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With President Trump flailing and even Republicans panning the GOP-controlled Congress, Democrats have begun a long-overdue debate about the partys platform and strategy. Citizen movements and progressive political leaders such as Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are driving this debate. United in opposition to Trumps reactionary agenda, they are calling on Democrats to embrace a bolder agenda for change. While many Beltway pundits warn against Democratic division, the partys congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Charles E. Schumer understand that this has been a long time coming.

The Better Deal platform put forth by Senate Minority Leader Schumer (N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Pelosi (Calif.) received justified gibes on its framing and language. But its premise was exactly right. As Schumer put it in the New York Times, In the last two elections, Democrats, including in the Senate, failed to articulate a strong, bold economic program [and] failed to communicate our values to show that we were on the side of working people, not the special interests. We will not repeat the same mistake.

The Better Deal essentially endorses the big debate about a reform agenda that has already begun inside and outside the Democratic Party. Democratic failure isnt about Vladimir Putin or James B. Comey or Hillary Clintons emails. Since Barack Obama was elected in 2008, Democrats have lost the White House, both houses of Congress and about 1,000 state legislative seats. Republicans now have total control in a record 26 states. Clearly, a major debate about the partys agenda, strategy and leadership is sorely needed.

Pelosi and Schumer are trying to corral this debate. Progressives such as Sanders (I-Vt.) and Warren (D-Mass.) and the Congressional Progressive Caucus are trying to expand it. But citizen movements are the ones truly driving it.

The first priority of these groups has been to stiffen the spines of Democrats and enforce unity in opposition to the right-wing agenda of Trump and the Republican Congress. The mobilization against the Republican health-care plan, which would have stripped millions of health care to pay for tax cuts for the few, included virtually the entire activist base of the party unions, senior groups, womens and civil rights groups, online activists such as MoveOn.org, grass-roots groups such as Peoples Action, and more. They enforced Democratic unity while challenging Republicans in their offices and town-hall meetings.

Democrats unveiled an economic platform on July 24 that included plans to address unfair market competition, rising pharmaceuticals costs and stagnant wages. (Reuters)

The second priority has been to push Democrats and their agenda. Fight for $15 has pushed the plight of low-wage workers onto the national agenda. Black Lives Matter demonstrations forced Democrats to address police brutality and sentencing reform. Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice have led opposition to Republican efforts to roll back womens right to control their bodies. The Rev. William Barbers Moral Mondays movement in North Carolina provides a model of an interracial coalition fighting for political and economic reform. National Nurses United and former Sanders campaign activists have driven Medicare-for-all onto the national agenda.

The challenge hasnt been limited to single-issue groups. The insurgent Sanders campaign has unleashed activist energy across the country. Sandernistas are running for party offices, challenging sitting legislators and pushing to rewrite state platforms. Warren, Sanders, Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio) in the Senate and Keith Ellison (Minn.), Mark Pocan (Wis.), Ral M. Grijalva (Ariz.) and Congressional Progressive Caucus members in the House have challenged the limits of the Democratic agenda on everything from antitrust policy to money in politics to breaking up Wall Street.

Now a broad collection of groups, the Millions of Jobs Coalition, has begun pushing Democrats to unite on a set of principles, detailed in House Concurrent Resolution 63 on how to rebuild America the right way. They demand public investment, not corporate giveaways, prioritize 21st-century clean-energy programs and jobs, want guarantees for racial and gender equity, would put the needs of disadvantaged rural and urban communities first, and call for enforcing buy-American and basic labor agreements to ensure that good American jobs are created.

Of course, Trump and Republicans still set the national agenda, with tax cuts and infrastructure being two possibilities. A broad coalition of more than 400 groups called Americans for Tax Fairness champions progressive tax reform that helps make the rich and corporations pay their fair share a stance that enjoys overwhelming public approval. Similarly, activists will challenge Trumps infrastructure plan, which appears to feature the worst forms of crony capitalism: public private partnerships that privatize highways and bridges and impose tolls on users; tax giveaways to companies stowing profits abroad.

Pelosi and Schumer have already embraced the $15 minimum wage, a $1 trillion public infrastructure agenda, an aggressive antitrust agenda and a balanced trade agenda that begins to unpack the corporate trade policies championed by Presidents Bill Clinton and Obama. But these battles on economic issues as well as the continuing debate over social issues such as choice and money and politics will continue to roil Democrats. Activists will fight to put Medicare for all, progressive tax reform and public infrastructure investment on that agenda. The debate about strategy, about money in politics, about the Wall Street wing of the party will grow ever more fierce.

