California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff expressed frustration over the Democratic Party’s lack of a “coordinated response” to President Donald Trump.
“I think the lack of a coordinated response in the State of the Union was a mistake, and frankly, it took the focus off of where it should have been, which is on the fact that the president spoke for an hour and 40 minutes and had nothing to say about what he would do to bring down costs for American families that were watching that lengthy address, sitting at the kitchen table hoping he would offer something to help them afford a new home or pay their rent, afford health care, or afford child care,” Schiff said during an interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl.
The lawmaker addressed the critiques by Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, where he called the Democrats’ situation “a sad cavalcade of self-owns and unhinged petulance.”
“They’re destroying the economy, and they’re making it harder and harder for Americans to afford things. That’s where we need to keep the focus, that’s why we lost the last election, because we weren’t laser-focused on the high cost of living and what they’re doing now is just making it so much worse,” Schiff claimed — falsely, according to the most recent economic data.
Karl also asked Schiff how the Democratic Party should respond to the president. The ABC News host specifically referenced Democratic strategist James Carville, who has suggested that the party should “play dead” and consider a strategic political retreat.
Schiff said he disagreed with that approach and added that his party needed their “own broad, bold agenda to improve the economic well-being of Americans,” though he didn’t explain why Democrats under Biden didn’t adopt better economic policies to achieve just that.
