I would like an answer for this as well. We've seen exactly one filibuster, which wasn't against any particular piece of legislation or appointee.
Democrats oppose progressives, not republicans.
I would like an answer for this as well. We've seen exactly one filibuster, which wasn't against any particular piece of legislation or appointee.
Democrats oppose progressives, not republicans.
Earnest answer: they have made the argument that they lost the presidency and both houses of Congress, therefore, whatever happens is not on them. They are taking the stance that since they don’t have the legal power, they’re doing their part by raising awareness, going to committee meetings to verbally oppose trump’s regime, and voting against bills when they can. In the Senate, Dems have been almost united in voting against trump’s nominees (looking at you, Fetterman). But they (Dem leadership) have been very straightforward that they don’t have the power. Their strategy is that republicans will fail so hard that the rest of the country will be running back to democrats by the midterms. I’ll let you decide how effective they’ve been.
To their credit, it’s true that they have almost no legal power. The House votes by simple majority, so there’s next to nothing House Dems can do. In the Senate, Dem Senators can filibuster some bills. It’s super important to remember that a lot of bills, like budget bills or judicial nominations, cannot be filibustered. Add on top of that, republicans are disorganized as hell and have barely submitted any legislation for a vote that could be filibustered even if the Dems wanted to. So there’s really very little Dem Senators can do on the Senate floor.
So, the answer is, barely nothing because legally, they truly don’t have the power. That all said, they are basically sitting on their hands. There’s SO MUCH they could be doing. For instance, imagine the POWER and HISTORY that Dems could’ve made had they one-by-one stood up and walked out of trump’s state of the union address. Dems could stand on the Capitol step EVERY DAY to protest, demand media attention, and use their platform. They aren’t. They’re letting us burn because most of them are playing politics.
Good luck to them, you, me, and everybody else…
The answer is nothing. The Democratic Party went into shell shock after the elections repudiated over 30 years of established norms. We clearly need something new and fresh, based around class politics. The real villains are the 1% who sit on boards and play both sides. Until we have a political party that stands up for the other 99%, we are fucked. The entire two-party system is rigged against true representation and is instead controlled by special interests. Trump is no better than the neoliberals who helped create him.
A handful of democrats have been going across the country to explain to younger voters what exactly is going on, what they can do about it, and what they can expect from those campaigning to try and stop this further. The powerful democrats are censoring those democrats. Cause heaven forbid a politician listens to its voter base
Honestly if they aren't jailing republicans at this point it isn't enough. Iirc there is a few lawsuits and strongly worded letters that will of course accomplish nothing meaningful as usual
Several democratic governors sued over the tariffs. So far the court has declared the tariffs to be illegal, but is for some reason allowing them to be collected while the case is appealed.
The gov of Maine sued him for withholding federal funds over having trans athletes and won.
The NYTimes has a pretty good article tracking the myriad of suits against him. They mention that 184 of them "have at least temporarily paused the administration's initiatives." https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/us/trump-administration-lawsuits.html
A handful of senators and state legislators have attempted to visit some of the prisons/ICE detention facilities, starting with Chris Van Hollen, who flew to El Salvador to see Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
David Hogg is attempting to primary the old do-nothing dinosaurs in the party.
I think right now we're all looking to California to see what they do in a literal military standoff with Trump. I don't know if it will be enough, but I don't think it will be nothing.
Question: why would they want to block trump? For a lot of Democrats the system is working as intended. Heck, 75 dems just voted to congratulate ICE on a job well done: https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-ice-gratitude-resolution-backlash-2084004
I'm of the opinion that they don't want to stop trump at all.
There isn't a lot more they can do that you or I couldn't. Because a majority of voters didn't turn up, or have the moral fabric of pond scum and voted for Republicans for government offices, giving both houses of Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court over to the American Fascist Party. If you have any useful suggestions about what the party now completely out of federal power should be doing, I'm sure about a third of the country would like to know.
Probably waiting for Americans to stop stripping them of their power and handing it over to a felon rapist traitor and his treasonous party.
It's not the responsibility of a political party to police the actions of an administration. If someone does something you believe to be illegal, you sue them. According to a LLM search, the administration has over 250 cases against them right now. The courts are the ones responsible for judging the actions of the administration and holding it accountable.
Trump was elected to do the things he's doing. There's no surprises here. Congress is stacked against the Democrats. There really isn't anything they can legally do until they regain either the Senate or the House.
The concern should be the legal actions he's taking; the ones the supreme court ultimately determine are fine. The few that pass that bar are going to be major hurdles to restoring normalcy.
What the Democrats should be doing is forming a unified party that listens to the concerns of the people and finding someone to voice this movement.
