Throw the bums out.

There is a real, if messy, pro-democracy movement in the United States. The official leadership of the Democratic Party just isn't part of it. We need new management.

I've been working on this for awhile. Then there was this over the weekend:

SCHUMER: I hope and pray that that Trump will sit down with us and negotiate BASH: And if he doesn't, I'm just confirming that you'll vote no. Is that correct? SCHUMER: We are hoping that he will negotiate with us BASH: And if he doesn't? SCHUMER: We must get a better bill than what they have

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) September 21, 2025 at 6:13 AM

Are you kidding me? For the love of everything we once thought was holy, get rid of this fucking bum--and all the other bums, too.

For years, we in the "progressive wing" of the Democratic Party, aka "Democrats," have been disparaged by Establishment Dems, aka "we got ours." We've been taken for granted, insulted, and publicly ridiculed by Rahm Emanuelites who figured we'd have no choice but to shut up and support "the lesser of two evils." I guess they forgot that staying home is a choice, too (see 2016 and 2024).

Anyway, I fervently hope that in the coming brawl over leadership and the direction of the Party... Pause. I hate that phrase. It is such a weasel way to say you kinda believe in something without holding yourself accountable for ever making it happen or even really trying to. "We're the Party of equal justice" is a slogan. It is not the same thing as saying "We are going to pass police reform and if we don't pass it, we'll bring it up again and again until we do." And it is nothing like actually doing it. That's what "the direction of the Party" should mean, but it's not what they mean.

So, no more "direction of the Party." Maybe "purpose of the Party." Or maybe it's better to focus on "purpose of the office holder," because that's really what the fight is about. Anyway, I hope that in the coming brawl between the "Simmer down; it'll all work out" Establishment Dems and the "tooth and nail" Dems over leadership in the Party, and I pray to Vince Lombardi there is one, we finally get the leaders we deserve and  the country desperately needs: leaders who recognize the moment, understand the peril, and are prepared to fight for our survival. 

As many have said, the divide in the Democratic Party is less about specific principles and more about the stomach to fight for them. In this breach there is an opportunity for new and more ferocious ideas not just about tactics but objectives. What is the purpose of our institutional leaders? Are they functionaries obsessed with scratching out another term? Or are they in office to serve us, their constituents, and prepared to do things--even really hard, risky, important things-- for us? I'd argue that's the essential question. All other questions--about policy and tactics--flow from it.

Dems and their consultants want to argue over whether to focus on inflation or immigration or Ukraine or Elon Fucking Musk for fuck's sake. There are so many outrages that many Dems see a juicy opportunity to choose their preferred violation and complain that other Dems are focusing on the wrong one. That's a sucker's game. 

All of the outrages are one thing. This is not a zero-sum engagement. Everybody can pick their battles, but it's the same war. With Trump, each single act is just a dot. Step back and it's one picture and that picture is dictatorship. You either have the guts to fight everywhere all at once, or you don't.

As Bryan Tyler Cohen put it, "We are sick and tired of being the party of strongly-worded letters. We are sick and tired of putting up with half-assed fights that ultimately end in capitulation because of norms or the parliamentarian or the filibuster." We can't afford this anymore. 

And there's this, from Mehdi Hasan, responding to Establishment Dems who whine that "Just because they don't play by the rules doesn't mean we shouldn't." Hasan's answer? "No, that's exactly what it means."

Also from Hasan: "You can't play this whole moral high ground game [where] Well, you know, they're going to do this stuff but we're going to stay pure. Doesn't work like that. You do that and you lose. And it's worse than just losing; you do that and you abandon your constituents who need you."

And in the process, I would argue, you repudiate the very values you are claiming to uphold by failing to fight to defend them.

You never see that shit stopping Republicans.

It's ludicrous to think that, in the face of dictatorship, decorum and bipartisanship have any value except as shields for the spineless. We're protesting in the streets. We're boycotting. We need leaders who will match our desperation and use every tool available to stop the march of tyranny. We need leaders who say, "We're doing it. Stop us if you can." Time to use this power for good.

The present vintage of Democratic leaders, Establishment Dems, are not prepared to engage in the necessary form of combat.

To call them feckless and incompetent is to let them off the hook with a punchline or a shrug. They don't just shrink from fights, they hide from them. Sometimes they actively undermine them. They don't see this as a fight for the nation but as a turf battle over power and consulting fees. It is about self-preservation, not service. 

As Nicolle Wallace put it, "How do you get the leaders to respond to the members who are responding to the public?" And, Democratic "leaders seem to be marching to their own drum." 

Pressure. Jeffries doesn't match AOC and Schumer doesn't appear to live on the same planet as Chris Murphy and Chris Van Hollen and Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Get rid of the bums at the top. We only survive if the collaborators are replaced. 

In the meantime, they will only do even part of the part-right thing if the pressure from constituents exceeds the pressure from donors and future employers and their lobbyists. Now is the time for pressure. The Government has become a murder machine. Shut it down. Defund the Government.

Make Establishment Dems have to make the choice for a change. Let them have to compromise and vote for the lesser of two evils. Let them have to figure out whether they can match the fire and fierceness of their constituents, or step aside and go hide under the bed. Let the heroes take over.

It's past time. It could be the last time we have the chance, at least in my lifetime.