When Trump was reelected last year after a four-year hiatus, the Democratic response was muted. The fact that he won a plurality of the popular vote made it more difficult to challenge his legitimacy than when he was elected the first time. Democrats had made the 2024 election a referendum on democracy and now the results had gone against them.

No congressional Democrats protested the certification of Trump’s Electoral College win. This too would have been difficult to square with what Democrats had been saying about the 2020 election and the events of Jan. 6, 2021, so it was avoided. There was nothing similar to the Russia collusion scandal alleged in mainstream Democratic circles this time around.

Business leaders and the international community were quick to fete Trump, in sharp contrast with late 2016 and early 2017. There were high-profile donations to his inauguration, which tech titans Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, and Jeff Bezos attended.

But by the time Trump addressed a joint session of Congress in March, Democrats were back to their Resistance ways. A liberal backbencher tried to disrupt Trump’s event and was removed from the chamber. Democrats failed to stand or applaud for the most feel-good moments of the speech, which Trump anticipated in his remarks. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have headlined major events across the country, rallying against Trump and his ally Elon Musk. Republican lawmakers’ town hall meetings have been flooded with angry protesters. While it is debatable how representative these protests are of the states and districts where they are taking place, the progressive outrage is undeniable. 

In a national poll of Democrats this month by the progressive firm Data Progress, Ocasio-Cortez was within the margin of error of former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as a leading contender for the 2028 presidential nomination. She could also potentially primary Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who faced a huge backlash from within his party over voting with Trump and congressional Republicans to keep the federal government open earlier this year. Ocasio-Cortez has been a fundraising juggernaut.

Several things happened. First, Trump hit the ground running with a large number of executive actions across a wide range of policy areas from virtually the moment he returned to office. This at first demoralized the Democrats, but then enraged them.

Second, the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency began a full frontal assault against the federal bureaucracy. Since entering politics, Musk has turned out to be an even more polarizing figure than Trump. Federal workers, an important Democratic constituency, saw themselves as under attack from Musk and DOGE. Liberals rose to their defense.

Third, Democrats have increasingly turned against the Trump deportations after initially seeming to accept that immigration moderation was necessary to turn around the party’s electoral prospects. The placement of some deportees, especially Kilmar Abrego Garcia, in a Salvadoran prison was seen as vindication of progressive warnings about Trump’s dictatorial tendencies.

Fourth, the Trump tariffs have Democrats smelling blood in the water. If the stock market remains volatile and the economy takes a turn for the worse, perhaps they can win in 2026 and 2028 without altering their positions or strategies on anything. On the wrong side of an 80-20 issue? No problem. 

Trump has also fought Democratic asymmetrical advantages on a variety of fronts — the media, the academy, Big Law, Hollywood — prompting many rank-and-file Democrats to demand that their party’s leaders fight back.

Like the tea party on the Right under Barack Obama, these party activists on the Left are nearly as angry with their own leaders as they are with the incumbent president.  

There have been more extreme examples, such as the lionization of Luigi Mangione and his murder of a healthcare executive, attacks on Tesla dealers and even drivers, and the worst of the anti-Israel protests on major college campuses. The targets aren’t always Republicans, as evidenced by the arson at the home of Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA). 

BIDEN ISN’T GOING TO SAVE THE DEMOCRATS. WHO WILL?

Progressives, and Democrats more broadly, have been split since last year’s election. Should they pivot to try to reclaim lost voters? Or should they resume the Resistance and fight their ideological enemies at all costs?

Right now, the Resistance is winning.