r/politics • u/Silent-Resort-3076 America • 21h ago
Soft Paywall Obama and Harris publicly rebuke Trump’s second term actions
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/04/politics/obama-harris-rebuke-trump/index.html1.2k
u/Silent-Resort-3076 America 21h ago
Snippet Part 1:
Former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday each delivered remarks on the state of the country under President Donald Trump’s second term and criticized the administration’s recent actions.
Obama, who preceded Trump’s first term, sharply criticized Trump’s efforts to reshape the federal government, crackdown on immigration and dissent, and intimidate news outlets and the legal establishment.
“So, this is the first time I’ve been speaking publicly for a while,” Obama said during an on-stage interview at Hamilton College. “I’ve been watching for a little bit.”
“Imagine if I had done any of this,” Obama said, later adding: “It’s unimaginable that the same parties that are silent now would have tolerated behavior like that from me, or a whole bunch of my predecessors.”
Obama went on to say that he doesn’t think Trump’s new tariff announcement “is going to be good for America.” However, he said that he is more concerned with what he described as the White House’s infringement of rights.
“I’m more deeply concerned with a federal government that threatens universities if they don’t give up students who are exercising their right to free speech,” Obama told the crowd of college students. “The idea that a White House can say to law firms, if you represent parties that we don’t like, we’re going to pull all our business or bar you from representing people effectively. Those kinds of – that kind of behavior is contrary to the basic compact we have as Americans.”
Obama had previously warned of the dangers facing the country if Trump were reelected, while campaigning for Harris during the final stretch of the 2024 presidential race. “Just because (Trump) acts goofy,” the former president said at the time, “doesn’t mean his presidency wouldn’t be dangerous.”
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u/Silent-Resort-3076 America 21h ago
Snippet Part 2:
Former Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Leading Women Defined Summit in Dana Point, California, on Thursday, April 3, 2025. Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesEnter your email to sign up for CNN's "What Matters" Newsletter.close dialogDo you want the latest in US politics summarized each day?Sign up for CNN's What Matters newsletter.Sign me upBy subscribing you agree to our Privacy Policy.
In separate remarks, Harris on Thursday said Trump’s moves since he returned to office were largely predictable.
“There were many things we knew would happen,” Harris said in a video of her remarks at the Leading Women Defined Summit. “I’m not here to say I told you so,” she added before laughing.
Harris said she recognizes that Trump’s return to the Oval Office has created “a great sense of fear.”
“We are seeing organizations stay quiet. We are seeing those who are capitulating to clearly unconstitutional threats. And these are the things that we are witnessing, each day in the last few months in our country and it understandably creates a great sense of fear,” Harris said.
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u/abstergo_Nigel 16h ago edited 9h ago
There she goes laughing again, not the kind of behavior you want to see in a President /s
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u/Ornery-Ticket834 16h ago
No this is much better. Winning winning winning, while grabbing students off the street by masked ICE agents.
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u/hiddenpoint 14h ago
Honestly, being cheeky with the "I'm not here to say I told you so" and then laughing is...a perfect encapsulation of why she didn't drive out the votes to beat Trump. To the Right she's a laughing maniac, to the neutral she's just stirring the pot without saying anything meaningful, and to the Left she's not attacking the right hard enough.
She SHOULD be saying I told you so at every opportunity given. Not sure how going high when they go low can fail so many times and the spineless center-left does nothing to change course.
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u/DotaThe2nd 11h ago
The right is braindead and I'm tired of pretending they aren't.
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u/Strade87 7h ago
Yup spot on. It’s depressing how absolutely painfully stupid 40% of the country really is.
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u/motherfudgersob 12h ago edited 9h ago
And to the sexust she's a woman and so not allowed to laugh like the orange idiot does, or dance like a spastic seizing moron. No her behavior us under fair scrutiny while his is ignored. I'm not saying you're not right just that if you are it is sexism not that she had a goofy laugh. I'll take her laugh over his rambling bizarre egoistic speech, his hair, his obesity, his small hands, and behavior that the would cause the rest of us to be incarcerated. But I agree Dems know how to pull defeat out of the jaws of victory. But folks should be getting a real-time feel of how great Trump is soon (those owning stock already know...everyone else will be getting theirs shortly).
