Democrats just had their best week since Election Day

This is an adapted excerpt from the April 6 episode of “Inside with Jen Psaki.”

Last week, Donald Trump showed us, once again, just how much damage his administration and its misguided policies could inflict on the American people. But there’s also a hopeful lesson we can take from the last few days: People are fighting back. I’d even venture to say that last week was the best political week Democrats, and anyone else horrified by the Trump administration, have had since Election Day.

Across the country, it’s the people who are driving this huge energy shift. On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of Americans poured into the streets in communities big and small to protest against Trump. While cities like New York and Washington, D.C., saw tens of thousands, and big crowds showed up in red areas, too.

The American people are also making themselves heard at the ballot box. On Tuesday, the people of Wisconsin delivered a complete rebuke to Elon Musk as he attempted to buy a state Supreme Court seat. The world’s richest man went so far as to travel there to campaign with oversized checks and cheesehead hats. Voters responded by electing a liberal judge by a double-digit margin over the MAGA favorite. In Florida, the outpouring of anti-Trump and anti-Musk energy shaved roughly 15 to 20 points off Republicans’ November margins in two special elections for Congress. These are all good signs.

People are also responding by throwing their hat in the ring to run for higher office. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra launched a bid for California governor; Garlin Gilchrist, Michigan’s lieutenant governor, entered the gubernatorial race; and Mallory McMorrow, a Michigan state senator, jumped into a race for an open U.S. Senate seat.

Democrats in Washington are also showing some signs of life. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey held the Senate floor for 25 hours and 5 minutes, breaking the record of segregationist Strom Thurmond and reminding Americans that someone is standing up for them.

Clearly a lot of people were hungry for somebody in Washington to take that kind of action. On Booker’s TikTok account alone, the livestream of his speech got over 350 million likes and 110,000 people watched the senator finish his remarks on his YouTube page. In the end, Booker’s speech sparked more attention and coverage than anything else Democrats in Washington have tried since Trump took office.

Other Senate Democrats joined the fight, too. Sen. Adam Schiff of California placed a hold on the nomination of Ed Martin to be the top prosecutor in Washington, D.C. Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona pledged to do the same to block Trump’s nominees for top leaders at the Department of Veterans Affairs, in protest of the president’s plans to slash jobs and jeopardize benefits at the agency. Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington spearheaded a bipartisan push to have Congress take away Trump’s power to implement tariffs. And Senate Democrats convinced a handful of Republicans to join them in voting to suspend tariffs on Canada.

I’m not saying this is enough or that it will stop all the damage. Republicans still run both the Senate and the House, after all. But these are all steps in the right direction.

Also last week, some of the biggest names in Democratic politics stepped back into the fray. Former President Barack Obama spoke to a crowd at Hamilton College in upstate New York on Thursday, calling out just how outrageous the last few months have been. “Imagine if I had done any of this,” Obama told the crowd. “It’s unimaginable that the same parties that are silent now would have tolerated behavior like that from me, or a whole bunch of my predecessors.”

Former Vice President Kamala Harris made a rare public appearance, also calling out organizations that aren’t meeting the moment: “There is a sense of fear that is taking hold in our country, and I understand it, but we’re seeing people stay quiet. We are seeing organizations stay quiet. We are seeing those who are capitulating to clearly unconstitutional threats.”

Last week showed that the Democratic Party still has a lot of life in it. So, while there are plenty of reasons to fear the actions of the Trump administration, it’s important to note that people are standing up to it. People are making their elected officials listen. There is a lot of work ahead, but these are all steps in the right direction. 

As Booker wrote on social media after his marathon speech, “After getting some rest, I am in awe of everyone who continues to lift their voice and speak out. This is a moment for our country, and we must make a choice about the America we want to be.”