Why its hard to get outraged at Trump
Democrats have a glaring problem that can't be ignored
Today, the mood of the center left (which is probably 99% of my own friends, family and colleagues) is one of sheer outrage, panic and fear over the actions of the Trump administration.
They are stressed out at the actions of DOGE, which is causing all sorts of harm, from withdrawal of health aid in developing countries to mass firings of dedicated civil servants. They are angry about how Trump treats U.S. allies in Europe and north of the border. They are fretting Trump’s tariffs and the stock market impacts. They seethe at Trump’s brazen corruption and megalomania. And I am sure there are many other things I am leaving out. But the point is there is genuine, deep seeded stress.
I don’t think this is unwarranted worry - although it is probably not physically or mentally health. And while I emphasize with it, even understand it, I find myself somewhat out of alignment with the general sentiment. My feelings about the Trump administration at the moment are somewhere between detached resignation and “meh.”
Its not with any self-righteousness that I feel this way. But it is more a kind of dumbstruck, frustrated and confused stance over what does or does not animate politically active Democrats.
There is an enormous, politically inconvenient elephant in the room. And that is the ongoing genocide in Gaza. And the fact that it began and reached a scale of horrific, unmitigated violence with the full support of a Democratic administration and leadership of the party. And the fact that the leadership of the party continues t support Israel’s resumption of the violence, even as it exceeds the scale and scope of the atrocities committed pre-ceasefire.
But the outrage over that feels noticeable absent.
Performative Politics and Empty Inspiration
Last week, Corey Booker stood in the Senate and gave a record-breaking 25 hour speech. This has been described in some places as a filibuster but that isn’t actually true. He wasn’t filibustering anything. He just stood and spoke for 25 hours about Democratic, liberal causes. For that he received widespread applause from the party and its many online activists.
Booker’s speech came as Israel was intensifying its bombing campaign against the Palestinians, taking more territory and corralling more civilians into tiny, barren pockets of land - which are then also bombed.
It came as Palestinians continued suffering from a now month-long blockade by Israel of any humanitarian aid into Gaza, including food and water.
It came as Palestinians continued to live amongst rubble and missile fire, slowly dying of hungry, disease, malnutrition or missile fire - with no schools, hospitals or even standing buildings in site.
It came as it was revealed that the Israeli soldiers in Gaza recently drove up to a convoy of ambulances that were trying to help people, shot the first responders one by one, buried them and the ambulances in a mass grave, and then bulldozed dirt over it to cover their crimes. Needlessly to say, they later lied about this atrocity - but video evidence later surfaced confirming how the horrific events unfolded.
Back to Corry Booker. Shortly after the senator finished his 25 hour speech, receiving much praise from the liberal media, he voted to send nearly $9 billion in weapons to Israel so they could continue their assault on Gaza. A few Democrats, led by Bernie Sanders, attempted to block the shipment. The vast majority of Senate Democrats teamed up with every single Republican to swat away Sanders’ efforts and ensure the weapons transfer went through.
This is not an anomaly - its a feature of the contemporary Democratic Party and its affiliate organizations.
Last weekend, anti-Trump rallies were held across the country garnering estimates of one million people. They were organized under the banner of “Hands Off!” and sign of discontent with Republicans. Here is an advertising poster from organizers:
I agree with most of what is on there but I am more bothered by what isn’t on there. No hands off Gaza? We can tell Trump he must respect a foreign military alliance (NATO) but we can’t express outrage over his support of war crimes? It can’t even get mention on this sign?
I recognize that an issue of importance to me may not be a top priority for everyone. For some people, protection of cancer research is paramount. For some people, it is imperative we address the climate crisis. But we can’t even mention the on-going slaughter in Gaza? And I don’t mean “we can’t even mention” as in, Trump will deport you if you do. I mean we can’t even have it mentioned on a liberal laundry list at an anti-Trump protest?
Where Was This Outrage When It Mattered?
In my personal opinion, the time for panic - the time for rage and mass protest and complete, utter despair fully supported with money and weapons provided by the United States - was not a military operation against Hamas but an effort to cause mass death and suffering on the entire population. It was when International Court of Justice began investigating Israel for crimes against humanity. It was when Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both independently released reports classifying Israel’s campaign as a genocide, backed by meticulously detailed documentation. It was when, despite all of these facts, the United States continued sending tens of billions of dollars in advanced weapons systems and bombs to Israel to help them commit these crimes.
That was when I was outraged.