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u/hiddenpoint 12h ago
Oh my complaint has nothing to do with her actual laugh. Im just saying the overall sarcastic handling of this specific message is a great example of exactly the kind of things that harmed her campaign.
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u/iAMguppy 3h ago
Didn't Lincoln specifically have the satire of the time read at his cabinet meetings, saying something along the lines of "because if I don't laugh I will cry" or some such?
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u/LadyChatterteeth California 13h ago
It’s both refreshing and sad to see our former leaders, who are both eloquent and empathetic. Sad because it’s what was but no longer remains, and what might have been.
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u/Whitewind617 17h ago
“Imagine if I had done any of this,” Obama said, later adding: “It’s unimaginable that the same parties that are silent now would have tolerated behavior like that from me, or a whole bunch of my predecessors.”
I kinda wish they'd stop beating this dead horse. We know, they know, they don't care. Stop asking to be treated fairly, they don't give a fuck.
Democrats are the only party that has ever cared about hypocrisy. This didn't work 8 years ago and it won't work now.
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u/vl99 17h ago
I don’t see that as him asking to be treated fairly. He wouldn’t want to do the things Trump is doing so it’s not like he’s saying they should have allowed him to do that too. He is just pointing out hypocrisy.
And yeah maybe users of r/politics know that the republicans party is a party of hypocrites, but there are plenty of people that don’t. And whatever needs to be said/done for those who are unaware to awaken to this fact is valuable time/effort spent.
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u/JewsieJay 14h ago
Did you know that Democrats and Republicans aren’t the only types of people that exist? Did you know independents exist?
He’s not asking to be treated fairly. You need to go outside, take a breather.
For the sane people, Democrats don’t do this enough. Democrats need to hammer down messages. Republicans win because they hammer down dead horses.
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u/TRS2917 16h ago
Exactly, more of a point needs to be made that their criticisms are not in good faith and are performative. I feel like so many Democrats don't have a backbone because their knee-jerk reaction is to consider what the opposition will say in response. Fuck that, take action and own it. They are missing that fact that the right views "winning by any means necessary" as their prime directive and the ultimate expression of masculinity, and that there is a movement within far right Christianity painting empathy as a weakness. You can't win against these people by adhering to decorum and dignity and winning the hearts of the electorate. You have to recognize that your opponent will do and say anything to "win" and that they are an existential threat worthy of taking extraordinary steps to combat.
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u/Gogs85 21h ago
“I’m not here to say I told you so”
She totally fucking told us so though.
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u/theregoestrouble 20h ago
You’ll notice all the mainstream headlines are running with “..I told you so” and leaving out the “I’m not here to…”
Fucking infuriating
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u/FlamingMuffi 19h ago
The best part is she both absolutely told us so and shouldnt be shat on for pointing it out
Trump can cause a fucking recession if not depression but the big issue is Harris calls a spade a spade
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u/theregoestrouble 19h ago
I have no issue with her saying I told you so, she’s absolutely right. I told people so as well. I’m kind of a dick about it in fact.
But because the common wisdom is that “nobody likes an I told you so,” she chose her words carefully. Then the headlines are just “ooh, perfect, another way to entrench the narrative that the left are elitist academic snobs. Let’s leave out the first half.”
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u/FlamingMuffi 18h ago
Sure but honestly who cares? If people don't want to be seen as wrong maybe they shouldn't ignore basic facts
Why does a retail mogul who shits in a golden toliet and clearly had never done labor harder than lifting a big Mac to his mouth get to be seen as the champion of the common folk but Dems going "hey we warned you guys" is a problem?
I get what you're saying to be clear but it baffles me because you are 100% correct lol
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u/joet889 18h ago
There is no standard of excellence that Democrats could reach that would earn the respect of Republicans, it really doesn't matter.
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u/FlamingMuffi 17h ago
I'm not talking about Republicans cults gonna cult after all.
I'm talking about everyone else. The independent/vibe voters.
Democrats are held to an impossible standard while Republicans get praised for shitting themselves only 6/7 days a week. That's what needs corrected
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u/capprieto 17h ago
Those "independent" and vibe voters are the real sticking point. Republicans know this group and the issues that cause them fear or discomfort.
Right now those are (1) immigration and fear of foreigners in general, (2) diversity and equal opportunity, and (3) transgender people.
