Democrats and the Danger of Silence

Fascism is here. Where are our leaders?

As the saying goes, the first step is admitting you have a problem, and if the 2024 election shows anything, it is that we Democrats have a problem on our hands. However, we seem nowhere near taking that first step.

I’m not referring to the scale of Trump’s victory, which is an issue for another post; Democrats’ problem is one of credibility: We campaigned on Trump’s threat to democracy. Yet just this past week, President Biden invited President-Elect Trump to the White House for the traditional meeting between incoming and outgoing presidents. As a Democrat who entered politics to defeat Trump, it was painful to watch for me as I’m sure it was for you, but even more galling was Biden’s nonchalance. The photo-op, capturing Biden’s nothing-to-see-here civility, encapsulates how ill-prepared Democrats are for the moment we find ourselves in.

In the oath of office taken by federal officeholders, our public servants swear to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” This is an unprecedented moment, one unlike any previous transfer of power. For the first time in our nation’s entire history, a domestic enemy is about to assume our most powerful office. And Democratic leadership doesn’t appear to have the awareness — to say nothing of the strategy — to take on this threat.

We must recognize where we are headed now. The guardrails, norms, and most importantly the personnel of sound moral fiber who curbed Trump’s darkest impulses in his first term are all gone. 

Consider the parade of horribles that we all witnessed emerge from Trump’s Truth Social feed this week. Does anyone believe that accused sex offender Matt Gaetz has any reason to be anything other than a loyal footsoldier in Trump’s mafia-esque war of revenge on his enemies? Is Pete Hegseth — who in his Army service only attained the junior rank of major — being chosen to lead the $800 billion Department of Defense for his managerial skills? Promoting incompetent lackeys to lead the government’s most heavily armed departments is a hallmark of the authoritarian’s playbook. 

In any other country, picks like these would elicit condemnation or alarm from our elected leaders. But where is the alarm from Democratic leaders? 

Personnel is policy, and these picks signal that Trump is serious about following through on his campaign promises, not least of which were to prosecute his political enemies, court-martial generals who opposed his failed 2020 self-coup, and putting undocumented immigrants in camps. Watering down or avoiding alarmist messaging puts democracy at risk, but it also makes Democrats appear unserious among the voters we must win back in 2026 and 2028: We can’t fundraise against fascism, and then when fascism comes to power, throw up our hands and say, “Well, maybe things will be okay.” Voters aren’t going to trust us anymore. 

We do not have the answers at this point, but we need to agree on the problem we’re facing. To oppose what by all accounts will be an even more unhinged Trump administration, we need to be smart, strategic, and creative. But worse than simply falling back into the old Resistance trap of Trump’s first term, of wasting energy with outrage and finger-pointing, would be failing to agree that Democrats need a significant course correction. As we prepare to defend the Constitution from a domestic enemy — to be clear, that is what Donald Trump is —Democrats need to wake up. 

We had no problem identifying the threat before it entered the White House. Now that the worst has happened, we must acknowledge it. This is not the time for platitudes and the nice observance of norms; what’s happening now is abnormal. We responsibly warned voters. Now, Democrats need to follow up on our rhetoric, not just when it’s time to fundraise.