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While Rome Burns, Schumer Capitulates — The Week in Editorial Cartoons (Poll) - Update #2 [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-03-16

Manual Updates Posted Here

Update #2 — 5:52 pm ET

The Beginning of the End?

Profiles in Courage

Update #1 — 5:37 pm ET

Republican Being Booed by Their Supporters

x This is amazing. Americans are awakening to Trump and Elon Musk's Nazification of America — and they're letting Republicans know that their acquiesce to authoritarian fascism is not acceptable. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/z7VUeE1Mup — Bill Madden (@maddenifico) March 15, 2025

Passivity and Timidity

Attribution: Brian McFadden “Democratic Defense” — Daily Kos and Bluesky

For the past decade, Democratic politicians have been warning us about Donald Trump’s fascistic tendencies and authoritarian instincts. Now that he is back in the White House, are they effectively opposing him? Not at all.

What did Chuck Schumer do when Democrats had the opportunity to make their stand — one enthusiastically supported by most of its base and elected officials? What Democrats frequently do. If you spend years calling someone Hitler, treat him as such. Don’t fold like a cheap suit.

No. More. Excuses.

As this article in the Jacobin magazine recently pointed out, Schumer completely ignored the Democratic base.

There’s No Hope for a Party That Hates Its Own Base Democratic Party leaders want the benefits of an engaged activist base like the one currently challenging Donald Trump without actually having to listen to or engage with it. Can a party mount a comeback by rejecting its own activist base? Democrats seem to want to use Donald Trump’s second term to test the idea. This certainly is not what the Right has done. Republicans waged one of the more shockingly successful comebacks in US politics during the Barack Obama era. Only two years after Democrats took control of the presidency and both chambers of Congress, the GOP was mired in crisis, and there was widespread talk of a “permanent Democratic majority,” Republicans took back the House. Six years later, they had the Senate and the White House too... It’s not a novel point that while Republican leadership is disciplined by its activist base, Democratic activists are disciplined by their party leadership... This is the paradox at the heart of the situation the party finds itself in: Democrats want the high voter turnout, committed pavement-pounding, and grassroots energy of an excited base but seem to resent that they should have to do anything to get it.

An excellent article below examines why Democratic leaders behave the way they do. I can’t say that I disagree with anything the author has written.

Lowering expectations and trying to placate Donald Trump is a recipe for political disaster. If the current leadership of the Democratic Party is unwilling or unable to lead, it is time to replace it.

No wonder a new NBC Poll released just today indicates that only 27% of respondents have a favorable view of the Democratic Party — its lowest rating since 1990. Pollster Jeff Horwitt concluded: “With these numbers, the Democratic Party is not in need of a rebrand. It needs to be rebooted.”

Given current poll numbers for the GOP and a sour mood around the country, it is entirely possible that the Republican Party could politically implode. But, why count on that happening? There’s no harm in collectively looking at ourselves in the mirror and asking: how can we improve our performance? A political party afraid to counter criticism directed at it is inherently insecure and does not deserve to win.

Desperately Needed: Re -training

The Ides of March

Uh, No!

The New Landscape

x Continuing to fund the federal govt under the GOP’s unilaterally drafted spending bill is to encourage the further destructive dismantling of vital services. Musk and DOGE need TO GO, at the very least, before the Dems agree to keep the funding going. Trump should fully own his chaos.



[image or embed] — Frank Bajak (@fbajak.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 10:02 PM

Oppose Him Forcefully, Or He’ll Destroy This Country

x Pat Byrnes, The New Yorker @thePatByrnes pic.twitter.com/XredyVhFbQ — Editorial & Political Cartoons (@EandPCartoons) March 8, 2025

It’s a Start

x Here's the thing, y'all. Too many Dems are acting as if these are normal times. There is NOTHING normal about Trump and Elon Musk's Nazification of America. There is NOTHING normal about losing our democracy to the authoritarian proclivities of a fascist wannabe dictator. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/ERUEkYZSMa — Bill Madden (@maddenifico) March 15, 2025

Of Trump’s Trade Wars and Tariffs

Landing on His Rear End

Quick, Look Over There!

x The Golden Age of America… pic.twitter.com/74ggGSQU9p — Adam Zyglis (@adamzyglis) March 12, 2025

Tastes Good, But Less Filling

Mr. Know-It-All

Torching the Constitution of the United States

x Trump continues his work to torch Constitutional Rights, asking the Supreme Court to help him end birthright citizenship, a right protected by the 14th Amendment.



Follow for more cartoons!#birthrightcitizenship #Immigration #constitution #constitutionalrights pic.twitter.com/C1Wgmz5SrU — Garthtoons by Garth German (@garthtoons) March 13, 2025

Collateral Damage

If it Walks Like a Fascist, Talks Like a Fascist…

x When you’re painted like a racist sunset while deporting green card holders and your buddies are Sieg Heiling but all the cultists keep asking “bUt HoW iS hE a nAZi?”



[image or embed] — Jesse Duquette (@jesseduquette.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 3:10 PM

Authoritarianism’s an Expense We Can No Longer Afford

What is it Worth Now?

The editorial cartoonist whose name was misspelled is Barry Blitt​​​​​​, who is with the New Yorker magazine. You can see many of his New Yorker covers here.

x This is by Barry Blitt for The New Yorker. Methinks #Elon spell check was at work here. https://t.co/40eRkKqDfu — Editorial & Political Cartoons (@EandPCartoons) March 13, 2025

The Reality of the American Economy

Winging It

The Wild Ride

Mission Accomplished

We’re Working on It

The Savior

CYA Explanation

Remembering the Good Times

x Daily🧵of cartoons: when you get to the end, click on Continue Thread. If you save a cartoon, keep caption w/ artist's name & handle. Previous 🧵s under Feeds tab of my profile. Pedro X. Molina @pxmolina.bsky.social



[image or embed] — Fiona "Fi" Webster 🌎🌍🌏🥄🇺🇦 (@fiona-webster22.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 10:00 AM

A Bad Ending

Serious Implosion

Diary Poll

What should the Democratic Party’s strategy be in coming weeks and months? Aggressively oppose the Republicans, or seek deals with them? Can Congressional Democrats effectively be trusted to have a coherent approach to counter Trumpism? Is the current leadership capable of providing meaningful political leadership?

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the Democrats’ prospects in 2026 and 2028? Remember to take the diary poll.

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