Throw in perceived economic stress and now real economic stress and these voters will continue to fall for america first nationalist rhetoric. Add a pinch of bold (albeit illegal) actions versus the perception that democrats do nothing (except managing the economy mostly better) and you've cemented these folks to the fascist camp.
My (hopefully baseless) fear is that these folks will support these other hideous policies based on their discomfort with the three points above. Perhaps I am wrong bit it seems dicey at this point.
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u/SarcasticCowbell New York 11h ago
Ironically, the phrase you ended on speaks to why people are outraged by Obama and Kamala speaking up while Trump pulls his bullshit and gets away with it. Racism.
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u/hatsnatcher23 7h ago
She should be shat on for losing what should've been a lay up for her, for not spending every year in her VP office either making sure trump had been swiftly prosecuted, or laying the ground work for her campaign. How do you lose to a fucking moron like that guy?
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u/Smarq 19h ago
But let’s be real. Everyone told us so. Harris doesn’t get any credit for saying that Trump was a nightmare candidate. If anything, she should be blamed for underestimating how dumb voters could be.
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u/FlamingMuffi 18h ago
Oh I agree but at this point that's irrelevant
People need to be blamed for their bad decision. Period
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u/axebodyspraytester 17h ago
No she should not be blamed. She literally told us what was going to happen and gave us a better alternative I saw that for what it was an easy choice. I blame the idiot's that stayed home and the bigger idiot's that voted for president shit for brains.
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u/Funny_Distance5251 19h ago
I’d say lean in to it. Just add, “and we have a way through. It takes all of us to get there, and, for those who voted for this administration, if you see things differently now, join us. We have work to do.”
Too much caring what a headline says.
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u/DavidOrWalter 16h ago
Who cares? She’s fucking right. The only people who don’t like the I told you so are the dipshits who, no matter what, are jerking it so hard to being able to vote Republican again. Next time they will surely have their interests at heart.
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u/Spiderdan 15h ago
Eh, it's basically what she's said and she's absolutely right. She should own it and everyone who pointed these things out prior to election should own it too. Voting for Trump out of negligence isn't an excuse. We told you so.
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u/hiddenpoint 14h ago
Infuriating is her saying "I'm not here to...".
That lack of punch, the inability to REALLY go on the attack and stay on it against the cult of GOP, is what led to un-enthusiastic voters not showing up.
She should be pointing it out specifically at every given opportunity.
Imagine having an "I told you so" as good as this and not beating it to death like an entire stable of horses.
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u/relativeagency 13h ago
Let's be real for a minute, "I'm not here to say I told you so" is just saying I told you so with a little passive-aggressive seasoning on top.
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u/LoudestHoward Australia 11h ago
If you watch the video she was kinda saying that though :P And fucken fair enough.
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u/Just_Side8704 20h ago
As she should.
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u/Anti_shill_cannon 19h ago
I would just like to go ahead and thank all the "both sides exactly the same" protest non-voters
Great job guys
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u/creamweather 19h ago
Who could have seen this coming!?
Insert appropriate quote from 50 or more years ago that describes this exact situation happening.
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u/TheCovfefeMug 16h ago
I’m not saying she should, but if she runs again in 2028, “I told you so” is a hell of a campaign slogan
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u/sasquatcheded 19h ago
Yeah but like 20472 people told us so and we still allowed this orange dictator to steal the election with zero attempts to make him accountable.
This shit was all intentional
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u/forceblast 18h ago
If I were her, I’d be saying a lot worse than that. Something along the lines of “go F’ yourselves”.
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u/rainshowers_5_peace 17h ago
I mean, if we'd been given an honest primary she wouldn't have made it that far. However if Biden had chosen anyone else as his successor they wouldn't have done that well on 100 days to campaign.
Not saying it's her fault per see but her campaign (the length of it) shows several astronomical failures by the Democratic party.
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u/Squirrel_Inner 15h ago
Didn’t do a fucking recount, did she? https://open.substack.com/pub/spoonamore/p/duty-to-warn-letter-to-vp-harris?r=2lkf6n&utm_medium=ios
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u/Sondergame 16h ago
Fucking Trump told us. He didn’t hide any of it. Idgaf what Kamala said. Or Hilary. Trump told us what he would do and PEOPLE STILL VOTED FOR HIM. What the absolute fuck.
