Progressives confront their limited leverage as they take on Democratic leaders
The progressive media outlets that exploded after the party’s 2024 loss to Trump are now watching the leaders take credit for what they think their movement built.
- Activists believe that they, not Schumer and Jeffries, put in the work to win the biggest Democratic victories in decades.
- Their message is consistent: That voters who want “change” and support progressive ideas will stay engaged only if the leadership changes and President Donald Trump is forced to veto big progressive bills.
- At last week’s post-election Crooked Con, a gathering of progressive activists, strategists, influencers, and podcast addicts, the demand for new leaders hung in the air.
Even Trent acknowledged that what legions of online progressives are asking for — the rejection of leaders who just presided over Democratic landslides — is unlikely to happen.
The News By Corbin Trent’s estimate, he’s spending 15 hours a day on a cause that has animated the left ever since Democrats won huge majorities in the House and Senate: urging them to dump their leaders.
- In a short interview with Semafor, he disputed the idea that the leader had earned the job already by electing between seven and nine new Democratic senators.
- And the obstacles of the anti-leadership campaign are revealing the limited reach of a progressive movement that wants to pick the next presidential nominee.
- “How are you going to do things differently so that Democrats get their sh*t together?” That got muted applause from an audience ready to join an insurgency.
- Even if Van Hollen mounts a campaign, it will be a massive uphill climb for progressives to deny Schumer the votes in next month’s closed-door vote.
- I think the lesson from this election was, this was people power over money.” The scale of the Democratic wins has made the entire push trickier.
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