Already Beltway voices are fretting about division, about Democrats shooting at one another, about the need for unity in order to win in 2018. But a fierce debate is unavoidable. The party establishment wont change on its own, despite its remarkable record of consistent failure. The money wing of the party wont cede its hold without a fight. Democratic leaders wont see the light unless they feel the heat.

Establishment Democrats count on Trumps grotesqueries to unify and mobilize Democrats. But if Hillary Clintons campaign taught us anything, it is that simple opposition or resistance to Trump is not enough. Democrats cant even mobilize their own base to vote particularly in off-year elections unless they champion a bold program that offers a credible promise of change to the vast majority of Americans. Pelosi and Schumer have recognized that. The resulting debate is not only long-overdue, it is also utterly necessary if Democrats are to begin winning elections again.

Global Opinions editor Karen Attiah deconstructs the Democratic Partys Better Deal platform, which she says will get it knocked out of future elections by ignoring minorities and marginalized groups. (Gillian Brockell,Kate Woodsome,Karen Attiah/The Washington Post)

Read more from Katrina vanden Heuvels archive or follow her on Twitter.

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Democrats are starting a fierce internal debate. Finally. - Washington Post

The internal party controversy comes as a surprise to Democrats who had been gleefully watching Scott and other Republicans struggle with the question of whether to remove the monuments. | Getty

MIAMI U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, the sole statewide elected Democrat in Trump-state Florida, ducked a question about removing Confederate monuments and is now getting grief from members of his own party who worry hes estranging African-Americans and progressives as he faces a tough reelection campaign next year.

I don't know what to think of this, said a surprised state Rep. Shevrin Jones, an African-American Democrat sponsoring legislation to remove the monuments from public spaces.

Story Continued Below

I would like Sen. Nelson to acknowledge that the people who are represented on those statues were individuals who oppressed black people, said Jones, echoing other Democrats, who sometimes spoke without attribution because they didnt want to seem disloyal. I want him to acknowledge that there is no place for them anymore. Our country is no longer there, we have moved on. There's no need for them, that's what Sen. Nelson should be saying.

Nelsons office pointed out that the senator has said he supports the Florida Legislature's decision to remove the statue of Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall. But on Monday at a Lakewood Ranch event, when asked his opinion about the removal of all Confederate monuments from the state, Nelson refrained from weighing in because he views the removal of the monuments in Florida as a state, not federal, issue.

I think leaving it up to the good sense of the communities involved is the best thing to do, Nelson said when asked about removing monuments, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Nelson indicated he might oppose the monuments when he said that a monument, a statue, ought to signify unity instead of division.

Nelson, in a statement to POLITICO Florida on Tuesday afternoon, said "Confederate statues belong in a historical museum, not in a place of honor. He also said the two statues in the state capitol should be moved to a Confederate cemetery.

Many Democratic insiders shook their heads and worried that Nelsons approach was a sign he doesnt appreciate the fervor of progressives, namely supporters of former presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). They say Nelson is likely to face his toughest challenge ever, from Florida Gov. Rick Scott, next year, and the Democrat cant win if progressives arent excited.

"It seems that Bill Nelson doesn't want to take a stand on the issue for political reasons. But this is not the time to shrink back from what he knows is right," said state Sen. Randolph Bracy, an African-American Democrat who is considering a primary challenge to Nelson.

It's a little bit tone-deaf from a skilled operator like Bill, one top Nelson backer said. He's slightly vulnerable from the Bernie Bro wing of the party and doesn't need to agitate it further. And Bill also needs Democrats to be enthused about him next year, not just voting out of obligation.

Said another: That sound you hear is all of our heads hitting the desks. What are you thinking, Bill?

The internal party controversy comes as a surprise to Democrats, who had been gleefully watching Scott and other Republicans struggle with the question of whether to remove the monuments and the degree to which they should react to President Donald Trumps contention that the recent racial violence during a protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was the fault of many sides and not exclusively with the white nationalists. Scott flubbed his talking points over the issue Monday before his office had to walk back his remarks.

Leslie Wimes, an African-American Democrat and Sanders supporter who has criticized Nelson, said its another sign of how tone-deaf the three-term senator is.