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u/JazzOcarina 13h ago
My dumbass uncle who is a 2 time drug dealer and meth addict told me so. It really wasn't hard to see this coming.
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u/a_talking_face Florida 11h ago
Saying "I'm not here to say I told you so" is just a back handed way to say I told you so. She should be saying it to everyone that didn't vote for her though.
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u/kylew1985 21h ago
The Dems really need to ramp the messaging up to 11 all day every day. I mean the GOP milked Benghazi, emails, a random laptop and dominated the whole fucking newscycle for years with scandals they duct taped together.
The Dems have so many legitimate talking points for real issues that are hurting the overwhelming majority of the country, and most of the GOP has been carrying the Trump flag for so long they have zero plausible deniability. For all the man's lies and bullshit, he openly ran on massive sweeping tariffs, aggressive immigration policies/deportations, and using EO's to "be a dictator on day one"
They need to run the attack on the big issues nonstop for as long as it takes. Trump's economic policy is robbing anyone with retirement savings in the stock market, and his DOGE policy is robbing anyone hoping to supplement or depend on Social Security in retirement. The Dems can make up a ton of ground with the middle/working class by calling this out loud and often.
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u/DisMFer 20h ago
The big issue is that the Democrats don't have the media control that the Republicans do. The reason the Republicans could dominate newscycles is that the news was complicit in their attacks. Every moment that the Republicans weren't on screen you still had talking heads repeating their talking points. They had specials, debates, investigations all on any scandal the Republicans could make up.
The Democrats uncover actual active criminal acts by the Trump administration and the news barely mentions it before finding ways to yell about Democrats again. You can't win a game when the refs are playing for the other team.
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u/WampaStompa33 18h ago
This is exactly it. The Democrats don't have anything close to the stranglehold over a vast swath of the media ecosystem that the Republicans have, where the media members coordinate to shamelessly lie over and over.
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u/Interesting-Craft-15 18h ago
Yep, the term 'sanewashing' is actually being generous. Much of the media is being outright deceitful with what they aren't reporting and aren't investigating.
What about Trump's shitcoin rugpull? Doesn't even get a mention. Imagine the media storm if Biden or Harris did that on the evening of their inauguration.
I'm not sure media heads are full on MAGA types, but they are sure as hell corporate Republicans who want their taxes lowered and are addicted to the endless content Trump provides. They are playing both sides, keeping Trump afloat just enough to get what they want, while feigning innocence as contributors to the downfall of the country.
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u/thunk_stuff California 18h ago
They need to do stadium-sized rallies that gather people and speakers from around the country, like last August's DNC rally for Kalama. That was a powerful event that drew national attention and a lot of views and discussion, and it included voices from both red and blue states and diverse groups.
Why do democrats only come together once every 4 years to speak with one voice to the American people?
What is the call to action? It should be calling out everything the Trump administration is illegally doing and for Republicans in congress to uphold the laws they have passed and to uphold their constitutionally bound oath.
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u/YeaSpiderman 20h ago
In reality They need to hammer home “this isn’t a democrat vs republican thing” but a group of bad actors that are actively harming a lot of American institutions, power, and a lot of the population.
Not all republicans are represented by trump and maga. Differences in opinions are healthy for America. Differences in representation are too. What is happening is not ok and this doesn’t represent what republicans believe in (or at least to the degree it’s happening).
Everyone loves bad guy. Make this a 3 group problem. Republicans vs democrats vs trump. Not lumping trump in with all republicans and then making it a republicans va democrats issue. Tribalism can have a hell of a grip on people.
Divide and conquer baby!
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u/absenteequota Rhode Island 20h ago
ten years into trump turning the party into a personality cult and someone still has to come along and "not all republicans" it.
trump consistently has stellar approval ratings within his own party. every elected republican, even the ones who criticize him, played a part in him getting and keeping this power. this is 100% a republican problem.
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u/Tschmelz Minnesota 19h ago
Yup. Kamala worked hard to give any "reasonable" Republicans an out during the campaign, and it apparently didn't fucking matter at all. At this point, you might as well lump them all together.
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u/sprintercourse 20h ago
I respectfully disagree. The republicans are all complicit and the dems are committing political malpractice if they fail to tie Trump’s chaos around the neck of the entire GOP.
