‘People are aroused’: Democrats’ latest weird statement reveals rot in the opposition to Trump

A weird remark from one of Donald Trump’s top remaining opponents has hinted at a rot inside the Democratic Party.

The American senator Chuck Schumer is one of those curious politicians who somehow managed to reach the pinnacle of his field, and then somehow stayed there in perpetuity, without possessing any discernible charisma or political talent.

You will not find a duller public speaker, or one whose statements are as trite. He’s like a middling university lecturer who lost all passion for teaching long ago, and so barely even bothers to look up now while droning on and on and on through his notes. The Professor Binns of our real world.

He’s an appropriate replacement for Joe Biden, then, as the Democrats’ chief gerontocrat.

Yet there’s a contradiction here, because sometimes, from this same man’s mouth, you will hear the most exquisitely hilarious thing.

In one such moment years ago, Mr Schumer famously accused Donald Trump of inciting an “erection” against the United States. He was sticking to that theme this week.

“Donald Trump, with his cruel policies, has aroused the American people,” Mr Schumer purred, peering over his glasses in a stern little tick of body language he might once have imagined to be seductive.

“People are aroused. I haven’t seen people so aroused in a very, very long time.”

He’s going for a sort of dweebish Albus Dumbledore vibe, I think. Except in the biopic, young Schumer will most definitely not be played by Jude Law. Picture: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images via AFP

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I imagine, by the age of 74, one does begin to witness arousal a little less often. Unless there’s an erotic subtext to retirement home bingo tournaments that I’m missing.

Some people do genuinely find “cruel policies” exciting, by the way. It’s a peculiarly nerdy strain of masochism, which is why you hear men in their sixties like Mel Gibson referring to Mr Trump as a “daddy” who’s just come home and is “taking his belt off”.

I’m afraid that, in this scenario, Mr Trump fills the role of a political dominatrix (hopefully sans leather). Mel and his mates are quite content to sit in the corner and watch as he shows the pathetic Democrats who’s boss.

Deepest apologies for whatever image that conjured in your head. There’s dystopia, and then there’s dystopia. We may be living through the latter.

While Mr Schumer has a few quiet words to his therapist about whatever repressed sexual yearnings are churning within him (Mel should probably join him), we must note that he is quite catastrophically wrong. There is very little, ahem, arousal in America at the moment.

The Trump-worshipping core of MAGA is giddy over his return to power, sure – certain television hosts have been bouncing around like children on Christmas morning since early November – but the bulk of the populace appears to have sunk back into its usual apathy.

For the Democrats, meanwhile, losing to Mr Trump a second time has utterly killed the mood. The entire opposition party has gone limp.

One presumes Mel Gibson gets a subconscious thrill from the girth of that desk. Picture: Robert Schmidt/AFP

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The vibes really are very different, this time around, aren’t they? Mr Trump barely got a honeymoon period at all in 2017; the protesters mobilised immediately, as did every ambitious Democrat who dreamt of being the one to take him down.

Here, the top contenders for party leadership are barely even visible. Senior members of Congress are talking about working with Mr Trump, where possible. Anybody who’s run for president before is suddenly super-focused on making time for the family. We’re far removed from the apocalyptic rhetoric of the campaign, which framed the President as an existential threat to US democracy.

Meanwhile Mr Trump has been doing things, every day, that would have provoked incandescent outrage four years ago. Firing, en masse, the inspectors-general whose job is to guard against malpractice and corruption in the government. Trying to usurp, from Congress, ultimate power over public spending. Attempting to dramatically pare back citizenship rights. An executive order on some bitter culture war issue seemingly every few hours. Reflexively blaming diversity policies for the horrific air disaster over Washington, without any basis beyond his own priors.

The collective response from his only political opponents, in America’s two-party system, has been a shrug. He won the election. The people chose him, knowing who and what he was. It’s as though the Democrats have given up.

A metaphor for the entire party, perhaps: the Bidens waving goodbye after Mr Trump took power. Picture: Allison Robbert/AFP

This is delightful news, of course, for Mr Trump and the more ideologically committed staff who surround him. His approval ratings are as high as ever, while the Democratic Party’s have never fallen lower. And the impotence of his opposition means he can, hopefully, enjoy a very productive first few months.

A little vacillation and self-doubt is natural in the wake of a crushing defeat, of the scale the Democrats suffered in November, but have you seen any sign at all of growth? Of a resolve to revamp their political strategy? To appeal to the voters they’ve alienated? No. The whole party is like a teenager who, upon copping an awful school report, slunk to his room, gently shut the door and is now staring blankly at the ceiling, barely a thought in his head.

Quietly, several candidates have been seeking to become the new chair of the Democratic National Committee, a job that involves running much of the party’s infrastructure. And there has been a lot of talk from various contenders about the Democrats’ need to strike out and embrace newer, less traditional forums of political communication. Podcasts, for example, which Mr Trump exploited so effectively last year.

Naturally, the final quasi-debate for these candidates on Thursday night was hosted by two former press secretaries, both of whom are now talking heads on MSNBC, and a Washington Post columnist.

Listen to Mr Schumer, or any Democrat who’s actually bothered to speak out recently, and all you hear is emptiness. There’s no there there. Their words honestly could have been generated by AI. It’s the kind of rote political rhetoric that might have worked decades ago? Maybe?

At the same time, the guy they’re supposedly fighting is holding freewheeling press conferences in which he expresses his genuine opinions. Even the crazy ones.

They don’t get it. They’re nowhere near getting it.

When you hear old mate Chuck Schumer claim Americans are unprecedentedly “aroused”, your first instinct is obviously to snigger.

Think on it a little longer though. It’s almost offensive, how disconnected from reality he is. No one who was alive in early 2017 could possibly believe the anti-Trump forces are stronger or more inflamed now than they were then.

Is he saying this stuff knowing it’s nonsense, or does he genuinely believe it? And which answer would be worse?

Twitter: @SamClench

Originally published as ‘People are aroused’: Democrats’ latest weird statement reveals rot in the opposition to Trump