Spin Cycle: Democrats Scramble For A Foothold As Party Popularity Tanks

For those who don’t spend their Sunday mornings glued to the television — and their Sunday afternoons attempting to dig through a week’s worth of network and cable news media spin — The Daily Wire has compiled a short summary of what you may have missed.

Sunday morning saw a lot of Democrats attempting to do damage control in the wake of Friday’s continuing resolution passing — which will keep the federal government funded through September — despite the vast majority of the party voting in favor of shutting down the government.

The most recent NBC News poll is not likely to assuage any fears regarding the chaos within the Democratic Party, especially since the survey was taken days before Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) agreed to support the CR, thus avoiding a government shutdown that would have been attributed to his party. In that poll, Democrats hit a new all-time low approval rating with just 27% having a “positive view” of the party and just 7% saying they had a “very positive view” of Democrats. To make matters worse, the poll also indicated that Democratic voters would prefer to see the party fighting against Trump more — fueling Democrats who opposed Schumer’s decision to back the CR.

On ABC News’ “This Week,” former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile kicked off the conversation with a deflection and argued that it was the Republicans who had no cohesive strategy — despite the passage of the CR being touted as a massive victory for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

When asked to respond to Schumer’s support for the CR — and the ensuing “massive blowback,” Brazile opted to first attack Republicans instead.

“Congressional Republicans have a strategy. They want to pass the Trump agenda no matter how reckless it is. They want to pass the — I mean, make sure all of his cabinet people are secured and later on, his tax cuts. They have a strategy, we know it. It’s radical. It’s reckless. It’s producing all kind of uncertainty with the markets, Main Street, Wall Street upset,” Brazile complained before pivoting to argue that the Democrats should have been more prepared for the fight over the CR: “But where’s the Democratic strategy?”

“Congressional Republicans have a strategy … It's radical. It's reckless. It's producing all kind of uncertainty with the markets, Main Street, Wall Street upset,” former DNC chair @DonnaBrazile says.

“But where's the Democratic strategy?” pic.twitter.com/1SVBmGiJia

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 16, 2025

Former Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus agreed with Brazile’s assessment of the Democrats, adding, “The Democrats have had two horrific weeks.”

“They’ve got no leader. They’ve got no movement. The only thing they’ve got is ‘Trump derangement syndrome.’ It’s the only thing that brings them together,” he said.

“The Democrats have had two horrific weeks,” former RNC chair @Reince says.

“They've got no leader. They've got no movement. The only thing they've got is 'Trump derangement syndrome.' It's the only thing that brings them together.” https://t.co/U24qIvgdNO pic.twitter.com/TnAy0T0wxr

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 16, 2025

The Washington Post’s Marianna Sotomayor noted that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) had not supported the CR, leading to what she referred to as a “trust deficit” between Jeffries and Schumer over apparently differing strategies.

Sotomayor explained that while Jeffries was not one to publicly criticize Schumer, the fact that he was not taking questions on the topic was a criticism of sorts. “There is tension,” she said. “Hill Democrats are divided. They — House Democrats really felt like they had to respond to the base, not just the liberal activist base, but a very angry Democratic voting base.”

“The fact that Schumer took so long to make a decision — that really alienated and upset a lot of Democratic senators — and now there is this division,” she added. “There is a trust deficit now between the leaders.”

WaPo’s @MariannaReports says Democrats on Capitol Hill are “divided” over how Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer handled the government funding bill.

“There is a trust deficit now between the leaders.” https://t.co/q3KfgfZZTA pic.twitter.com/otmBrS8dD3

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 16, 2025

On CBS News, “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan spoke with Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) about the disarray within her party — and Dingell was slightly less reserved than minority leader Jeffries in her criticisms of Schumer.

Dingell accused Schumer of “sending out mixed signals” with regard to whether or not he would support the CR, saying that the people she had talked to in recent days had preferred risking a shutdown to allowing the Republican CR to pass. “We have got to be united as Democrats,” she said, adding that her party needed to be prepared to push back during the upcoming budget reconciliation process.

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) says Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, sent "mixed signals" about the measure to avert a government shutdown, which Schumer and several other Democratic senators ultimately supported.

She says "people are angry," but "we've got to move… pic.twitter.com/anoD3qRiJc

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 16, 2025

Dingell went on to say that the constituents she’d spoken to wanted Democrats to fight back harder against the Trump administration and, in particular, cuts that were being made at his direction and through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“People are scared … they want to see Democrats fighting back,” Dingell said. “My town halls look like a Republican town hall. I’m not taking it personally. They want to see us do something.”

"People are scared" about the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal government and services, and "they want to see Democrats fighting back," says Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI).

"My town halls look like a Republican town hall. I'm not taking it personally," she adds.

"They… pic.twitter.com/OEDwRSxbT9

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 16, 2025

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) helped to perpetuate the division during her appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” where she lashed out at Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) for his criticisms of an influencer’s hype video in which she’d appeared.

“He’s not the one to talk about anything,” she told anchor Jake Tapper before pivoting to mock Fetterman’s appearance. “I mean this is a guy that doesn’t seemingly want to own a suit, I’m not really sure. But I don’t show up in hoodies when I’m going on the floor, and so the idea that you would say that we could not have a moment in which — an influencer asked us to do this. Now, I’ll be perfectly honest with you, and tell you that when she asked me to jump, I said, ‘Did you ask my older colleagues to do this? Because I feel like you’re picking on me because my knees are a little younger.'”

Speaking to @jaketapper, @RepJasmine hits back at Sen. Fetterman after he mocked Democrats' strategy to counter Trump: "He's not the one to talk about anything." pic.twitter.com/R1r421Msro

— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) March 16, 2025

A panel that rounded out the CNN Sunday morning broadcast also delved into what is apparently quickly becoming a civil war among Democrats.

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) attempted to spin off into a discussion complaining about President Trump and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, but Tapper stopped her and put her back on course.

Stevens began by praising Schumer’s past actions and Jeffries’ leadership, but then Tapper pressed her, asking whether Schumer was the right leader for the Democrats in the Senate at this particular moment. “I don’t think we should be talking about that and giving Trump any more wins,” was her reply.

Ashley Etienne, who previously worked as the communications director for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) advised the party to “get out of the way” and let Trump “prove” that he is capable of fixing the economy. She then indicated that she was certain he’d fail, citing recent ups and downs in the stock market as proof that Trump’s policies would ultimately crash the economy.

Republican commentator Scott Jennings kicked off his comments with a jab at Democrats, saying that Schumer had helped to defeat the “racist Jim Crow filibuster” — which Democrats campaigned to eliminate until they wanted to use it against Trump. “I think he deserves a lot of credit this morning.”

“As Republicans this week, we have overdosed on popcorn watching this Democrat civil war,” Republican strategist Brad Todd added.

.@BradOnMessage: "As Republicans this week, we have overdosed on popcorn watching this Democrat civil war."@RepHaleyStevens, @ScottJenningsKY, and @AshleyEtienne09 join @jaketapper on the fallout from the shutdown fight, Democratic infighting, and the politics of Trump's… pic.twitter.com/gbzIoR6Wmw

— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) March 16, 2025