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{"id":6889,"date":"2025-03-05T06:15:15","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T06:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/giving-bingo-democrats-silent-protest-against-trump-falls-flat\/"},"modified":"2025-03-05T06:15:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T06:15:15","slug":"giving-bingo-democrats-silent-protest-against-trump-falls-flat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/giving-bingo-democrats-silent-protest-against-trump-falls-flat\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Giving bingo\u2019: Democrats\u2019 silent protest against Trump falls flat"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>President Donald Trump mocked Democrats who sat in front of him Tuesday night, needling them with a grin, \u201cnothing I can say or do to make them happy.\u201d Democrats mostly responded with silent protest \u2014 wearing pink, waving placards emblazoned with \u201cFALSE\u201d and \u201cSave Medicaid.\u201d More than a dozen walked out of his speech early, some <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MaxwellFrostFL\/status\/1897139309754675674?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet\" target=\"_blank\">revealing shirts<\/a> that said \u201cNo Kings Live Here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The shambolic scene was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/02\/16\/democrats-losing-trump-doge-information-battle-00204522\" target=\"_blank\">emblematic of Democrats&#8217; larger problem<\/a> 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&#8217;t play out on voters\u2019 TVs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re all trying to get up to speed as fast as possible to take this fight right to Republicans,\u201d said Shasti Conrad, associate Democratic National Committee chair, in an interview with Blue Light News after the speech. \u201cBut there&#8217;s a little bit of a delay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Absent a sharper, in-the-room response, frustrated Democrats vented online, complaining that the Democrats\u2019 signs were \u201cgiving bingo\u201d and \u201cnot landing,\u201d as former Joe Biden spokesperson <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SymoneDSanders\/status\/1897116180219117689\" target=\"_blank\">Symone Sanders Townsend put it on X<\/a>. North Carolina Democratic Party Chair <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/abreezeclayton\/status\/1897118776577114369?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet\" target=\"_blank\">Anderson Clayton added<\/a>: \u201cwhy did democrats go to this tbh,\u201d while late-night host Stephen Colbert mocked Democrats for their signs, making one of his own that said: \u201cTry doing something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Democrats\u2019 protest was \u201cvery silly, and unserious, but I can\u2019t help but feel some level of empathy for them,\u201d said a Democratic strategist granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly. \u201cI\u2019m sure they feel like they have to do something, anything, [but] that wasn\u2019t it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Outside the chamber, Democrats sharpened their political attacks on Trump. Some Democratic lawmakers headed to the party\u2019s 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\u2019s speech \u2014 a first-of-its-kind effort for the party during such an address.<\/p>\n<p>Those videos started to pop on social media, starting with Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), who <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Acyn\/status\/1897143006509326452\" target=\"_blank\">told YouTuber Adam Mockler<\/a> inside the spin room: \u201cWe\u2019re fighting with Greenland, we\u2019re fighting with Canada, we\u2019re fighting with Mexico \u2014 yet we\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A House Democratic aide, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly, acknowledged that \u201ca key learning\u201d from the 2024 loss was that Democrats \u201chave a lot more work to do to reach people online.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLocal TV is still really important, but it has to be a both-and strategy,\u201d the aide added.<\/p>\n<p>Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), offered a pre-buttal to Trump\u2019s speech in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CoryBooker\/status\/1896905720878002261?utm_campaign=The+Best+%26+The+Brightest+-+SUBSCRIBERS+%283%2F4%2F25%29&amp;utm_content=The+Best+%26+The+Brightest+-+SUBSCRIBERS+%283%2F3%2F25%29&amp;utm_medium=email_action&amp;utm_source=customer.io&amp;utm_term=f6c60606927ab3f80b\" target=\"_blank\">series of direct-to-camera videos<\/a>, featuring senators using the same \u201cshit that ain\u2019t true\u201d script. Republicans mocked Democrats for the videos\u2019 hokeyness, including <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1896931790226612720\" target=\"_blank\">Elon Musk and Libs of TikTok<\/a>, but they also elevated the videos on their own social media channels.<\/p>\n<p>Booker <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/PeterHamby\/status\/1897117152613949527\" target=\"_blank\">argued in an interview with Puck<\/a> that the Republican retweets \u201cdrew attention to our message today,\u201d which \u201cshows 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Conrad, who said she did an Instagram live earlier in the day to prebut Trump\u2019s speech, added she was \u201cconfident\u201d Democrats understand the assignment and are ready to \u201cboth go to the outlets that are already there, but also to build our own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s acknowledgment that \u201cthere will be a little disturbance\u201d due to his tariffs levied on Canada, Mexico and China.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018There will be a little disturbance\u2019 is a genuinely Soviet way to describe people not being able to afford their groceries,\u201d Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/brianschatz\/status\/1897125446137077799\" target=\"_blank\">posted on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s inauguration on Colbert\u2019s show.<\/p>\n<p>Buttigieg criticized Trump on his preelection pledge to lower grocery prices. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe biggest issue on people&#8217;s minds \u2014 the affordability of everyday life \u2014 is not something that got more than a few seconds of mention in his speech,\u201d Buttigieg told Colbert. He added, \u201cIf eggs are $10 and you&#8217;re a billionaire, that&#8217;s a little disturbance for you, but not for most people.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are sick and tired of performative nonsense,\u201d McMorrow told Blue Light News. \u201cThey don\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McMorrow added, \u201cDemocrats need to think about how we actually cut through \u2026 not just adding to the noise.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Amid that noise, Democrats appeared to plead with Americans to listen to them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPick just one issue you\u2019re passionate about and engage. And doom scrolling doesn\u2019t count. Join a group that cares about your issue and act. And if you can\u2019t find one, start one,\u201d Slotkin said.<\/p>\n<p>She said, \u201cDon\u2019t tune out.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Donald Trump mocked Democrats who sat in front of him Tuesday night, needling them with a grin, \u201cnothing I can say or do to make them happy.\u201d Democrats mostly responded with silent protest \u2014 wearing pink, waving placards emblazoned with \u201cFALSE\u201d and \u201cSave Medicaid.\u201d More than a dozen walked out of his speech early, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}