Axios reported on Monday that constituents at town halls and one-on-one meetings are urging Democratic lawmakers to get tough in their resistance to President Donald Trump: “break the rules, fight dirty — and not be afraid to get hurt.”
House Democrats told Axios “they see a growing anger among their base that has, in some cases, morphed into a disregard for American institutions, political traditions and even the rule of law.”
Axios interviewed more than two dozen House Democrats for this story, the majority of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity. Two, Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Brad Schneider (D-IL), spoke on the record.
Khanna said, “the most effective pushback to Trump’s unconstitutional actions is to model a reverence for the Constitution and the rule of law.”
Perhaps it’s the congressman’s casual assumption — with no evidence — that Trump is breaking the law that’s causing the problem. When Khanna’s constituents hear him, an intelligent and seemingly reasonable man, a lawyer, an academic, and a member of Congress, telling them that the president is acting unconstitutionally, they believe him. And they demand that he take action.
Schneider, the chair of the center-left New Democrat Coalition, told Axios, “We’ve got people who are desperately wanting us to do something … no matter what we say, they want [more].” He added that efforts to impeach Trump are extremely popular among grassroots voters and that some find the idea simply “irresistible.”
Here’s what some of the anonymous lawmakers had to say:
General takeaways from the interviews:
Some lawmakers told Axios that constituents have angrily confronted them at town halls, accusing them of “not doing enough to counter President Trump’s agenda.”
According to Axios, nearly all of these lawmakers “cited examples of voters’ panic and fury fueling demands to adopt brute force tactics.”
Many of the voters they described tended to be white, well-educated, and live in affluent suburban or urban neighborhoods.
Other lawmakers also noted that many voters do not fully understand how little power the minority party actually holds in Congress.
Some Democrats have responded to their constituents’ anger by opening defying Trump administration officials — for example, Texas Rep. Al Green introduced articles of impeachment against Trump; California Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed and handcuffed after interrupting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference; and New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver was indicted for allegedly assaulting ICE officials during an oversight visit to an immigration detention center.
Do Democrats really have to ask where this voter anger is coming from? Nearly every day for the past decade, Democratic leaders and the legacy media have relentlessly portrayed Trump as a sociopath bent on destroying democratic norms and shredding the Constitution. Yes, even the semi-reasonable and smart ones like Ro Khanna.
This message has resonated deeply with their liberal base. Why wouldn’t voters demand Trump’s removal by any means necessary if he is truly as dangerous as they’ve been told? Of course they want this madman gone — they’ve been convinced that the very survival of American democracy depends on it.
In the end, Democrats have only themselves to blame for the fury they now face; they cultivated this fear and outrage. And now they’re shocked that their constituents believed them.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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