Welcome to the online edition of From The Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that provides the latest reports and analysis from the NBC News Politics team’s White House, Capitol Hill and Campaign Trail.
Welcome to Happy Monday and the first newsletter in March. In today’s edition, we talk about Senator Chris Murphy about his attempts to position himself as the tip of Democrats’ efforts against President Donald Trump. Additionally, Scott Brand points out that there are party lessons from last month’s Atlantic elections. And we’ll sort out the fallout from last week’s oval office spat.
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– Adam Walner
How a Democrat places himself at the centre of Trump’s resistance
Ben Kamizar, Julie Zilkin, Andrew Arrange
What does Chris Murphy do?
That’s a question that urged me to sit with a Connecticut Democratic senator last week. Since the launch of the new Trump administration, Murphy has traded for a new stance as his party’s most vocal critic, with his reputation as a bipartisan deal maker behind the scenes.
And he spends a lot of money on making his message public. Murphy spent more money on metaplatform ads last month than he totaled over the past five years. In many of these ads, he asks donors to help fund political movements.
Even when Murphy admitted that he could “see a bit more schizophrenia,” that’s a change. But that’s what he says comes from his belief that President Donald Trump represents a threat to democracy that forces people like him to free them from their old ways of doing things.
“When someone is trying to take power, when someone is trying to destroy democracy, they benefit from people who are static and refuse to be agile,” he told NBC News. “This moment is different and this threat is unique. And for me, there’s no more year to fight this attempt to destroy democracy. Our democracy may disappear in six months.”
Murphy also focuses on the ways Democrats believe they should stand up to Trump, but do not define them exclusively through his lens. It said he fell in 2020. He believed that a campaign centered around the message of “saving democracy” gave voters the false impression that Democrats had approved a broader system that was more oblique to everyday Americans.
“That economic message is a message that speaks to a lot of what Bernie Sanders is saying, and it’s a message of unity in this country,” he said. “Many Democrats tried to sound like Bernie is split. In fact, Bernie’s message speaks to many who have voted for the many people who want to return to our camp to this day.”
As Democrats are desperately searching for the next generation of leaders, Murphy, 51, has messed up the idea that he is setting himself up for future White House bids.
Being president “is not in my brain right now,” he said, adding that “it sounds like a rather difficult, disastrous job.”
Read more from the interview →
Meanwhile, in Illinois, Natasha Kolekki is delving into how Democrat government JB Pretzker is trying to open up space for herself as an opposition to Trump.
Democrats’ lessons from overseas elections
By Scott Brand
Of the many questions Democrats are trying to grasp after 2024, how have they lost the massive edge among the young voters they have relied on in recent years, and what can they do to fix it?
The election results from the oceans far away serve as a reminder that the Democratic issue is not merely a problem, but there is a wider force that eases voters beyond the personality that appears to be promoting our politics.
An exit vote from last month’s German parliamentary elections showed how traditional parties in the country’s allied government saw fragments of their support, particularly how younger voters rushed to the far left (left party) and far right (AFD). According to public broadcaster exit polls, the parties combined 30% of the total vote, but collected almost half of the support from voters under the age of 25.
Just like in the US, there was also gender differences among prominent young people, with 35% of the youngest female voters supporting the left party (as opposed to 16% of young men).
Trends talk about the same polarization due to gender and general grievances against traditional politicians and institutions that have hit young American voters
John Della Volpe, voting director at the Harvard Kennedy School Politics Institute, noted that some of the factors affecting young American voters are true across other Western democracies.
“Not only the Covid pandemic, but the global economy, inflation, housing costs — these are cross-border issues,” said Della Volpe, who leads Harvard Youth polls. “It’s true that in this country, the young people I talk to every week feel that their leader understands the challenges young people face, or that they feel they are being careful about them. …So they are looking for other voices, often independent voices. They can connect with them.”
Radiation fallout from Trump Zelensky’s oval office crash
The ripple effects from the screams of President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Voldy Zelensky in the oval office are still underway last Friday. This is the latest:
Zelenskyy said over the weekend that he believes his country’s relationship with the US will “continue” and that he is still willing to sign the rare earth mineral trade. Meanwhile, Trump has blown up Zelensky into a true society, suggesting that the end of his country’s war with Russia is “very, very far away.” Trump wrote: “This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and the US will not hold it down much longer!” The clash raises new questions about the future of US aid to Ukraine, and Trump administration officials are debating whether to suspend military aid on the country. Also, Republican leaders in the US were led to suggest that Zelensky should resign. Critics say it will be a boost for Russia. Russia has been trying to drive Zelensky away for years.
today’s other top stories
Tarifwatch: Trump said US tariffs are expected to come into effect in Canada and Mexico tomorrow. Read more → 🛑OPS Suspension: Defense Secretary Pete Hegses ordered US cyber command in late February to halt offensive cyber and information management against Russia. Read more → 🏅 Award Winning Award: Over the past few days, more than three Trump administration officials or candidates claimed that Trump was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Read more Read more This bid has already brought him back to his long-standing foil: Trump. Read more → Follow the live politics report →
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