00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes. Joining me now
00:07is Chantel Smith, partner and head of the New York practice at Tusk Strategies. Chantel,
00:12thank you so much for joining me.
00:14Thank you for having me.
00:16Ever since November, really, it seems that Democrats have seemingly lost their footing,
00:22unsure of how to combat the Trump administration at this moment. And I think that was really
00:27on full display last week when House Democrats were united, except one in voting against
00:34the continuing resolution. And then Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer did an about
00:38face and voted to support it with nine other Democrats. I've spoken with House Democrats.
00:44One said he was completely blindsided. All three of them said that they weren't happy
00:49with Schumer's decision. What do you make of the move? And what do you think this says
00:53about the Democrats writ large?
00:55I think, you know, first, let's start off. I think, you know, the minority leader had
00:58no good options. Had he voted against the measure or didn't allow the measure to move
01:03forward, I think that would have allowed the president to have unprecedented power in terms
01:08of what he determined was necessary government spending. I think that the minority leader
01:13was just afraid of the impact. I think, as we can see, that the president's actions lately
01:19have not been predictable. And with, you know, the cuts that he's been making on the federal
01:24level, people were very concerned. On the other hand, you know, the minority leader
01:29had a party that went to fight. And in this time and during this presidency, I think Democrats
01:35have lost their footing and they just don't know how to react. I think the minority leader
01:42caught people by surprise because you remember the day before he said, we don't have the
01:45votes in the Senate. And then there was an immediate about face. It seemed like, you
01:50know, obviously, minority leader Jeffries was surprised. Many of the colleagues in the
01:55Senate were surprised. Had the minority leader, Chuck Schumer, messaged this better, maybe
02:02it wouldn't have been so bad. But I think it was the abrupt about face, the lack of
02:07notice, because let's be honest, you know, leader Jeffries and his, you know, and his
02:14conference, they stood pretty solid, which was a vote that many didn't think that people
02:19would actually take and vote in the negative. So I think the about face, that's the issue
02:25that everyone's just like, wait, is this man like, is he right to lead right now? Should
02:30he be leading? It's difficult.
02:34And he even said, I was in a difficult position. I was stuck with two bad choices. And I felt
02:39like keeping the government open was the better option, because as you said, give if the government
02:44shut down, he said Trump and Elon Musk would have really unfettered access to hacksaw everything.
02:50And I think that Democrats at large are in a different moment now than they were in 2017
02:56during Trump's first term, because here's some numbers from NBC. According to NBC in
03:012017, more Democrats wanted the Democratic lawmakers in Congress to work with the Trump
03:06administration. Now it's completely flipped. We're almost two thirds of Democrats want
03:11Democratic lawmakers to stand their ground, to fight back, even if it means less results.
03:17So how do lawmakers then do you think in the Democratic Party meet this moment?
03:22You know, this is just a moment of deep reflection, I think, for the Democratic Party, because,
03:28you know, I think the difference between this administration this time around versus the
03:34first time, I don't think the president knew his power and yielded his power. It took him
03:39time to maneuver where this is like he's coming in, kicking the door down, and he's
03:44taking he's doing what he wants, because he believes he was given a mandate by the American
03:49people. You know, I think Democrats right now, I think you have, I think we're seeing
03:54the Tea Party of, you know, 2009 and 10, starting to emerge within the Democratic Party, because
04:01you have people who say fight, fight, fight. And then you have people who say, I don't
04:05want to fight, I just want to be able to pay my bills, and worry about what's going
04:09on in my locality. So right now, there's this this internal riff. And it's going to take
04:16I do believe this, the midterms will show the breaking of the Democratic Party. And
04:23I think you might see not a Tea Party, but like a left party be a little bit more resolute
04:30in what they believe in and who they will support, and what is needed for them.
04:35I think that's a really interesting point. Because it's been two months and a day since
04:40President Trump took office again for the second time. And he's kicked the door down.
04:45I mean, there's been orders on everything, tariffs, trade war started, stopped, paused
04:50everything in between a lot of action on immigration. And it's almost like Democrats are playing
04:55defense where they're not hitting everything even before Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
05:01said, we're not going to do everything. We're not going to scream at every issue. Instead,
05:06we're going to find our important ones and lie down on the tracks. I mean, is that the
05:10right strategy?
05:11But they didn't fall on the tracks for anything. Like what have they fallen on the tracks for?
05:15And I think that's the issue. So I've been speaking about this on the like New York level,
05:20but this globally, you see these actions every day, and people are having anxiety, they're
05:25having feelings about it. And leadership is saying, don't worry, when it's time to fight,
05:29we will fight. Many believe the time the fight was during the CR, and there was no
05:34fight. And I think this is where like Democrats right now are like, what is happening? Why
05:39are we not fighting? And if we're not fighting for this, when are we really going to put
05:44on a fight?
05:46I think that's a really interesting point, too, because is it all about fighting President
05:51Trump? And as you said, what are they fighting President Trump on? The Democrats I've talked
05:55to in the House are really united on fighting Medicaid or fighting to make sure Medicaid
05:59is saved. But aside from that, what issues matter to Democrats? Or is it just about fighting
06:04the Trump administration? Because if that is their message, defense, if you've ever
06:08watched a sporting game in your life, if you're always on defense, you're never scoring a
06:12point and you're never going to win.
