Democrats do everything they can to defeat Donald Trump.
But in the presidential election, they only have one-third.
Twice, they imploded each of him-but that didn't ruin his political career.
Several Democratic top prosecutors brought him the power of the law, but they only made him stronger when trying to disappoint him.
When he fell, they tried to “high”. But he walked down and won.
Portraying Trump as the worst ever threat to American democracy has not stopped the greatest White House comeback story in history.
So, what are the Democrats doing now?
How Newsom fought back with Texas and rejected his 2028 campaign
The fightback of the latest plan to drive by California Gov. Gavin Newsom has just won the support of former President Barack Obama, which is more like Trump, but only a certain time and a limited time.
California lawmakers are expected to pass a bill Thursday to hold a statewide referendum in November to remake the state's congressional map to a Democrat who can purify five seats in the House.
The counterattack took effect after the president ordered an in-depth Texas plan, launching a rare mid-term reallocation effort to find five Republican House seats. Trump has blatantly tried to save the Republican Party and himself from losing the room by mid-2026 and is ready to do anything to prevent it.
Texas Democrats made a big noise that prevented the state from voting on the plan, but like nearly every other party’s plan to slow Trump’s plan, it was doomed to fail. The Texas House passed a redistricting bill Wednesday; it will now move to the state Senate.
Newsom has a long history with the president, but he shares some of his instincts in stunt politics, which not only takes on Trump by leveraging the government mechanisms of democratic causes.
He also anthropomorphized one way to deceive the devil is to laugh at him. The governor turned his social media account into a parody of the president's own worries and puffiness.
“Thank you for your attention to this matter! – GN” Newsom wrote after a post on X earlier this month, tricking Trump into imitating one of his online quirks.
This may seem immature, below the dignity of the governor, one of the league's most powerful nations. But it was playing Trump in his own social media game and recognizing that the president undermined the norms of political speech.
The more serious argument that many Democrats are now making is that the Republican Party has transformed into an anti-democratic force and they must do everything they can to fight back.
Of course, it would be higher for Democrats to stand in principle and refuse to follow the Republicans on the next dictatorship path by building more housing seats. But they will definitely lose.
Newsom's response may be cynical. But he also caught Texas’s redistribution battle because he was one of the few Democrats who had power and knew how to use it. He also introduced obvious demands from Democratic bases to engage in more battles.
“He didn't play by different rules,” Newsom said last week about Trump. “He doesn't believe in the rules.” Newsom grabbed on Monday the latest fact Trump's social rant about mail-in voting, which aims to get into the president's mind.
“Trump knows he will lose in 2026,” Newsom wrote. “His plan for a new congressional seat in rigs will backfire, thanks to California. Now, he's clamoring for other ways to cook the results. This guy is desperate.”
Newsom is doing political gambling. There is no guarantee that enough California voters will agree with his attempt to change the state constitution. The California Citizen Repartition Commission is a precious state democratic plank.
But when he focused on the White House, the California governor created a platform that moved himself beyond Democratic rivals to be even more pressing in the fight against Trump, and his administration challenged election equity in multiple ways.
In fact, his bid for the 2028 Democratic nomination does not need to make it officially start. If he succeeds in creating more seats for his party and he captures the House next year, he will get a share of the Lion.
Not very hopeful and change
In his speech Tuesday night, Obama talked about the challenge of following the redistricting rules of “real Democrats.”
“I had to fight my preferences, and it was that we didn’t have political wit,” he said during a fundraising campaign for the National Democratic Rezoning Commission. The former president added: “I also know that if we don’t respond effectively, the White House and Republican-controlled state governments across the country would not stop because they don’t seem to believe in this inclusive, broad-based democracy idea.”
Obama said he “very respectful” to Newsom's approach, because Newsom has made California's response conditionally rely on what Texas does. He also praised Newsom's proposal to resume the state's independent redistricting committee after the 2030 census – after Trump's term.
The 44th President’s pragmatism reflects a painful experience, as he drew attention in his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Conference, proclaiming: “There is no liberal and conservative America – there is the United States of America.”
Obama may be remembered for his speech. But he has been often forgotten since he left the White House for eight years: his 2012 campaign was ruthlessly overwhelmed by the Republican nominee Romney.
Obama said democracy is not “self-execution” and that if Democrats really believe their words, they should do something about it. He called for more support for the NDRC, litigation and organizations.
Obama also puts forward stunning morals about the struggle for slavery and racial discrimination in the 20th century. “It takes organization and activism, people show, sometimes beaten or thrown into prison. It's a civil war,” he said. “To amend the constitution, it takes extraordinary leadership and courage. It's in the context of the power robbery of Trump by law firms, universities and corporate chiefs.
Obama's warning raises a direct question of whether the former president will play a more important political role on his own. Obama has been a harsh critic of Trump at a critical moment—for example, during the 2020 and 2024 Democratic National Conventions, he warned his successors of threat to democracy. But he had a strong interest in profitable retirement, including in filmmaking and advocacy for the foundations that followed. The former president (including many others) knows that there is a price to stand up for the successors of the Department of Justice’s weapons.
Will Obama become an effective force?
His efforts in 2024, including a speech at the Chicago Convention, were single-handed by former First Lady Michelle Obama, which could not stop Trump from returning to the White House. Many Democrats are pinning a new generation of leaders. Whenever he or she arrives, the next Democratic president will need fresh vision and energy after the Republicans try to cover up the administration.
Meanwhile, Newsom isn't the only Democrat to adopt some of Trump's methods to try to gain appeal in dispersed media and online anarchy. For example, Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett has been dragging a Trump-style president on social media. “The guy in the White House wants to commit 'sabotage' crimes in DC… adorable,” she wrote on X this week. “Sit boldly in the Oval Office with felony charges and thinks you can teach anyone on the law and order.”
Still, Democrats should be careful. How brave they get, they will never match Trump's fire. The subtext of Trump’s populism is that all politics is corrupt. And if voters think that the Democrat is as bad as the president, then his own more behavior doesn’t seem to be that bad.
Trump and Margo Republicans are trying to create this equivalent. They described criminal prosecutions against Trump during the campaign as cold-blooded exploitation of administration power, although some of them arose due to his attempt to steal the 2020 election. The Republican Party better said that he was picked out in successful civil fraud prosecutions against him, his adult son and the Trump organization in New York.
Republicans have a point when they argue that Democrats have committed blatant redistribution of housing seats in states such as Illinois and Maryland. Nevertheless, most of such efforts are suitable for traditional corruption in ancient travel practices. There are no modern politicians trying to attack Trump's democracy and elections.
The rise in the midterm may also indicate whether voters need another democratic showdown when grocery prices remain painful and housing efforts. Neither side has a compelling plan to provide relief. No wonder Trump's recognition rating is underwater, and the Democratic Party has been in a popular record this year.
As New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently said, Democrats are now vowing to “fight with fire.”
But it is risky to fall down in the mud and foul Trump.
He is better than them.