida have a 1.5 million voter registration advantage over Democrats.
Senate Democrats’ top super PAC is pushing into Kansas.
The Chuck Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC is launching a $5 million statewide television ad blitz starting Saturday through Election Day — the latest sign that Democrats believe the Senate map is shifting onto red turf.
SMP had signaled in recent days it could get involved in the race, telling Blue Light News late last month it was “actively thinking” about whether to wade into the state where Democrats haven’t won a Senate seat in nearly a century but where Adam Hamilton narrowly leads GOP Sen. Roger Marshall in recent polls. Internal SMP polling that found an increasingly competitive race factored into the group’s decision to spend. It will also run digital ads.
“The gap is closing in Kansas,” SMP spokesperson Lauren French said in a statement. “We are committed to ensuring families understand Marshall’s real record of making health care and basic goods more expensive for working Kansans.”
Republicans are scrambling to shore up Marshall. Senate Leadership Fund, a top GOP super PAC aligned with Republican leadership, has booked over $10 million in ads through Election Day in the state, per ad tracking firm AdImpact.
SMP’s first ad attacks Marshall for joining Senate Republicans in voting to table a Democratic-led amendment last year to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. The Senate later approved legislation to release the files by unanimous consent. It’s the latest in a slate of ads from Democrats hitting their Republican rivals over the late, disgraced financier and convicted sex offender. Marshall’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Senate Democrats’ plunge into the state comes as the midterm battle map is undergoing a major realignment. Georgia and North Carolina — primed to be two of the cycle’s premiere battlegrounds — are tilting left to the point where national Republicans are retracting spending in both states and Democrats are starting to follow suit, freeing funds on both sides to shift elsewhere.
Republicans are racing to reinforce incumbents across what was once safer red turf. SLF has also pledged $5 million to bolster Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina.
Democrats, meanwhile, are starting to spend more in red states. SMP has dropped over $2 million on digital ads in Texas. Schumer, the Senate minority leader, has included Kansas and Mississippi in his pitches to donors.
-
Politics2 years agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
Uncategorized2 years ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
The Josh Fourrier Show2 years agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
The Dictatorship2 years agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
Politics2 years agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
The Dictatorship2 years agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
Politics2 years agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words