See, this is why I call out fellow Democrats, said Wimes, who writes a column for the conservative Sunshine State News, which makes some Democratic activists bristle. They won't call him out on being mealy-mouthed, but they will blast Rick Scott.

In contrast to their vociferous advocacy to remove Confederate statues and monuments, the three leading Democratic candidates for governor were muted in discussing their reaction to Nelson avoiding the topic.

Newcomer Chris King and former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham of Tallahassee reiterated their call to pull down all the monuments.

The only major African-American candidate in the race, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, would only say of Nelsons comments that "I know that our opinions differ, but I know Senator Nelson's record and he's stood tall on these issues. Local communities need to have tough conversations about where they stand on this moral issue and how we heal our state. We need to have these conversations now so our children don't have to decades from now.

In the Florida Legislature, Jones said hes hopeful that Republican House Speaker Richard Corcoran, who also might run for governor, will allow his bill to remove Confederate vestiges from the public square to be heard. But, he said, the hard work remains to reform criminal justice, improve voting rights and improve minority communities.

For the black community, the statues represent a history that we would rather not be greeted with on public spaces, considering those are the same individuals who fought against us to have the rights that we have today, Jones said in a text message to POLITICO Florida. So, although I disagree with Sen. Nelson's comments, respectfully, I hope he sees from our point of view, and we are asking these statues to come down, and be placed in their proper places a museum.

UPDATED at 5 p.m. with Sen. Bill Nelson's statement.

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Nelson draws Democrats' fire for ducking Confederate monument question - Politico

From left, Governor of Ohio John Kasich, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, and VP Mike Pence.

From left, by Johnny Louis/FilmMagic, by Cheriss May/NurPhoto/Getty Images, by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, by Sebastin Vivallo Oate/Agencia Makro/LatinContent/Getty Images.

After being blindsided by Donald Trumps 2016 campaign, Democrats are preparing themselves for a variety of political scenarios in the next presidential electionincluding the possibility that Trump himself isnt on the ballot. While the president already filed paperwork for re-election on the day of his inauguration, the Democratic National Committee has begun compiling opposition research on a number of high-profile Republicans with presidential aspirations that the organization views as likely to run in 2020, either against Trump or in his place. According to a Politico report, the list includes Ohio Governor and Trump antagonist John Kasich, Vice President Mike Pence, United States ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and Nebraska Senator and vocal Trump critic Ben Sasse, among others.

Of those contenders, Pence is probably the most formidable, and the most likely to run. The vice presidents machinations have fueled speculation that he isnt content with the No. 2 job in Washington and is maneuvering himself for something more. (What is the vice presidency, after all, except a stepping stone to the real thing?) In an unprecedented move earlier this year, Pence launched his own political-action committee, while also building relationships with top Republican donors. Pences team has repeatedly rebuked reports about his potential ambitions, but Democrats arent taking any chances: the D.N.C. is already digging into Pences record in preparation, as is the Democratic opposition super PAC American Bridge 21st Century.

The next most likely Republican to be on the ballot in 2020, after Trump and Pence, is Kasich, whom the D.N.C. has tasked a team of two dozen researchers with investigating, building on the opposition research from last years election. The Ohio governor has been harshly critical of Trump and has stopped short of saying he wont make another bid for the White House in 2020, though he has said he wouldnt take on Trump. John Weaver, one of Kasichs political advisers, sought to tamp down the rumors, telling Politico, I think the Democrats would be better served coming up with a better economic policy rather than planning to rely on Trumps unpopularity. Haley and Sasse, both viewed as rising stars within the G.O.P., have also been floated as potential 2020 candidates.

It is unusual for there to be this sort of speculation just seven months into a new administration, but Trump is no usual president. Needless to say, there is no historical precedent for this kind of challenge to a sitting president this early in his term. I do think its important to begin to have these discussions, if for no other reason than to make it clear that there remain Republicans unstained by Trumps presidency, Charlie Sykes, a veteran influential conservative radio host based in Wisconsin, told Politico.

