In her first major address since voters booted her out of the White House, former Vice President Kamala Harris hoped to inspire Democrats with a story that likened their political fight against President Donald Trump to a herd of elephants huddling together during an earthquake.
“We are not going to scatter,” Mrs. Harris told a packed room of Democrats in San Francisco. “We are going to stand together —everyone a leader — and emerge.”
Mr. Trump’s agenda, and the Democrats’ leadership void left in the wake of Mrs. Harris’ defeat, have instead blown the party apart.
Internal bickering over who should be in charge has spilled into public view while lawmakers play tug-of-war over the direction of the party. Poll numbers show plummeting approval ratings for Democrats and have provided the GOP ammunition to crow about historic discontent among the Democratic base.
“They don’t have any message. They don’t have any clear leader. They don’t have any clear vision. They don’t know what to do,” Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said. “Their platform has been repudiated and they are turning on themselves.”
How Democrats should act to win back voters has devolved into a political knife fight.
The leaders of the Democratic National Committee are trying to shove out youthful, hyper-liberal DNC Vice Chair David Hogg, who is planning to spend $20 million to primary “older” and “ineffective” party incumbents.
Mr. Hogg, 25, citing November’s election results that showed young voters had abandoned Mrs. Harris and Democrats, said it’s time to replace greying incumbents with “generational leaders” who can rebuild the party.
Ken Martin, 51, the chair of the DNC, is pushing back, angling for a way to kick Mr. Hogg out of DNC leadership. Mr. Hogg would have to leave the organization if he plans to target incumbent Democrats, Mr. Martin said.
“No DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election on behalf of an incumbent or challenger,” Mr. Martin told Fox News.
The internal party strife is coursing through Capitol Hill, where a former top aide to ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi grumbled that the new House Democrat leadership led by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, 54, is flailing, yet refuses to take the 85-year-old’s advice on how to steer their defeated caucus forward.
The Jeffries camp instead wants to move away from the decades-long Pelosi era, which the ex-Pelosi aide told Politico, “I just think is the dumbest s—- ever.”
Democrats are spewing profanity all over Capitol Hill as the party splits on how to respond to President Trump’s agenda, including his deportations of illegal immigrants with gang ties.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, member of the far-left “Squad,” told a reporter to “F—- off,” when asked if it was prudent for Democrats to go to El Salvador to visit alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant the party has championed as an innocent victim of the president’s sweeping deportation program.
It’s a sensitive issue for House Democrats and one that divides their caucus amid polls showing Mr. Trump’s aggressive approach to ending illegal immigration, particularly by deporting gang members, is popular with voters.
As four House Democrats jetted off to El Salvador to try to free Mr. Abrego, new reporting revealed he was accused by his wife of domestic violence and threatening that he could kill her and get away with it.
Mr. Jeffries, of New York, has quietly put a stop to lawmakers taking additional field trips to visit him.
He stepped in again last week to shut down his Democrats’ first move to impeach Mr. Trump in his new term, despite clamoring from the base to try to oust Mr. Trump from the White House.
Mr. Jeffries’ disapproval led Democrat co-sponsors to quickly withdraw their support for impeachment articles filed by Rep. Shiri Thanedar of Michigan.
The impeachment effort served as new ammunition for the president, who called congressional Democrats “lunatics” and “totally crazy.” He framed the latest effort to remove him from office as a tired old move by a divided party that has run out of ideas.
“They have no confidence anymore as a party. They have no candidates,” Mr. Trump said at a Michigan rally where he touted the successes of his first 100 days after returning to the White House.
South Carolina Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright said Democrats “can be more united, for sure,” but are not as drastically split as some claim.
“I don’t call having a difference of opinion being divided,” he said. “I think we have to yell in places we agree and whisper in the places we disagree. And I think that is going to be our pathway forward if we want to be successful.”
The far-left wing of the party, meanwhile, is moving to fill the messaging void.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist from Vermont, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a top leader in the House Progressive Caucus, both called for Democrats to embrace a populist, liberal agenda.
“Democrats need to stop dithering about process and rules,” Ms. Jayapal, who represents a Seattle district, wrote in The Nation. “We have to be clear that we will upend this rigged system and do what it takes to make good on our promises for living wages, affordable housing, universal healthcare, and expanded Social Security. We need to actually invest in our power base of organized labor by expanding the right to organize and investing in domestic manufacturing.”
Their discontent is poised to bring challenges to Democratic leaders who have taken a less liberal approach to their agenda and spending policies.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a founding member of Congress’ far-left Squad and a disciple of Mr. Sanders, led her followers in March to protest Senate Minority Leader and fellow New York Democrat Charles E. Schumer’s decision to help pass a GOP-authored government spending bill.
Ms. Harris, who is considering a run for California governor or maybe another presidential bid, is also looking to the party’s left flank. In her speech in San Francisco, she gave shout-outs to Mr. Sanders and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, 35, is now beating Mr. Schumer, 74, by 19 points in a hypothetical primary matchup that threatens to topple the Senate’s old-guard Democratic leadership.
In the meantime, House Democratic leaders, who have no appetite for primaries against incumbents, are taking steps to block her momentum by declining to fill a leadership vacancy atop the prominent House Oversight and Government Reform panel that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is eyeing.
“There is no vacancy on the Oversight Committee,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, of California, said. “That’s our position.”
