Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill held closed door meetings where they complained that voters from around the country are organizing and asking them to be stronger in resisting President Donald Trump’s harmful agenda.
Axios reports that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries attended the meetings in question, along with members of the House Steering & Policy Committee. The outlet reports that a senior House Democrat told them that Jeffries is “very frustrated” at activist groups like MoveOn and Indivisible that have helped concerned Americans make phone calls to congressional offices.
The source added that “people are pissed” that Democrats are receiving pressure to significantly increase their opposition to Trump.
“There were a lot of people who were like, ‘We’ve got to stop the groups from doing this,’” a source told Axios. Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, told the outlet that his office has been rebuffing these callers, telling them, “Please call the Republicans.”
“Our supporters are asking Democrats to demand specific red lines are met before they offer their vote to House Republicans on the budget, when Republicans inevitably fail to pass a bill on their own,” Indivisible cofounder Leah Greenberg explained. She said voters have said they want more concrete action from Democrats beyond floor speeches decrying Elon Musk.
Protestors hold signs during a 50501 Protest on the south steps of the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, Feb. 5, 2025, during what was billed as a nationwide series of protests against Trump, Project 2025, DEI rollbacks, and other recent administration initiatives.
Since Trump took office congressional offices have reported a massive increase in calls. A memo distributed to Senate staffers last week read, “The Senate is experiencing an unusually high volume of inbound calls. External callers may receive a temporary busy signal when phoning a Senate office.”
Voters are reacting to a series of actions from Trump that are already causing harm to Americans. These include orders to roll back segregation protections, actions restricting the rights of transgender people, granting access to sensitive data to teams with bigots who only answer to Musk, absurd imperialist overtures that have drawn international condemnation, and the systemic attack on diversity throughout the country.
At the same time these offenses have occurred, Trump has been helped by Democratic votes. While the party is in the minority and ultimately cannot control which nominees get approval to assist Trump in carrying out his agenda, they have not done everything in their power to uniformly resist him. Figures like Marco Rubio received dozens of votes from Democrats to become secretary of state while the Democratic Party provided key procedural votes for the eventual installation of former MTV “Road Rules” contestant Sean Duffy as secretary of transportation.
Republicans have razor-thin margins in the House and have had to rely on Democratic votes to pass funding legislation preventing a government shutdown. Democrats have yet to commit to opposing an upcoming spending package that would give Trump many of the funds he needs to push his agenda even further—that is a key reason voters keep calling them.
Democrats were elected to Congress to represent their constituents. Their constituents are asking them to stop Trump from hurting the country—these calls are the way to make that clear.
And Democrats are complaining about it.
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