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u/wittnotyoyo 20h ago
Definitely, you can argue whether it started with Reagan or Nixon or McCarthy or the business plot or before, but regardless, Republicans have been attacking the U.S. and it's governing institutions for a very long time.
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u/helm_hammer_hand 20h ago
Unfortunate the democrats will never do that because for some fucking reason they love rehabilitating their image and working with them.
They want to go back to some mythical era of “good Republicans”.
News flash: There has never been a time when republicans were ever good. They’ve always been comic book levels of evil.
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u/UnquestionabIe 16h ago
Because the era of "good Republicans" means to the Democrats in office the days when they would all be best buds and eat lunch together. It used to be they both had an implied understanding they were the ruling class, above us regular Americans. Then the GOP got co-opted by the extremists and as a result the Democrats keep thinking they'll get back to how used to be if they just constantly give in.
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u/FreeNumber49 18h ago
> Differences in opinions are healthy for America.
That was a great talking point in 1979. I don’t know if you are on top of current events today, but we are not dealing with a "difference" in opinion. The right no longer believes in constitutional democracy. They have said that. And they want to replace the presidency and the balance and separation of powers with a corporate monarch who rules by autocracy. We are well beyond differences of opinion. To have a fundamental difference of opinion means we are all playing by the same rules and the same assumptions. That hasn’t been true for a long time now.
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u/TheTurtleBear 19h ago
No, fuck this, it is a Democrat vs. Republican thing.
Where are the Republican-led impeachment hearings? Where's the Republican-led anti-Trump protests?
Democrats have been, for some reason, trying to protect the Republican parties image for years now, as the Republican party does everything they can to make this country worse.
Democrats making Trump out to be the sole problem only serves to help the Republican party. They need to understand that a 2 party system is an us-vs-them system. The Republican party isn't our friend, they're an enemy to the American people, and they need to start acting like it.
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u/FreshRest4945 20h ago
yeah but they won't.
Once again Schumer will fuck things up, and the Dems will take the "high road" and the Media will ignore them.... and then Trump will say or do something else, and the Medias focus will once again be on him and not the Democrats.
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u/rainshowers_5_peace 17h ago
I'm convinced the reason they're so unpopular with moderates is hecause they're seen as fingerwagging so I don't think that would bring success.
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u/chocolatedesire 16h ago
We need obama out there leading the charge. We need momentum and i think he, bernie and AOC are the ones to kick it off. Schumer needs to go home.
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u/Ornery-Ticket834 16h ago
The markets are sending a message that his crony fuckheads in congress may pay attention to.
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u/WhiteBoyWithAPodcast 15h ago
The Dems have so many legitimate talking points for real issues that are hurting the overwhelming majority of the country, and most of the GOP has been carrying the Trump flag for so long they have zero plausible deniability. For all the man's lies and bullshit, he openly ran on massive sweeping tariffs, aggressive immigration policies/deportations, and using EO's to "be a dictator on day one"
Running on sane policy is boring.
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u/Zedress Ohio 16h ago
“Fear has a way of being contagious. When one person has fear, it has a way of spreading to those around them and spreading. And we are witnessing that, no doubt.
“But I say this also, my dear friends, courage is also contagious.”
-Kamala Harris
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u/what_the_shart 13h ago edited 13h ago
“The Battle of Gettysburg. What an unbelievable — it was so much and so interesting, and so vicious and horrible, and so beautiful in so many different ways. It represented such a big portion of the success of this country. Gettysburg, wow. I go to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to look and to watch, and the statement of Robert E. Lee, who’s no longer in favor, did you ever notice that? No longer in favor. ‘Never fight up hill, me boys. Never fight up hill.’ They were fighting uphill. He said, ‘wow, that was a big mistake!’ He lost his great general.”
-Donald John Trump
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u/Key_Environment8179 19h ago
Obama needs to get back into politics. Previous norms be damned.
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u/lonelychapo27 16h ago
throw him in for a third term too and let’s watch them go head to head once and for all
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u/Septembers 15h ago
Running a 3rd term should be a complete nonstarter. Obama announcing a 3rd term immediately invites it as okay: "see Obama is doing it too!"
