The worst piece of legislation since the Slave Fugitive Act passed 175 years ago rips a gash in the social safety net, delivers the largest transfer of wealth to the rich in memory, and supercharges a violent, reckless, and cruel deportation machine—one which approves of “spending tens of billions of dollars to expand the unconstitutional kidnapping, trafficking, and confinement of people who’ve committed no crime,” as Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren put it. It strangles our soft power in the world (hollowing out foreign aid, demolishing the State Department); guts investment in science and green energy; and consigns millions—many of them children—to a life bereft of decent nutrition and medical care. It piles unsustainable, stupefying debt on future generations. In total, the American people will have less access to healthcare, nutrition, education, and economic opportunity.
This MAGA assault on working and middle-class Americans will reverberate for years, if not decades. As dire as that reality is, however, the monstrous legislation also could provide the unity and solidarity Democrats will need to regain power, remove the source of so many Americans’ suffering, and reform our democracy.
So, what is next?
It is time to stop berating House and Senate Democrats for not “doing enough.” They did everything humanly possible to oppose the bill, pressure and shame Republicans, educate the public, and unify their ranks. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and their colleagues (not to mention their indefatigable staffers) challenged and knocked out one measure after another in the so-called Byrd Bath process. They delayed and debated so the full horror of the bill could be covered for days and debated in the light of day, for all Americans to behold. In the House, discipline in the ranks and truly eloquent rhetoric from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) in a record-setting 8+ hours of debate on Thursday underscored Democrats’ devotion to ordinary Americans.
Democrats lost this bill because they lost too many seats in 2024. Math is math.
It is time to focus instead on the MAGA culprits. Democrats have a knack for infighting and back-biting. But the mammoth horror inflicted on the United States and the moral and political imperative to reverse it should push to the side less important chatter—for example, focusing on the practicality of Zohran Mamdani’s campaign promises as the New York City Democratic nominee. (He’s running for mayor of New York, making him reflective of, well, New York City.)
Progressives and moderates in the party need to lower the temperature in intercine debates and conduct substantive discussions on the best means of attaining common goals. Moderates have been too cautious in response to demands for change, while the far left have been too dismissive of concerns about immigration and crime.
Unlike the MAGA cult, Democrats must tolerate a range of views to build a governing coalition. The urgent need to unify behind the common goal of dislodging a neo-fascist party from power must take precedence over every internal squabble. Frankly, if safe blue districts want super-progressive representatives, the rest of the party should not care. If moderate Democrats have the best shot to win back swing seats, they should prevail in primaries.
It is time to tie every Republican incumbent on the ballot to the monstrous human results of the bill. Alaskan Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Rep. Nick Begich III, for example, will be responsible for every hospital closed in Alaska, every family thrown off of Medicaid or SNAP, every person priced out of the Affordable Care Act exchanges, every scientific researcher or green energy worker thrown out of work, and every family who cannot afford to heat their home or keep their electricity on that result from the hideous bill. (And that is merely within the borders of their state.) They are responsible for the worst excesses of ICE, which has been given tens of billions to terrorize immigrants.
Democrats must lift up the stories of fellow Americans and tie those “with a cord of steel” to every Republican responsible for the suffering they have unleashed. In this effort, adept Democratic governors (who must attend to the victims of MAGA’s cruelty) can tally the toll, denounce by name their state’s GOP delegation, and rouse their residents to throw them out.
It is time to change the contours of the electorate. Mass mobilization in protests, marches and rallies must draw in not just the already-committed but the never-before-engaged. Donald Trump voters who insist they “Never voted for this” must be allowed to return to the pro-democracy, pro-decency coalition. (Difficult as it may be, Democrats would be wise to hold dear the story of the prodigal son.)
Democrats must convince millions of qualified but (as yet) nonvoting Americans to dispense with the fictions that “both parties are the same” or that their vote “won’t make a difference.” The choice now is not Democrat vs. Republican, or progressive vs. conservative; it is right vs. wrong, humane vs. cruel. Tens of millions of people will be harmed by this cruel legislation; tens of millions more will know someone who will be harmed. They are not just victims and witnesses, but foot soldiers in the battle to hold to account Republican tormentors.
It is time to focus on gubernatorial and state legislative elections in New Jersey and Virginia this year, where Democratic women with stellar credentials face off against MAGA Republicans who have wrapped their arms around Donald Trump.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), according to a Rutgers University poll,has a 20 pt. lead over Trump flunky Jack Ciattarelli. A win of that magnitude and a sweep of New Jersey’s legislative races would send a powerful signal that New Jersey Republican congressmen who voted for the bill (e.g., Reps. Jeff Van Drew and Thomas Kean, Jr.) will face a tsunami of opposition in the 2026 midterms.
Likewise, in Virginia, former congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, Democratic nominee for governor, seized on the big, ugly bill after its passage in a written statement decrying its damage. “More than 322,000 Virginians would lose their healthcare coverage. More than 388,000 Virginians on the Marketplace would see their premiums increase significantly—if they don’t lose coverage entirely,” she explained. “At least six rural hospitals, including four in Southwest and Southside Virginia, one in Hampton Roads, and one in the Northern Neck—would be at risk of closure.”
With such statistics, she and other Democrats on the Virginia ballot in 2025 could rack up significant wins. That in turn would send a powerful signal to House Republicans such as Rep. Jen Kiggans and Rep. Rob Wittman, and Sen. John McGuire that their days in Congress will end in 2026.
At the end of his inspiring, record-setting “magic minute” speech on the House floor on Jeffries (D-N.Y.) declared, “As I take my seat, I just want to say to the American people that no matter what the outcome is on this singular day, we’re going to press on.” He pledged that Democrats would “[p]ress on for the left behind. Press on for the rule of law. Press on for the American way of life. Press on for democracy. We’re going to press on until victory is won.”
And so must all patriotic Americans.
It is time.
Make the impacts personal. Say not just that so many Americans will lose their healthcare, but thanks to Rep. John’s vote R-VA, “Pat Smith in Hampton lost healthcare coverage AND because the local hospital Hampton Health closed, must drive 100 miles.” Make it personal.
And not a moment to waste. Beautifully written.