Trump just handed Democrats their midterm message - Emanuel WaPo

[question everything]

Democrats need to have a frank conversation — with themselves.
We must acknowledge where we are and appreciate what we can realistically accomplish. Yes, we should oppose the MAGA agenda at every turn. But given that we control neither the bully pulpit nor any congressional gavel, we need to focus foremost on what’s winnable: next year’s midterm elections. At core, the 2026 campaign will be a referendum on President Donald Trump and his rubber-stamp Republicans in Congress. Our task is to help the public understand what the Republicans are doing and how it affects them. That job begins with Trump’s audaciously named One Big Beautiful Bill.

This will likely be the most significant piece of legislation to pass during Trump’s term and should be understood by the public in one phrase: “tax cuts for the wealthy, health-care cuts for the many.” The simplicity of that binary is its virtue. Trump is a chaos machine — a disciple of professional wrestling who will try to distract from the underlying reality. (See his comment that he’s “not going to touch [Medicaid].”) We can’t chase every shiny bauble — we need to laser focus on points that will deliver strategic value. This is our opportunity to define Trump and his congressional enablers.

Recall that we spent 2024 trying to convince Americans that our democracy was in Trump’s crosshairs. That message failed. We now need to paint the reality we know and the public perceives, but which the Trump Show often obscures: The administration and its Capitol Hill minions are beacons of the three C’s: corruption, chaos and cruelty. Set aside the rhetoric about fascism, oligarchies or Democratic weakness. Any utterance that fails to burnish the public’s understanding of the three C’s is our own distraction. The present fight over the budget bill, which the House approved Thursday morning, is the ripest opportunity we’ll have to lift the fog that can define 2026.

(snip)

This is the binary choice we need to sharpen. Set aside Trump’s crypto schemes and his solicitation of Qatar’s “free” plane — those are baked into the electorate’s deep-seated cynicism. As recent polling has shown, the public is poised to believe they’re being fleeced by the Trump “system.” That’s what the rubber-stamp Republicans will have done when this bill cuts more people’s health care than any other in history. The goal of a Democratic counterproposal is not to bring peace among the Democratic factions — it is to bring disquiet to the GOP.

Which brings us to the last point: In this situation, less is more. Democrats don’t need to produce a whole budget plan. The counterproposal is not going to become law. They simply need to compel Republicans in swing districts and states to take a vote that raises taxes on the well-to-do and restores health care for the many.

More..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/05/22/democrats-trump-budget-bill-taxes-health-care/


(for some reason I cannot get the free link)