I am not a member of any organized political party . . . I'm a Democrat

Abstract: This essay examines the current state of political opposition in America, arguing that while extensive documentation exists regarding Trump's authoritarian tendencies, corruption, and policy failures that disproportionately harm working families while benefiting wealthy elites, the Democratic Party lacks effective leadership and coherent opposition strategy. The piece highlights the growing concentration of wealth among the ultra-rich, the contradictory effects of recent tax legislation that provides modest savings to middle-class families while imposing higher costs through tariffs, and Trump's harmful policies including mass deportations and attacks on government agencies. It criticizes the Democratic establishment for paralysis and ineffective messaging, noting that organizations like the Lincoln Project are mounting more compelling opposition than the Democratic Party itself. The essay concludes by pointing to emerging progressive organizations and candidates like New York's Zohran Mamdani as potential sources of hope for those seeking authentic liberal democratic governance that addresses issues like affordable housing, free public transportation, and living wages.

Here’s an interesting factoid: in my reasonably careful research, I cannot find a documented report of Will Rogers ever actually saying those specific words and thus did not put quotation marks around my title for today. But it does take me to my theme for this discussion.

Let’s list the confirmed editorial comment and opinion broadcasts analyzing Donald Trump. Are we convinced that Trump is an aspiring dictator? Check. Do we know that Trump has shredded the constitution? Check. Are we satisfied that Trump Always Chickens Out (TACO)? Check, with a bullet; he vacillates so much we never know where he will finally light. Do we have enough information to conclude that Trump is the most corrupt president in U.S. history? Check. Do we know he was a terribly incompetent businessman, with evidence like his failed mail order steaks, fake Trump University, and bankrupted casinos? Certainly. Do we have enough information to conclude that Trump is the most corrupt president in U.S. history? Check. (We also know that but for the millions he inherited from daddy, until he could gather the loot as president he likely would have been poor as a church mouse, still mooching dinners at the tables of New York’s glitterati.) Do we have enough evidence that Trump has seriously deteriorated mentally and intellectually just between Trump I and Trump II? Check.

At the same time the nation’s wealth is increasingly concentrated at the top: it was recently pointed out that Elon Musk alone owns more wealth than the bottom 50% of American families! The top 0.001% of U.S. population, about 3500 people out 350 million, now holds about 7% of the entire wealth of the U.S.A., or roughly $12 trillion. Broadening out the focus, the top 1% owns almost ONE-THIRD of the total value of assets in the U.S. And the concentration of wealth is growing almost geometrically! Right-wing billionaires with a combined net worth exceeding $1.2 trillion, including Miriam Adelson, Timothy Mellon and Peter Thiel, among a few others, continue to grow richer and share a small portion of their vast wealth to advance ultra-right causes and expand Trump’s power.

According to the House Ways & Means Committee, the average family of four earning under $100,000 per year can expect to save roughly $2300 annually in taxes thanks to that recently enacted One Great Big Beautiful Bill. According to the Budget Lab at Yale University, however, the average American household can also expect to pay an average of $2400 per year in higher prices resulting from Trump’s tariffs for such things as food, clothing, cars and other essentials. I suppose that’s only fair, since someone has to fund the $310 billion per year the top ten wealthiest Americans are expected to reap in benefits annually under that same big beautiful piece of legislation that barely scraped through Congress.

Every non-MAGA editorial writer in the country now seems to have discussed these themes to the extreme, so I’m going to pause -- at least for this week. Today let’s instead look inward for an embarrassing consideration of how we’re doing -- or, to put a nice point on it, not doing -- in opposition. MAGA has provided us with a ton if weapons as they go about hurting the 90% including their most fervent supporters, sending immigrants indiscriminately both innocent or guilty off to South Sudan or El Salvator, lands plagued by violence and pestilence, making a horrible mess of the economy and delivering nothing in return for most people, devastating the health and food safety nets, destroying the best parts of our government like the Agency for International Development which elevated our image world wide and saved countless numbers of lives. One would expect with all that ammunition that the liberal and progressive opposition should be zooming ahead in every metric.

But first, a question for liberal minds: who is leading the Democratic Party in opposition? Anyone got an answer? Is it Chuck Schumer? First elected to Congress in 1981, he has watched seven presidents come and go before Trump and may be the king of what I call GAGA or “go along get along” which may reap benefits in governments functioning on discussion and compromise but is definitely a defunct doctrine in Trump-land. Could it be Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader of the House? His most notable legislative achievement was the bipartisan First Step Act of 2018 which is no doubt a solid advance in helping formerly-incarcerated individuals -- but not something the Democratic Party can now rally around to oppose Donald Trump or which would propel Jeffries into being a champion of the liberal agenda.

A few Senate Democrats are keeping up a drumbeat of opposition. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), Tammy Duckworth (D.-Ill), Ed Markey (D-Mass) Chris Murphy (D-Conn) do deserve props, and to a lesser extent as do our own Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) who I feel could make more noise. But I doubt any of them will be our next Democratic presidential nominee or movement leader. House Democrats recently chose Representative Robert Garcia (D - California) to lead their party on the Oversight Committee, elevating a less experienced member over 70-year-old Representative Stephen F. Lynch (D - Mass). But otherwise, the majority of Congressional democrats appear to be in a state of paralysis, or ennui awaiting the next election cycle praying the Republicans will self-destruct.

Presently the only Democrats putting themselves out there to try to rally the troops seem to be vigorous 84-year-old Bernie Sanders (Ind-Vermont) -- I think we can all agree not a credible future presidential nominee -- and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) who, while she looks better to me day by day as she matures in her political progressivism, has just become of legal age to be president and almost certainly cannot muster either the financial or political backing to become the first woman to be elected to that office, at least not in the next cycle or two. There’s just a huge void where we desperately need charismatic young progressive leaders loudly standing up to Trump and vying for the next Democratic nomination. (Yes, there is Pete Buttigieg: plainly brilliant, articulate, young, handsome, and progressive -- but I sense not electable nationally, at least not in this decade.)