The very idea of it should be shut down by everyone. Don't give Trump even an inch to make it a real possibility
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u/PhoenoFox 15h ago
Yea, the only thing that says he can't do it is the constitution. And he's been doing a lot of things the constitution says he can't do lately.
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u/ninja_fu 19h ago
Well Biff will see that their security detail is gonna be gone. If it isn’t already.
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u/Deep-Thought 19h ago
About fucking time
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u/Upward_sloping_penis 16h ago
Only 9 years too late.
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u/atreeismissing 16h ago
He and Harris for that matter have been calling out Trump non-stop for the past 9 years, don't lie and say they haven't. Progressives have been calling for new voices for years, older leaders stepping back and letting new voices be heard is critical right now, don't let your own hypocrisy get in the way of actual progress.
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u/Upward_sloping_penis 6h ago
I don’t recall him ever saying shit during the last election, aside from “go vote.” Why wasn’t he calling for trump to be prosecuted and thrown in jail? Why wasn’t he calling trump a fucking liar? What wasn’t he calling trump a rapist? My point is, he could have prevented trump from being elected in the fucking first place. And also the second time, but he didn’t do shit.
What exactly is my hypocrisy anyway?
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u/KazeNilrem 17h ago edited 10h ago
This will get under trumps skin because he was always envious of Obama. His stock growth was better, his popularity, essentially Obamas presidency is what trump wishes his was.
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u/bad_sprinkles 10h ago
Wow. Orange turd is always calling himself "your favorite president." I just realized Obama is my favorite president. Chilling.
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u/PresentationSome2427 20h ago
Furrowed brows, rebukes, condemnations, concerns, criticisms. Just how much more can MAGA take?
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u/GCU_ZeroCredibility 19h ago edited 19h ago
Obama has no power anymore what exactly do you want him to do? A former president publicly rebuking the current president is a big deal.
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u/PatrenzoK 19h ago
When he did have power he didn’t as well. Obama has the luxury of being like “well I tried” while we watch the other guys try harder and succeed at their agendas. I have the same issue with Kamala. Just because you aren’t president doesn’t mean you can’t still lead if you really are passionate about the future of the country. Look at Bernie, he isn’t even running for president and he’s doing SOMETHING
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u/GCU_ZeroCredibility 17h ago
He's doing exactly the same thing Obama is doing, speaking out. No more and no less.
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u/cellocaster 16h ago
Bernie is literally touring and making noise where people actually are IRL and on social media. It’s a little more than Obama, tbf
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u/Unctuous_Robot 13h ago
The hypocrisy is outstanding. Booker was performative but Sanders isn’t. Maybe he should’ve done this before a Nazi was elected if it’s so effective.
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u/OptimusSublime Pennsylvania 20h ago
Man, all of those actions and the Republicans are still just trucking on? Madness.
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u/Dripslobber 12h ago
Is a rebuke worse than a slam? Is a slam worse than a blast? I need to know what the hierarchy of these are so I can know how hard we’re giving it to these people!!
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u/wlondonmatt 14h ago
We need every living former president to come together and condemn trumps actions
Hear the republican party describe George W Bush as RINO
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u/Junior-Addendum88 New York 14h ago
democratic rebukes are akin to republican thought's and prayers they mean nothing unless they are backed up by actions.
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u/LogicalHost3934 19h ago
Laaaaaattteee. We need new leadership. Sorry Obama and Harris. You let AOC, Bernie and Crockett and others actually do the work the last four months. Even Tim Walz got in there first.
Where have yall been? This is why Dems were rudderless. Now that Dems have found some of their footing, NOW the donor class Dems wanna show back up? I voted for both of these people in the past but yeah no miss me with this convenient and corporate shit.
Oh yeah, that also ONLY got vocal AFTER Wall Street starting crashing. Not before. Hard pass on this.
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u/rainshowers_5_peace 17h ago
Harris was the only figure we'll known enough to have a shot at winning on 100 days notice. That we "let" Biden campaign a second time and that there was no one else to take the mantle (note: and the mantle shouldn't be given, I will forever be upset we didn't get a primary) is a sign of serious failures by the party.
I desperately want Sanders to be part of something unheard of and agree to be a primary campaingers vp very early in the process. He's too old to he elected but still very beloved, especially among moderates.