06:14Exactly, exactly. I think, you know, you know, I think some people would say immigration,
06:20I see. But this is why the party where we are as a party is so interesting, because
06:26many would say immigration. But if I'm from, like, you know, some of the states that aren't
06:30impacted by immigration as much, I don't care about immigration. Some people would say,
06:34I would think Medicare seniors and veterans, those are the things that are true to democratic
06:40principles. We want to make sure they're protected, vulnerable classes. But then how do you define
06:45vulnerable classes? We're having like a culture war slash, you know, a war based of like fiscal.
06:53What does it do with our finances? We're just at war as a party. And I think there's
06:58going to be some change of leadership. You know, I know people have rumored to say they're
07:02going to primary, you know, the minority leader. I don't know if that will be successful, but
07:08I do think that there's going to be changes. And I think this election, people are going
07:13to be held accountable. And if you want my vote, you better say what you're going to
07:17do and you better show me that you will.
07:20And you need to have, I think, that elevator pitch of here's what Democrats stand for X,
07:25Y and Z. Republicans had that coming into 2024. They said our top issues are economy
07:30and immigration that lined up perfectly with what vastly Americans thought their top issues
07:35were. And as you see, they're in the White House. They are in the House and the Senate.
07:40So Democrats do have a deep bench. They have Gretchen Whitmer, Wes Moore, AOC, Jasmine
07:46Crockett, Annie Beshear, Gavin Newsom. Those are very different Democrats with very different
07:51perspectives. So do you think that they need a unified message, a unified perspective?
07:57How do you go forward from here?
08:00I think they don't all need to have a unified message, but you need a unified base. There
08:05needs to be a base of collective principles at a minimum Democrats stand for. So whether
08:11that's protecting Medicaid, protecting, you know, seniors, it's like, what are we standing
08:16for? Are we fighting tariffs? Like, are we explaining? Do we want to talk about the economics
08:20of everything? Do we care about constitutional protections? You know, people are being deported
08:25without constitutional protections. You know, some of the handling of some of the things
08:30that the president is doing is just quite concerning. You know, do we want to be a party
08:35that believes in rule of law, like not in a public safety sense, but just respect for
08:42the Constitution, respect for, you know, the laws that the Congress passes and this
08:47the Democrat, not the Democratic as in Democratic Party, but the democratic principles that
08:53this country was founded on.
08:55And while Democrats seemingly have this messaging problem, they're facing historic lows in popularity
09:01according to polling and Blue Rose Research, which conducted over 25 million voter interviews
09:07last year found these facts. Gen Z is more conservative than millennials are. Those
09:12who get their news from more non-traditional ways are more right leaning. Higher turnout
09:16would have actually hurt Democrats and helped the GOP. There's been a massive swing in immigrant
09:21voters to Trump and Democrats are losing non-white voters. When you hear that, that doesn't sound
09:27anything good for Democrats. So how do you fix that, especially before midterms?
09:33You go back to bread and butter, you know, Democrats win when they talk about the things
09:37that are impacting everyday people. And I think in this election, we kind of lost that.
09:43I think we lost the talking about like, you know, the economy, the economy, you know,
09:47the price of eggs. You know, I just went to the grocery store, you know, 18 eggs for twelve
09:52dollars. That's a lot of money for people. So I think it's talking about the things that
09:56people talk about when they're home with their partners or loved ones. You know, the economy,
10:00the price of gas, housing, housing, the prices for affordable housing, they're non-existent
10:06right now. We are in an economic like we are not at a recession yet, but we are on the
10:11precipice of a recession. And I think we need to be honest about that. And what are the
10:16things that we can do to help people during this time? There was kind of during the election
10:21that we ignored it, you know. And I think we talked about the things that we thought
10:26were like big umbrella, umbrella, big umbrella democratic principles. But really, like people
10:32want bread and butter and the things that impact them and the things that they know.
10:38I guess my last question is to you, what is the future? Because it seems like, as you
10:43said, Democrats are at this Tea Party esque moment, almost an identity crisis. If you
10:48talk to House Democrats, they don't see it that way. But if you talk to any strategist
10:52or voter or American voters, they see it that way. And according to that poll, I mean,
10:56they're not popular. So how do you bridge that disconnect?
11:01Get out of your bubble. You know, I think though elected to believe that they're out
11:08in their community, they're around their community, but people that support them and believe in
11:13their ideals. I find that as a consultant, we constantly have to shake things up and
11:19make sure we have the pulse of who's around us. And I think right now, Democrats need
11:25to really like go in the grocery store, go to local churches, go to places that you may
11:31oppose and see another side of living so you can understand the true American story that's
11:36currently being presented right now. I think in politics, we stay in our collective bubbles
11:42and we think our bubbles is truth. And I think it would behoove the Democratic Party right
11:47now to step outside their comfort zone and just see life or live life through a different
11:54lens. Chantelle Smith, I really appreciate the
11:57conversation today. You are welcome back anytime. Thank you for joining me.
12:01Thank you. Thank you so much.
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