Democrats are openly lamenting that their leaders are not doing enough to stop Trump
House Democrats are warning that their base has become increasingly radicalized and doesn’t think lawmakers are doing enough to fight against the Trump administration, with some voters urging them to spill “blood” and “be willing to get shot.”
“Some of them have suggested … [that] what we really need to do is be willing to get shot” when visiting ICE facilities or federal agencies, one of more than two dozen House Democrats interviewed by Axios said. “Our own base is telling us that what we’re doing is not good enough … [that] there needs to be blood to grab the attention of the press and the public.”
Another House Democrat told Axios that constituents are declaring “civility isn’t working” and calling for “violence … to fight to protect our democracy.”
Just hours after Axios published the report, a gunman wearing tactical gear opened fire at Border Patrol agents and police officers, injuring three, in what law enforcement says was a deliberate ambush outside a federal annex facility in McAllen, Texas. Agents and local police returned fire and killed the shooter, identified as 27-year-old Ryan Louis Mosqueda.
According to the report, not every House Democrat said their constituents were calling for violence. But “nearly every one who spoke to Axios cited examples of voters’ panic and fury fueling demands to adopt brute force tactics,” the outlet reported.
Nearly two-thirds of Democratic voters say their party needs new leaders as frustration grows over its priorities and plummeting approval ratings, according to a poll last month. Democrats are “on the verge of a Tea Party-style, intra-party revolt,” Politico reported earlier this year.
One Democratic lawmaker told Axios that “people online have sent me crazy shit … told me to storm the White House and stuff like that.”
“It’s like … the Roman coliseum,” yet another House Democrat told Axios. “People just want more and more of this spectacle.”
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