[Republicans] “control the House, the Senate, and the presidency. It’s their government. What leverage do we have? We are going to try to find bipartisan common ground on any issue.” -Hakeem Jefries

Hakeem Jeffries probably needs to get out of the way, so Democrats can do something- 02-12-2025

Hakeem Jeffries, the House Minority Leader, is apparently getting tired of having to deal with pressure from voters and civic groups who want Democrats to do something to stand up to Donald Trump.

A senior Democrat told Axios for a report published on Tuesday that Jeffries is “very frustrated” at people trying to stir up a more confrontational opposition to Trump.

Which, this seems to track: Jeffries, at a press conference last week, noted that Republicans “control the House, the Senate, and the presidency. It’s their government. What leverage do we have? We are going to try to find bipartisan common ground on any issue.”

Good luck finding that “bipartisan common ground” with an administration that is actively trying to dismantle the foundation of American democracy, right? What is the bipartisan common ground there?

OK, we’ll agree to pretend to observe democratic norms, as long as you keep acquiescing.Great strategy there, Mr. Wannabe, and Neverwillbe, Speaker.

And that’s not counting that we’re now hearing people in the Trump/Musk inner circle suggesting that they just won’t follow court orders that they don’t like, at which point, what is left, but to follow their lead, throw the rulebook out the door, and fight tooth and nail, throwing everything including the kitchen sink into the battle?

This, Mr. Jeffries, is the way to create leverage: by using your bully pulpit, and you indeed have one, as the leader of 215 Democrats in the U.S. House, three scant votes from being able to get a majority on any issue, to put pressure on those in the Republican caucus with a conscience, and there are any number of methods available to create that pressure.

Encourage people to take to the streets, to protest House members’ district and DC offices, to surround the U.S. Capitol, to protest outside members’ apartments and homes in DC and back in their districts.

Yes, Republicans have the House, barely – they have 218 seats, which is right on the number for a majority of 435 – they have the Senate, by a three-seat margin, and they have the White House.

Where you’re wrong, Mr. Jeffries: it’s not “their government.” Trump and his MAGA allies didn’t win a mandate in the 2024 cycle. Trump won the presidential race by a point and a half, the fifth-smallest margins in our 236-year political history, and it would only take a couple of House Republicans and three or four Senate Republicans to flip on any vote to put up a roadblock.

Seeking “bipartisan common ground” only works if you’re working from a position of leverage. Weakness isn’t a position of leverage. You get leverage by using what you have to create a basis for political action.