Unfortunately for the Democratic Party, all that occurred when Joe Biden was President and running for re-election. It continued to occur when Kamala Harris assumed the mantle at a Democratic National Convention, where she notably brought nearly every interest and identity group to speak- unless they were Palestinian, in which case she refused to let them on the stage.
All the while she used the same empty phrase Joe Biden had been repeating for a year “We’re working around the clock for a ceasefire,” even as they shipped ever more bombs to aid the slaughter.
But the empty phrase was enough and the inconvenience of this issue cast aside because the real problem - the most important problem in all American history, so we were told - was the Donald Trump might get elected again. And so the left was encouraged to set any qualms aside and get onboard with fun Aunt Kamala and her cool Brat Summer memes.
She lost the election anyway.
Then along came Trump, who actually brokered a ceasefire and temporarily ended the slaughter. Until Israel broke the ceasefire and resumed its campaign of terror, with Trump’s full support. As for Democratic officials, who had so recently told their voters that Trump is the new Hitler, a man who is resoundingly viewed as evil because of his campaigns of mass murder - their reaction to him now enabling an actual campaign of mass murder was barely a shrug and to focus on something else.
The irony is lost on almost everyone.
The ragometer has already been broken
Yesterday, the AP ran an article under the headline “Israeli strike on Gaza kills 32, mostly women and children.” Just a smattering of the hundreds of children killed since the resumption of Israeli bombing a few weeks ago, on top of the tens of thousands of dead bodies laying up and down Gaza with an equal amount buried under the rubble of the buildings in which they sought shelter.
Today, I read an article in The Guardian, which included interviews with Israeli soldiers on the ground carrying out these atrocities. Here is what one of them had to say:
“A lot of us went there, I went there, because they killed us and now we’re going to kill them,” they said. “And I found out that we’re not only killing them – we’re killing them, we’re killing their wives, their children, their cats, their dogs. We’re destroying their houses and pissing on their graves.”
He was bragging.
These are the reasons why I find it difficult to get outraged over DOGE, or Trump saying mean things to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, or his rolling back of diversity initiatives in the government’s procurement programs.
Its not to say I am not bothered by many things Trump has done and is doing. I’ve just been a bit numbed out by what seem to me to be larger issues and entirely dismayed at Democrats’ ability to be so fucking freaked out over whatever latest Trump provocation has made the scrolling news banner on CNN while at the same time they relegate a campaign of mass murder to a side issue that can’t be talked about in polite company.
Despair and Hope
But there is some hope.
Not immediate hope for the Palestinians of Gaza - the direness of the situation there is beyond my ability to express. That is not to say that they or those who share in the horror should give up. Never give up, never lose hope. But one should also look with open eyes at what they face.
But I also think there is some, mild level of hope for the future of the Democratic Party.
Not the leadership of Chuck Schumer who gleefully attends AIPAC conferences and declares this is “our land” because the Torah says so. Not the performative rank and file Democratic policymakers like Corey Booker who bathe themselves in self-righteous indignation at the immorality of the Republicans before he votes to accelerate a genocide against two million people.
But hope that the Democratic Party will eventually change from the ground up. Even as millions of Democrats voted for Kamala Harris, their overall support for Israel fell to record lows. A recent Gallup poll has Democratic sympathies with the Palestinians at 59% to the Israeli’s 21%. This is a remarkable development and could have profound implications moving forward.
There is also hope because of the many, many dedicated activists who are committing themselves getting the United States to end the slaughter and recognize the basic human rights of the Palestinian people. These activists notable include Jewish led organizations like If Not Now and Jewish Voices for Peace, who regularly cite Jewish scripture and the lessons of the Holocaust as their motivation for ensuring the lessons of the past must not be forgotten.
And while it may not be a top priority for everyone, there exists today a significant and growing divide between the sentiment of these rank-and-file voters and the Democratic Party leadership (which includes everything from politicians to donors to leaders of left-aligned NGOs and DC think tanks.)
The hope is that this activism can eventually overtake the opposition in the party. I don’t know what that means for Gaza and I fear the time it takes may be too late (if it wasn’t already, given the utter destruction that exists in the Strip.) But one can, with feint optimism, imagine a world in which the moral weight of the party base overtakes the depravity of its leadership.
If and when that happens, I would imagine that history will look back at wonderment about the outrage of the more elite aspects of the party over this-or-that thing Trump did on any given day - and ask where that outrage was when it came to the Palestinian genocide.
As the old labor slogan goes, “Which side are you on?”