Democrats Smell Blood in the Water

[applegrove]

Democrats Smell Blood in the Water

February 6, 2026 at 6:26 am EST By Taegan Goddard 83 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2026/02/06/democrats-smell-blood-in-the-water/

Rachel Bade: “If it wasn’t clear before, it’s crystal clear now: Democrats are feeling their power when it comes to ICE enforcement and the looming Department of Homeland Security funding deadline.”

“Republicans, meanwhile, face a no-win situation: Hold the line and eat the blowback from a shutdown — or cave and torch their own base.”

“Consider this: In the past 48 hours, President Donald Trump has extended an olive branch to the left on immigration enforcement, taking tangible steps to de-escalate. In a rare moment of introspection, the president admitted in to NBC that he should have taken a ‘softer touch’ with Minnesota. He’s pulled 700 agents out of Minneapolis. And he’s now insisting that he’ll only deploy the feds to cities where governors and mayors ‘ask’ for help.”

“But instead of returning the good-faith gesture, Democrats have hardened their position. Wednesday night — a full five days into the two-week deadline for a deal — they expanded their list of demands to overhaul ICE from three to 10 asks.”

[Jim__]

1. Trump's "promises" don't mean anything.

[2naSalit]

2. Thus...

They had better make like sharks.

[senseandsensibility]

3. Rachel Bade is a real beltway journalist

and does her share of sanewashing. The examples she calls good faith gestures are almost laughably insufficient, but also meaningless because he can not be trusted to keep his word. Still, I'm glad that she admits that Dems have power, and I think it's great that they are using it.