As for the Democratic National Committee, aside from arranging the party convention every four years and generating an anodyne party platform, it engages in an endless cycle of fundraising. It has no newspaper or journal, it doesn’t lobby Congress, it doesn’t support speakers or organized public opposition to daily MAGA power grabs. The DNC does have established voter databases, fundraising networks, and ballot access machinery that newer organizations lack. It theoretically possesses institutional knowledge, experience navigating political processes and relationships. But . . . and it’s a huge BUT . . these theoretical advantages aren't translating into coherent policy leadership or effective opposition strategy. The party seems caught between soul-searching about its electoral losses and reactive responses to Trump initiatives. Party infighting has spilled out into the open. There was quite a kerfluffle as former Vice Chair David Hogg announced he would not run for his post again amid internal disagreements with party leadership and ultimately was given the boot. And on top of the infighting, reports have surfaced the committee is strapped for cash amid frustration among donors.

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found 62 percent of Democrats believing “party leaders should be replaced.” Forty-nine percent of Democratic respondents said they were “unsatisfied with current leadership”. The only reasonable conclusion: the Democratic Party is struggling with both internal divisions and with articulating a clear, proactive agenda beyond opposing Trump. So what we get is dither, dither, dither . . . . Frankly I feel the Lincoln Project (https://lincolnproject.us/), a group of disaffected Republicans, is doing a better job of maintaining a continuity of opposition that is pointed, interesting, and likely to attract supporters.

Yesterday, this was their message:

Who would open a concentration camp in Florida in the middle of hurricane season?

Who would spend billions of taxpayer dollars to send gangs of masked agents to kidnap people off the streets and strand them in El Salvador?

Who would stick American troops on American citizens exercising their first Amendment rights?

Who would call up their violent mob of thugs to Washington for the sole purpose of beating up police officers and hanging public officials?

Who would frequently hang out with the most notorious human trafficker in recent memory?

All of these things sound criminal, right?

Well, what if we told you the man who did all of these things is roaming free?

What if we told you he never even came close to heading to prison, even with a criminal record?

What if we told you he’s the current President of the United States?

Donald Trump has done it. He has successfully rigged the system to protect himself.

How did Trump do it? Simple. He’s rich and he’s evil. It truly is hard to stop somebody with those two qualities in Donald Trump’s America.

The only shot we have is at the ballot box. We’re working every day to sway independents, turn previous MAGA voters, and make sure everybody on our side sticks around.

Catchy, isn’t it but isn’t it sad that a small bunch of Republicans is outshining the entire Democratic Party.

So are we with David Hogg? Yes, at least to the extent I wouldn’t send a shekel to the current DNC or any State Democratic Party unless and until they’ve completely redirected and openly supporting the progressive agenda. While I like Swing Left (https://swingleft.org/) for its excellent efforts to flip the House, I don’t like that they won’t primary staid centrist Democrats who I believe are dragging us down as we try to move forward.

Count me among those who have grown tired of the feeble posturing coming out of the DNC and much of Democratic Congressional leadership. I understand and applaud the desire to seek out new progressive organizations to join or support. Fortunately at least a few promising more focused organizations are emerging as potential alternatives. "We have seen a huge surge in people raising their hands to say they want to run in just the last six months," says Amanda Litman co-founder of Run for Something, supporting young progressive candidates in down-ballot races. Keep an eye on (and perhaps support) Justice Democrats (https://justicedemocrats.com/), Working Families Party (https://workingfamilies.org/), the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (https://www.boldprogressives.org/) calling itself “the Elizabeth Warren wing of American Politics”, and Progressive Democrats of America (https://pdamerica.org/).

Zohran Mamdani, Democratic Socialist, is favored to become the next mayor of New York City, overcoming all the establishment candidates. His platform includes building affordable housing, city-owned grocery stores at least in food deserts, making public bus transportation free, free childcare, reopening closed public libraries, a 1% local corporate tax to fund these programs, and raising the New York minimum wage to $30 by 2030. If we look hard enough, we can see a public hunger for true liberal democratic government. This must give us hope and inspire us to continue the battle. Failure to resist will be seen as acquiescence!

I give full credit to the New Yorker Magazine and hope I can be forgiven for reprinting (at absolutely no profit to me) a delicious cartoon from yesterday’s on-line edition hoping to leave you with a smile after this dismal discussion:

“Any plans for the weekend, or for escaping the incoming totalitarian regime?”

Cartoon by Christopher WeyantAugust 8, 2025

Arne Werchick, after fifty years as a California litigation attorney, pro tem judge, law lecturer, former Presiding Arbitrator of the State Bar of California, and past president of the California Trial Lawyers Association, moved to Hawaii and lives with his wife Ruth and their rescue dog Topaz. His prior community service included two years as Special Counsel to California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law at Hastings College of the Law, Administrative Law Judge pro tem, Chair of the Palm Desert Rent Review Commission, and numerous professional and civic organizations, and he was frequently an invited lecturer at continuing education programs. He now writes and publishes OUT OF MY LIBERAL MIND to provide a progressive perspective on current politics and provide a forum for liberal conversation, WIDGETS by WERCHICK, an occasional comment on techie gadgets which might prove useful for seniors, and NJABCTCC -- Phileas Fogg Reports, the voice of the Not-Just-Another-Book-Club Travel Conversation Circle which Arne and Ruth created and moderated. Contact Arne at liberalmind@werchick.com or njabctcc@werchick.com