It really comes down to the people. We always have the choice of who to elect. We seem to be voting for people who are against our own personal interests because our electoral system is a farce. Politicians are lying so often and so blatantly now that, regardless of your affiliation, the truth is often clouded by bias and emotion, if not intentionally buried. About half of Americans now believe our elections are rigged even though the evidence indicates they're highly secure.
I mean, if you're here asking what can be done to fix this shit we're in right now, the answer is to reform our elections, make them tax payer funded, embrace STAR or Ranked Choice Voting, and pass the bill that prevents elected leaders from holding stocks. Or, I don't know how you do this but getting people to know the difference between factual unbiased news and fake news and preventing biased opinions from distorting their realities.
^ this is what sniffing glue does to your brain kids
Really? Tell me how a political party can police another party. The only actions congress, in particular, have is impeachment. Impeachment is effectively suing the defendant with no inherit repercussions.
Give me one example of an illegal action taken by this administration and what the Democrats could legally do to “block, stop, or reverse” it.
The Congress has WAY more tools than just impeachment to check illegal executive actions. Impeachment’s the nuclear option, but daily oversight is where real accountability happens. Let’s just take a look at a few tools dems could use.
Trump admin officials like Wilbur Ross repeatedly ignored subpoenas about the citizenship census question. Dems could’ve jailed officials for contempt ,like the GOP did to Lois Lerner, or sued for enforcement. They folded. Trump’s family separation policy violated asylum laws. Congress controls the purse. They could’ve defunded ICE/CBP’s ability to implement it. Instead, they funded it more. Trump’s emoluments violations (e.g., foreign govs. paying at his hotels). Pass a bill explicitly banning presidential self-enrichment. When Dems did act (e.g., suing over border wall funds), they won which proves that legal avenues exist.
Claiming "Congress can’t do anything" ignores history. When Bush pushed torture, Congress passed the Detainee Treatment Act. When Obama overreached on immigration, courts blocked him. Weakness is a choice, not a constraint. Even without majority control, minority parties have real power, which dems are not using. They can force subpoena votes, sue in court (like Dems did to block Trump's border wall funding), leverage Senate filibusters, and rally public pressure. Republicans proved this by stonewalling Obama's Supreme Court pick for 10 months with only Senate control. The tools exist, and the lack of oversight reflects political opportunism as opposed to institutional impossibility.
They can... sue in court (like Dems did to block Trump’s border wall funding)
Yes. That's exactly my entire point. And this only works if the courts determine the act to not be legal. This is why, as I said, there are over 250 cases against the administration right now.
There's a lot going on right now which the public dislikes but that doesn't necessarily make an act illegal. If nothing else, Trump knows how to work the courts. He also disregards the courts and we're still waiting to see if there's any repercussions to that.
Trump is not Obama. Obama fucked up by caving to McConnell. Trump would not do the same. There is no comparison of this administration and any other. History is irrelevant at this point.
Dems could’ve jailed officials for contempt
How does that work?
So you're admitting that you have no clue how the US legal system works?
Yes. Tell me how congress jails officials.
Google exists, spend some time educating yourself if you genuinely care about understanding the subject. If you'd like me to tutor you, then feel free to send a dm and pay me for the effort.
Gotcha. So you either you don't know or you do know this is not true.
Congress has no power to jail officials. They can hold an official in contempt and potentially have the US Attorney's office put them in jail. That's not happening with Trump. That's not happening with anyone in Trump's administration.
The point is they haven't even tried doing this. But you keep on braying here pretending like you have clue. It's adorable.
For what would they hold the administration in contempt and what does this do to block, stop, or reverse illegal actions?
It seems like you're lacking a basic understanding of how law and government work and it doesn't seem like you know what contempt means. And, to make up for that, you throw out witless insults in an attempt to derail the conversation.
You, "the internet", are far too emotional to consider the reality of these situations. Just because something makes you angry or someone does something you think should be illegal does not mean someone is not permitted to do that action.
There are absolutely actions that Trump has done that are illegal and many of those actions have been decided on while other cases are in court now. "The Democrats", I presume we're addressing Congress, are not explicitly the group responsible for holding the administration accountable for everything he does. Congress only has authority over a handful of things (mostly, but not limited to, money) with few options to do anything about them.
The point I am trying to make is; (1) what actions does OP suggest are illegal, (2) a court has to determined that action to be illegal, (3) Congress is not responsible for suing the president nor responsible for determining what is legal nor responsibly for jailing an executive officer, (4) this Republican Congress is not going to pass legislation (the main power they have) to block, stop, or reverse actions taken by this administration. And, finally, what the Trump administration is doing, legal or not, is largely what the United States voters voted for. So, the best way to stop these quote unquote illegal actions is to vote for Democrats in two years.
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