Since entering his second term, Trump has already made many radical changes that have shaken the country. Many members of the Democratic party are disturbed by this because he is following through on what he said he would do during the election.
The Democratic Party’s biggest concern at the moment is Trump’s economic policies, mainly his expensive tariffs. The main point of tariffs historically is to increase government funding while decreasing taxation and protecting American businesses. The price of foreign goods goes up, and the price of American-made goods stays the same. People then switch to buying American goods, and those still buying foreign goods fund the government. Sounds good, right? Wrong. In practice, tariffs increase the cost of raw materials for American companies, and when that’s not the case, they see the market price rise and increase their prices. High tariffs also keep the U.S. out of the global economy, which cripples economies across the board.
“I think that putting tariffs on our allies could make them start thinking about going to other countries for trade. I think that free trade is important, especially between our allies […] I hope he and his administration have a plan, and we’ll see positive change soon,” said Anya Barrera (9).
This can be seen now, with prices already skyrocketing. The high tariffs also bring the stock market down horrifically. This can be seen already with the Dow Jones Index going down by nearly 5,000 points in the week following the implementation of his tariffs. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has been warning about the devastation of the economy and job losses that are being caused by these tariffs. He’s warned especially about the New York City Metro Area, putting on his website:
“President Trump’s pinball tariff strategy will wreak total havoc on New York City and is likely to drive us right into a recession. We’ve crunched the numbers, and what doesn’t look good for the nation looks far worse for New York City. Some of the Big Apple’s core sectors are being targeted already. New Yorkers face roughly $20 billion in increased costs, and a staggering 260,000 New York jobs are under threat, unless Donald Trump backs off…”
One of the Democratic Party’s central concerns is Project 2025. This is a set of policies proposed by the Trump administration that limits the rights of certain groups of people, cuts many crucial federal funding programs, and allows the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. Project 2025 is putting democracy at stake with these new policies. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries posted a tweet about Project 2025, saying:
“It’s a dangerous, diabolical and dastardly plan that, if implemented, would destroy our democracy as we know it. […] We will expose Trump’s Project 2025, and we will stop it.”
Though these people aren’t actually doing anything to make a change about the problems they’re mentioning. The general public is outraged by the lack of action the Democratic representatives are taking, but it can be hard to take action when the Legislative and Executive branches are all dominantly Republican.
“It’s just the representatives saying, ‘guys, they shouldn’t be doing that,’ instead of making any real change,” said Max Meza (10).
“Without control of the House or the Senate, the Democrats have to work across the aisle — and from what I can see, they’re making no headway in the House,” said social studies teacher Sean Costello.
Many people are responding in protest to it: protests on the streets, or stickers all around town have been seen, saying things like, “America Has No King!” and “F Elon and the Felon.” The people have been in strong retaliation to Trump’s new agenda and have kept their resistance peaceful.
This can be seen in the protests nationwide on Saturday, April 5th, with the “Hands Off!” movement. It was protesting and rallying against policies such as the large government layoffs, deportations, and tariffs. The movement took place in thousands of locations across all 50 states. Thousands of people showed up in each location, yelling “Hands off our rights!” with signs denouncing different policies.
“I think the diversity of people was really cool. People from every race, gender, political background, sexual orientation, and anything were there uniting under a common cause,” said Uri Nova (10), who was at the protest.
Senator Cory Booker recently broke the floor speech record by talking for 25 hours straight about Trump’s new policies, many of which are impacting undocumented immigrants. This sent waves throughout the Democratic party. The public has been calling this “The Filibuster,” but technically, this was not a filibuster because that is about delaying a bill, and this was just Booker talking about the state of the President. The main purpose of the speech was not to change any bills but to convince republicans in power to change their minds on all of the actions they are taking.
The Democratic Party’s response to Trump’s policies has mostly been inaction, besides outwardly expressing distaste for his policies. The people, however, have been rallying and protesting to try to make any change they can, clawing to keep their rights. It’s a scary time for everyone, and the people in power aren’t doing much to fix it.
