Progressive and liberal activists and supporters are telling Democrat lawmakers “there needs to be blood” in their fight against President Donald Trump and Republicans.
House Democrats told Axios that their base is so angry, there’s even a disregard for U.S. institutions and the rule of law.
“Some of them have suggested … what we really need to do is be willing to get shot” when visiting Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities or federal agencies, one Democrat told the outlet.
Our own base is telling us that what we’re doing is not good enough … [that] there needs to be blood to grab the attention of the press and the public.”
The call for blood could be related to Trump surviving two assassination attempts during his 2024 campaign, including one in which he was shot in the ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
One Democrat lawmaker, among more than two dozen who spoke to Axios, said constituents have told them “civility isn’t working” and to prepare for “violence … to fight to protect our democracy.”
Another House Democrat said that “people online have sent me crazy s***… told me to storm the White House and stuff like that,” though they added that “there’s always people on the internet saying crazy stuff.”
Yet another Democrat said “people who are angry” don’t want to hear that they should channel their frustration into trying to win a majority in Congress in 2026.
“They’re angry beyond things,” the lawmaker said.
Another House Democrat said: “It’s like … the Roman coliseum. People just want more and more of this spectacle.”
While Democrats in Congress, as NPR reported, feel that Trump’s megabill is giving them an opening ahead of the midterms, the pleas to fight dirty apparently are resonating.
One House member told Axios that a “sense of fear and despair and anger” among Democrat voters “puts us in a different position where … we can’t keep following norms of decorum.”
Democrat lawmakers said many of the angry voters tended to be white, well-educated, and live in upscale suburban or urban neighborhoods.
“What I have seen is a demand that we get ourselves arrested intentionally or allow ourselves to be victims of violence, and … a lot of times that’s coming from economically very secure white people,” one House Democrat told Axios.
“Not only would that be a gift to Donald Trump, not only would it make the job of Republicans in Congress easier if we were all mired in legal troubles … [we are] a group that is disproportionately people of color, women, LGBTQ people — people who do not fare very well in prison.”
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