Others say the Democratic effort is entirely misguided. As Tom Rath, a longtime Republican strategist in New Hampshire who advised Kasich in 2016, explained to Politico, for a Republican challenge to Trump be seriously considered, the circumstances that would compel or permit such a change would have to be so remarkable, so sweeping, so unprecedented that any oppo research on a particular candidate would be rendered moot by the very circumstances that occasioned the change. He added, I would think, if I were a Dem, I would really want to run against Trump in [2020] rather than any one else. But that said, even Trumps team is reportedly keeping an eye on Kasich along with a field of likely Democratic candidates.

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Democrats Aren't Waiting for Trump to Be Impeached - Vanity Fair

Democratic legislators called Tuesday for increasing the state sales tax to 6.85 percent, but they still did not reach an overall compromise to solve the states ongoing budget crisis.

The sales tax would increase from the current 6.35 percent, but was met with disapproval from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy who immediately told reporters that he was not in favor of the sales tax increase.

At a time when Malloy has announced deep cuts, including that 85 towns would not receive educational cost-sharing funds for public schools, the House Democratic plan would restore most of those funds. West Hartford, for example, would lose nearly $24 million under Malloys plan. But the Democratic plan calls for a loss of only $1.36 million compared to the last fiscal year.

Southington would lose about $300,000 under the Democratic plan, compared to more than $21 million under Malloys proposal. Enfield would lose $3.18 million under the Democratic plan, compared to more than $23 million under Malloys plan.

Overall, the towns would receive $2.299 billion in the 2018 fiscal year a loss of $122 million from last year, but far below Malloys proposed cuts of about $968 million.

The towns would receive the increased funding only if the legislature approves a two-year, $40 billion budget. If there is no action by the legislature, Malloys cuts under his executive order would begin to take effect Oct. 1.

Besides raising the sales tax, the House Democratic budget would make Social Security benefits no longer subject to the state income tax in the 2020 fiscal year and allow municipalities to place an additional 1 percent sales tax on food and drink at bars, restaurants and other outlets. The plan would have no new taxes on hospitals an industry that has clashed sharply with Malloy over funding.

Both Democrats and Republicans emerged with smiles on their faces Tuesday after meeting behind closed doors at the state Capitol. They said they had productive, bipartisan negotiations about potential solutions to the deficit that included structural changes to help the state in the long term. But they admitted that saving money in the current fiscal year would be difficult because the year started on July 1.

Despite the smiles, Republicans also did not drop their long-held opposition to tax increases.

Listen, I still have the same position that I had before, said House Republican leader Themis Klarides of Derby. Tax increases are not something that we are interested in at this point in time.

While the new proposed rate on the sales tax was mentioned, Democrats are not expected to release their full, detailed budget until Wednesday.

The latest budget talks came on the anniversary of the passage and creation of the state income tax, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. in August 1991.

All sides said the latest talks were productive, and they stood together at a news conference in a show of support that has not been evident at all times during the long, frustrating process that began when Malloy unveiled his first budget proposal back in early February.

But the harsh clashes of the past were less evident on a sunny Tuesday in mid-August.

I think a lot got accomplished today, said Senate Republican leader Len Fasano of North Haven. It was very, very good the steps that happened today.

After months of behind-the-scenes talks, some conservative Democrats still have concerns about raising taxes at all.

Sen. Paul Doyle, a fiscally conservative Democratic swing voter from Wethersfield, told The Courant that he still has questions about hiking taxes to balance the deficit that is projected to reach $3.5 billion over two years. Doyle and two other moderate senators, Joan Hartley of Waterbury and Gayle Slossberg of Milford, have balked at tax hikes as the states fiscal crisis has continued in recent months. Their votes could be key as Republicans have been mostly opposed to tax increases and Democrats hold only a slim majority in the House, with a tie in the Senate.

We have broad-based, but not unanimous, support for that, Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney said of the proposed sales tax increase.

With some lawmakers on vacation in August, no votes are expected at the state Capitol until at least the week of Sept. 11.

Legislators are now under increased pressure because Malloy released a revised executive order that includes huge cuts in aid to cities and towns, including no educational cost-sharing aid for 85 towns. While upscale towns like Greenwich and Avon would receive no aid, Malloys order also zeroes out educational cost-sharing funds to towns such as West Hartford, Southington, Canton, Cromwell, Stratford, Rocky Hill, Newtown, and North Haven.

Obviously, the governors proposal, I think, was calculated to heighten the pressure because he laid out clearly what the painful consequences for many towns will be if there is not a budget reached by mid-September, Looney said. If there are any people whose minds have not been sufficiently focused, they certainly are now.

