The Democratic Senator Taking Cues From Trumpism
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What are the Democrats' challenges in the Trump era?
From New York Times Opinion, I'm Ross Douthat, and this is Interesting Times. It's a difficult time for the Democratic Party. Donald Trump's approval ratings have dropped sharply, but the Democrats remain incredibly unpopular. Liberalism is searching not just for a clear agenda, but also a clear idea of why it lost, why the country turned right, and where the left might go from here. One notable searcher is Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who happens to represent my own home state of Connecticut, the green suburban heart of blue America. Murphy has been front and center lately as an advocate of renewed capital R resistance to the Trump administration. But he's also been a would-be theorist of the rise of populism.
He's argued, in language that, let's just say, doesn't always come easily to Democratic politicians, that the Trump era should be understood in terms of cultural, even spiritual, crisis. Can this theory fit with the practice of Democratic Party politics? Can you resist Trump while understanding and adapting to Trumpism? Let's find out. Senator Murphy, welcome to Interesting Times. They are interesting times. Thanks for having me. That's right. Well, we paid you extra to confirm that for us. You're joining me from the bowels of the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
What is Senator Chris Murphy's view on Trumpism?
I'm in what they call my hideaway office. So I'm in the basement of the Capitol right now. You may hear some bells going off here during our conversation as the votes for the day get
All right. Terrific. That will give us some real urgency behind this conversation. So I want to jump right in and talk about your party and the state of the Democrats, because we just marked 100 days of the second Trump administration. The media was full of takes on those 100 days, how Trump was doing, how the White House is governing. And I want to ask you about the Democrats' first 100 days. What do you think of your party's performance since Donald Trump was inaugurated?
I don't know that anyone was ready for Trump in his second term. I think there was an assumption both in the public and within the Democratic Party that Trump 2 would look very much like Trump 1, that it'd be a lot of rhetoric and bluster, but it wouldn't be matched with actual action. Things have gone very different than the public imagined and that the party imagined. Trump, from day one, began to wage a very coordinated, thoughtful assault on the rule of law in order to enable the transfer of our government from democracy into some form of quasi-democracy to put his billionaire friends in charge. And I just don't know that the Democratic Party was ready. And I think even to this day, a lot of folks in the party still think this is politics as normal, still think that we're really not. at risk of losing our democracy, that we're going to have an election in 2026, and that if we just continue to push his approval ratings down bit by bit, that everything will turn out okay.
I think that the broad public has been very dissatisfied with the Democrats' reaction, and that's in part why you see approval ratings for the party in the toilet. Slowly, I think the party is beginning to understand that democracy itself is at risk. So our response is getting better. It's getting more precise. But there is still an open discussion inside the Democratic Party as to how urgent this moment is. And I'm not sure which side is going to win. I think if my side, the side that believes it is like five alarm urgent, doesn't win, we might not actually have an election that Democrats can compete in in 2026.
So just as an outsider to Democratic Party debates, it doesn't seem to me like the party went easy on the argument that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy in 2024. This was obviously a centerpiece of Joe Biden's arguments in the midterms and before he ultimately dropped out of the race.
How do Democrats need to respond to Trump?
And while there were various different, you know, Harris Waltz messages over the course of the campaign, democracy ended up being a big part of the closing argument. So one, what makes you say that Democrats weren't ready for a thing that Your standard bearers were campaigning on. And two, just as a political matter, Democrats did lose with a version of that message just four to six months ago.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the Democrats' challenges in the Trump era?
0:01–1:50
2
What is Senator Chris Murphy's view on Trumpism?
1:50–4:26
3
How do Democrats need to respond to Trump?
4:26–8:23
4
What is the spiritual crisis in American life?
8:23–9:04
5
What are the implications of big tech on democracy?
9:04–10:56
6
How should Democrats talk about religion?
10:56–15:42
7
What does a bigger Democratic tent look like?
15:42–17:17
8
What role does government play in addressing loneliness?
17:17–1:03:27
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Interesting Times
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