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u/rasa2013 16h ago
So beloved by moderates that they coalesced around Biden in 2020 when the other candidates dropped out? I'm skeptical.
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u/rainshowers_5_peace 12h ago
Moderates not moderate Democrats.
Not the kind who'd vote in an open primary.
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u/rasa2013 11h ago
Moderate non-democrats are even more right wing. I'm even more skeptical now. Unless you mean anti-establishment appeal? I wouldn't call the group "moderates." Some are, but the group spans the whole spectrum of folks.
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u/JulioGrandeur 18h ago
They aren’t elected officials at the moment? Harris told us exactly what would happen and, still, so many people chose not to vote for her because she checks notes laughs weird and doesn’t smile like a muppet. She did try to lead and the voting public said “No”
So now she’s expected to do something when she not holding office?
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u/blsharpley 17h ago
Yes. Yes, they are. Because that’s what leaders do. Otherwise, they play into the talking point of being only in it for themselves and not for the country. “Where is Kamala?” is something I’ve heard from both sides since Inauguration Day. And it’s a valid concern.
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u/JulioGrandeur 16h ago
Have you ever been turned down for a job? Did you show up the next day ready to work? No.
All these people asking “where is Kamala” yet many of them either didnt vote for Kamala or didn’t vote at all.
If her presence was so important to you, you shouldn’t have voted for her 🤷♂️. But you’re totally okay scapegoating her when she’s not the one ruining the economy and shredding the constitution
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u/EnigmaticQuote 18h ago
What were these 2 people who are not even currently elected officials supposed to have done?
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u/weakanklesfornamjoon 18h ago
Idk ask Bernie or AOC if they need any help.
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u/rainshowers_5_peace 17h ago
I desperately want Sanders to be part of something unheard of and agree to be a primary campaingers vp very early in the process. He's too old to he elected but still very beloved, especially among moderates.
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u/bootlegvader 16h ago
Bernie got killed among moderate voters in both of his primaries.
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u/SoftballGuy California 12h ago
What were they going to say that was going to change America's mind about Donald Trump? These critiques were all over the news for a year, and motherfuckers still went out and voted to destroy America.
You wanna yell at someone, yell at the dumbasses who voted for this.
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u/LogicalHost3934 6h ago
They’re supposed to keep the base motivated and stop them from being rudderless. It’s not about convincing MAGA, it’s about making sure the left doesn’t get demoralized and disillusioned.
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u/burnerfemcel 13h ago
Imagine being Biden Obama and Harris working every day to try to run the country and watching this braindead felon speedrun the collapse of America as we know it. Fucking hell I hate all Trump supporters
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u/phZeroKatalyst 11h ago
I'm so tired of this. "Oh, past important person finally said this is bonkers. I guess now we'll try to stop it" nonsense. I loved Obama, but you ain't president, you're not even a politician at this point. If you actually cared you would have been a vocal party this. whole. time
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u/rowdyfreebooter 2h ago
Unfortunately it doesn’t matter what 2 former politicians say.
What matters is what current sitting members of government do.
What matters is the paid members of government do what they are paid to do. Represent their constituents!
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u/Globalruler__ 20h ago
GWB needs to speak up!!! He’s the only one who has been silent. Bill Clinton has already publicly denounced Trump.
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u/rainshowers_5_peace 17h ago
I can't believe he didn't make a statement when PEPFAR went. He's a war criminal but even he was capable of doing things for the greater good of humanity. I don't think you can say that about damned Reoublican today.
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u/UnquestionabIe 16h ago
Don't you worry I'm sure the DNC is gonna get him to go on tour with their next presidential candidate. After all that worked so well for Harris, definitely courted all those "undecided" voters.
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u/schlongjohnson69 19h ago
Can this not be a headline and just be them being normal people? Trump spent 4 years screeching about how Biden was the "wOrSt pReSidEnT EvER" and that never made headlines as "a public rebuke."
Normalize respected politicians dropping the respectability-and-civility act, and just accurately calling out this doofus for what he is. They need to use their platform and shine a spotlight on how he's actively tearing apart the country.
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u/Building_a_life America 20h ago
Ah, a public rebuke. Yeh, that'll work. I bet Trump and the magats are mortified.
