Getty Politics Democrats Aren't the Opposition. The Media Is.

Amanda Carpenter is a CNN contributor, former communications director for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and speechwriter for Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC).



Where, oh, where is the leader of the loyal Democratic opposition these days?

Don’t ask former President Barack Obama. He’s out surfing. Hillary Clinton? Hiking in the woods. CNN’s Anderson Cooper recently asked House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi who the leader of the Democratic Party is and she, oddly, pointed to both Obama and Clinton, both officially out of office. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer isn’t exactly rising to the occasion, either. He’s saying the same old things about Republicans—they’re all “extreme” and too far out of the “mainstream”—that he’s being saying for the past decade. Oh, and that new Democratic National Committee Chairman, Tom Perez? He’s already on the GOP’s “do not take seriously” list, unapologetically uttering nonsense like Republicans “don’t give a sh*t about people” and supporting the notion that President Donald Trump didn’t actually win the election.


No wonder the Trump White House considers, as top adviser Steve Bannon said, the media to be the “opposition party.” The Democrats, writ large, aren’t worthy opponents. For those making purely political calculations, it makes far more sense for team Trump to attack the members of the media, who represent a serious threat to Trump’s influence and power, than the Democrats, who appear to be no threat at all.

The only thing standing between Trump and his agenda, whatever that is, is the media. Just look at how terribly the Democrats have handled the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. Spurred on by their progressive base to “resist” anything and everything Trump does, the Senate Democrats made a huge strategic error in choosing to filibuster the appointment. Not over any specific policy reason, mind you. Mainly because the seat was, in their words, “stolen.”

But the Republicans didn’t steal anything; that seat was in the hands of the American people the whole time. The Democrats, with their silly “stolen seat” rhetoric, pretended the GOP didn’t make the open Supreme Court seat a major voting issue. As a candidate, Trump even took the unprecedented step of producing a public list of names he would choose from to help bring those voters to his side, persuading many skeptical Republican voters to ultimately support him. Clinton never did anything like that. She, like everyone else, thought she had the race, and the Supreme Court, in the bag.

So let’s be honest. Merrick Garland’s seat wasn’t “stolen”; the Democrats lost it in the election. But rather than let it go, Democratic leaders have chosen to filibuster Gorsuch. This in turn has forced Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to embrace the “nuclear option,” setting the Democrats up to hand over another precious Supreme Court seat to Trump should another vacancy occur, when the Republicans will need only 51 votes to confirm it. Trump would probably send a nice gift basket to thank the Democrats if only anyone knew who was running their shoddy show.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is taking a pounding from the media over the contacts members of his campaign and transition team had with Russia—a far greater scandal than allegations over Gorsuch’s plagiarism or the wonky mechanics of Obamacare repeal. The Democrats, sans any real leadership, have no organized complaint on the subject, launching scattershot and ineffective responses to the ongoing developments.

A day before House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes recused himself from the investigation he was leading into Russia’s influence on the presidential election, 20 House Democrats asked him to resign his post over questionable contact he had with the White House. To which, given how close Nunes has been to the White House throughout the investigation, a reasonable person could ask, “That’s it?” Nunes ultimately recused himself on Thursday over ethics questions outside groups were raising; not any organized pressure by Democrats.

Even Clinton, who could be expected to have some passionate feelings over the thought of Russia influencing our elections, seems to be taking a pass. A speech she delivered last week generated more commentary for her decision to wear a leather jacket than anything she had to say about Russia. Largely because she didn’t say anything about Russia, and instead focused on the entirely safe and predictable topic of promoting women at a women’s leadership event.

Reporters and commentators, however, have an endless supply of pointed questions that have advanced the story way more than the Democrats have. Do you think the investigation began because Pelosi put up a fuss? No, it began because news outlets pressed and prodded, uncovering detail after detail about the president's associates’ dealing with Russia.

So, Trump has every reason to fear crushing media cycles more than the likes of Clinton, whom he’s already beaten, or the current crop of elected Democrats who can’t seem to get their act together.

If the media did as Bannon wishes—“be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile”—the Trump White House would have unfettered power, only to be checked by the Republicans on Capitol Hill who have already excused so much of his bad behavior and the close klatch of relatives and yes men and women he surrounds himself with. Meaning, there would be no accountability at all.

So, yes, the media really is, in the Trumpian view, the “opposition party,” but it’s only because the Democrats are failing so spectacularly to be one at all.