With no budget, the state also does not have an educational cost-sharing formula because it expired. Without a formula, Malloy would be able to allocate the funds to various towns as he sees fit.

Asked if he would veto a budget that contains the sales tax increase the Democratic governor repeated his oft-stated maxim that budget discussions shouldn't start with tax increases.

"We should analyze budget proposals based on whether they are structurally in balance and how they reach that balance,'' Malloy said.

Malloy said he is "encouraged that people are doing some amount of work, that they've collectively said they're working toward a goal where that's going to end up, I have no idea.

He added, But I'm encouraged there appears to be an urgency developing, albeit 54 days into the process. I think that's appropriate, I want a budget, I don't want to do what I'm doing by executive order."

Asked if the Republicans will support a budget, Malloy said: "In a perfect world, people should put their differences aside and acknowledge that we have to do what's best for the state of Connecticut, collectively. I'm not sure any of the caucuses could pass a budget in and of themselves."

Republicans were pleased with the Democratic ideas on structural change. A summary that was sent to legislators said the budget facilitates regionalism through changes to collective bargaining statutes, consolidates local assessor offices to achieve economies of scale, and requires votes on state employee union contracts which Republicans have supported for years.

Courant staff writer Daniela Altimari contributed to this report.

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Democrats Seek 6.85 Percent Sales Tax; Malloy 'Not in Favor' - Hartford Courant

For the first midterm cycle ever, top Democratic operatives from D.C. have set up shop in the O.C.

An office in Irvine, Calif., is within driving distance of seven districts held by Republicans right now, where voters also picked Hillary Clinton in 2016. So thats where several Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee staffers are already working, more than a year before the 2018 contests.

Theres no question that Republicans in Orange County and across California are on defense this cycle, DCCC Spokesman Tyler Law told Fox News.

A pinata of Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump stands in front of various campaign signs decorating a wall as members of the Democratic Party of Orange County, California May 15, 2016. (REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon, FILE )

GOP officials dont mind their new neighbors, though.

I love it that theyre spending the money here and that we actually get to keep them occupied, Republican Party of Orange County Chairman Fred Whitaker said.

And Republicans are doing their best to make sure these Democrats from D.C. dont make too much progress.

On Monday, more than a dozen Republican volunteers sat around a conference table at the Republican Party of Orange Countys office in Tustin, Calif., making calls to try identifying potential new voters.

Whitaker said calls like this used to be made months closer to the election, but the schedule jolted forward when Democrats singled out Southern California.

Their early efforts are to stave off the diverse group of dozens already signaling their intention to challenge local members of Congress.

One of Rep. Ed Royces Democratic challengers is Gil Cisneros, a Navy veteran and Mega-Millions lottery winner, who has one other line that stands out on his resume: he used to be a Republican, because he was a fan of former President Ronald Reagan.

This city on a hill is how he saw the nation, and I kind of saw it the same way, Cisneros explained. But he was for things that now, that the Republican Partys not for. And theyve changed.

Another first-time candidate is Kia Hamadanchy, angling himself to replace Rep. Mimi Walters. Hamadanchy is a former Senate staffer who decided to run the night President Trump announced a partial ban on travel to the U.S. from certain countries, and sees the long list of candidates on the left as a signal of Democratic strength.

As Democrats, we have a lot of issues with our messaging and winning elections, Hamadanchy told Fox News. These primaries are going to allow people to kind of hone that message.

President Donald Trump, greets Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Aug. 14, 2017. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Longtime Rep. Darrell Issa is one of the incumbents facing a stiff challenge next year, in one of the districts that voted for Clinton in 2016.

Now Issa thinks some of those Clinton voters may continue to support him, because he doesnt think they approve certain health care proposals coming from the left.

Protestors and people here are openly calling for a single-payer system, that drives a lot of working, middle-class Democrats away from their own party, Issa told Fox News in a Tuesday interview on the Oceanside Pier in his district.

The former House Oversight Committee Chairman also doesnt think hell be punished at the ballot box for sometimes aligning himself with President Trump.

They may or may not support the president, but they want you to work across the aisle to get things done, Issa said.

Peter Doocy is currently a Washington D.C.-based correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in 2009 as a general assignment reporter based in the New York bureau.

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Democrats launch new push to flip seats in California's Orange County - Fox News