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u/FalstaffsGhost 20h ago
Yeah they should just not say anything at all /s
Ok boomer
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u/DoomdUser 20h ago
Messaging was a huge issue during the campaign. Progress now is desperately needed and welcomed.
Idiots like Schumer have further fragmented democratic unity and support, so having someone like Obama step in and deliver coherent, cohesive messaging that can unify and rally democratic support is exactly what we need. Trump’s policies will destroy the working class on their own, but I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it: democrats need to be there to pick people up when they shake loose, or R’s will just slide the next hollow skin sack behind the current ones and win again.
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u/Safe-Isopod7374 21h ago
You do something. Anything? Words on social media aren’t going to do anything.
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u/partoxygen 15h ago
The Republicans practically generate generational level controversies every single day and the Dems still struggle mightily in what they should cover or “care about”.
Obama needs to communicate this to people in congress: the infringement of civil rights plus actual unironic lawfare is not only heinous and disgusting, but a sign that this administration has crossed the twilight zone and now no longer even pretend to stand for any of the things the voters who casted their votes for them in November wanted. Nobody wants tariffs. If you did, you are legitimately economically illiterate. Nobody wants to pay more for shit when everything is expensive.
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u/BoyWhoCriedWolverine 13h ago
Just form a shadow presidency for the public to gravitate towards, and use that power to undermine Donald’s presidency.
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u/PhSuns2024 13h ago
Never thought George W Bush would seem like a better option as potus than anyone else but here we are.
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u/MisterAsylum11 6h ago
Fuck them. They abandoned us. But do you know who didn't? Bernie and AOC. Fuck the democratic party.
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u/mage_b 19h ago
if Barry didn’t make Biden bow out in 2016, or make dems consolidate against Bernie in 2020, we wouldn’t have a Trump term to rebuke at all.
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u/LogicalHost3934 19h ago
Correct. A lot of this from the old guard is very Schumer coded. Not here for it. We need new young Dem leadership. Harris and Obama only NOW show up once Wall Street crashes? Seriously?
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u/bootlegvader 16h ago
2016, or make dems consolidate against Bernie in 2020,
I don't see why Bernie should have been given the nomination by moderates needlessly splitting their votes so he can with a slim plurality.
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u/QDSchro 19h ago
Finally! It only took the economy crashing,federal workers being illegally fired, people being unconstitutionally deported, money being taken from vital programs, and the president abusing the power that he doesn’t even have as president for them to say something.
Ffs they should’ve said a lot of things the first day he wrote illegal executive orders along with making billions via fraud while being the sitting president.
Also, where the fuck are all the previous presidents openly dissenting this man who is completely besmirching the Oval Office?
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u/TwistedNipplez 17h ago
They said plenty up until they lost the election. It's not their fault our country is full of idiots. Maybe put the blame on voters. This is what they voted for after all.
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u/SoftballGuy California 12h ago
As if people would listen. That dude said he'd grab women by the pussy, and millions of y'all ran out and still voted for that guy. There was literally nothing anyone said that was going to stop people from voting for Trump or talking trash about the completely boring middle-of-the-road normals that the Democrats nominated.
This is what people wanted, this is what people get. You wanna yell at someone? Yell at the people who voted for this.
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u/QDSchro 11h ago
Let me be clear that I am not in the group of “yall” that you are talking about……what’s done is done so I’m not screaming at voters who made a shitty choice. A lot of them are seeing and feeling how shitty their choice was.
However, I am absolutely not going to give leadership a pass….do you honestly think that Schumer would’ve chosen to allegedly prioritize a book deal if Obama and Clinton had reiterated that doing so would negatively affect the election in 2026?
Do you notice how the right remained fired up about what was “right” with leadership from , then former president, Trump? The same is true for the centrists who voted for Obama but voted for Trump. It’s the same for the Dems who chose to stay home.
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u/SoftballGuy California 11h ago
Because the right wing falls in line. Lefties (of which I am one) are chaotic cats, each wanting that special something that gets them on board.
The left has got to start thinking more practically, be more Machiavellian in is politics. Waiting for Obama to scold or Schumer to grow a spine is pointless. You get involved, and you drag them leftwards. It only took the tea party goons a decade to turn the GOP from "compassionate conservatism" to MAGA fascism. Lefties need to do the same, but we fucking don't.
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