Former President Barack Obama blasted to his own voters during a private donor fundraiser in New Jersey, telling Democrats to stop “whining” and “being in fetal positions” since President Donald Trump took office.
New polling shows Democrats suffering from historically low approval ratings and Democratic strategists privately admitting they are trapped in a “nightmare scenario” with no clear path forward.
“I think it’s going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions. And it’s going to require Democrats to just toughen up,” Obama said during the Friday fundraiser hosted by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.
Obama’s complaints highlight the depth of Democratic despair since President Trump returned to the White House in January. Trump himself has said that Democrats are “in total disarray” and lack clear leadership.
Multiple Democratic strategists have confirmed the party’s dire situation in recent interviews. Democratic strategist Brad Bannon told The Hill that Democrats are “still stuck in the same mud that they were in six months ago” and “are still as unpopular as we were when [President Donald] Trump was inaugurated in January.”
The party’s struggles are reflected in devastating polling numbers. Only 27% of Americans approve of how congressional Democrats are performing in office, according to a Marist/NPR/PBS News poll released July 1. This represents one of the lowest approval ratings for the party in recent memory, and has Democrats openly calling for America’s economic downfall.
“This is a nightmare scenario for the Dems right now,” another strategist said. “We better pray long and hard that the country is going to be in a f**king Depression because I don’t know how else we find ourselves out of this mess.”
Obama, who has largely maintained a low profile since leaving office in 2017, criticized Democrats for being “cowed and intimidated” by Trump.
“What I have been surprised by is the degree to which I’ve seen people who, when I was president … stood for all kinds of stuff, who seem like they’re kind of cowed and intimidated and shrinking away from just asserting what they believe, or at least what they said they believe,” Obama said, but law firms and universities have “seemingly bowed to Trump’s pressure in recent months.”
“Don’t tell me you’re a Democrat but you’re kind of disappointed right now, so you’re not doing anything,” he said. “No, now is exactly the time that you get in there and do something.”