TRUMP IS ALREADY SO TERRIBLE THAT EVEN SOME DEMOCRATS ARE WILLING TO ACKNOWLEDGE IT

This story from Punchbowl News makes me feel as if a moment is being squandered:

Now that former President Joe Biden is gone, Democrats are in desperate search of a winning message — and a leader.

And nowhere is that dilemma more evident than the internal Democratic debate over immigration....

During a weekly meeting with House Democratic chiefs of staff on Tuesday, an aide for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries played a recent clip of the New York Democrat being asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether he’d support funding Trump’s mass deportation plans.

Jeffries responded by saying Democrats want to focus on bringing down the cost of living and hit Republicans for their lack of an agenda on that issue....

Once again, Democratic leaders seem to be saying that Trump won on economic issues, so they should never talk about anything but economic issues, no matter what's going on in the country, because they think "The economy is the #1 issue" means "Voters literally have no interest in any other issue." In fact, this makes it look as if Democrats just want to change the subject whenever possible, which, for some reason, they think is a good look for them. (Jeffries did go on to say that Trump's immigration policy should "focus on the removal of violent felons.”)

It gets worse:

There was also some anxiety over an upcoming weekly call, led by Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), with district directors. Some aides were surprised that this week’s agenda is about Black History Month — not immigration or other priorities — during the first week of the Trump administration.

Black History Month? When the country is on fire?

Look, it's good for Democrats to talk about what's happening to people of color in America. But too often they retreat to this middle-school-civics-class rehash of black history. We saw this a lot in the Biden years: Biden crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge! Biden at the Ebenezer Baptist Church! Biden commemorating the 1964 Civil Rights Act at the LBJ Library! It's all fine, but it feels like a retreat to the past, not an engagement with the present.

You can say that this is because the party is run by very old people, but Congressman Neguse, the House assistant Democratic leader, is 40 years old. The party seems to be elevating young people who act like old people.

But maybe there's a ray of hope:

House Democratic leaders are bashing President Trump and his allies in the Capitol for supporting blanket clemency for those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021....

“House Republicans are celebrating pardons issued to a bloodthirsty mob that violently assaulted police officers on January 6, 2021. What happened to backing the Blue?” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) posted Tuesday on Threads.

“Far right extremists have become the party of lawlessness and disorder,” he continued. “Don’t ever lecture America again.”

“About anything.”

I guess Jeffries feels safe attacking Trump when even the Fraternal Order of Police and the Wall Street Journal editorial board are criticizing him.

And this is good:

Attorneys general from 22 states sued Tuesday to block President Donald Trump’s move to end a century-old immigration practice known as birthright citizenship guaranteeing that U.S.-born children are citizens regardless of their parents’ status.

I really thought January 20 would end with news channels auto-repeating video of immigration raids. The raids haven't happened -- they would have been very popular, unfortunately -- but now the news is an assault on birthright citizenship, which is the reasons many Americans, undoubtedly including some Trump voters, are citizens now. I'll remind you again that in the latest Wall Street Journal poll, 64% of respondents opposed ending birthright citizenship and only 31% approved.

Trump's executive order doesn't end birthright citizenship for children of all immigrants, but for once the GOP could be hurt by the fact that that nuance isn't clear to most Americans. And those who look more closely might be shocked by this:

President Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship declares that babies born to many temporary residents of the United States — not just those in the country illegally....

If the courts do not block the order, babies born to women living legally, but temporarily, in the United States — such as people studying on a student visa or workers hired by high-tech companies — will not automatically be recognized by the federal government as U.S. citizens if the father is also not a permanent resident.

Aides to Mr. Trump had told reporters on Monday morning that the order would apply to “children of illegal aliens born in the United States.” In fact, the language in the order Mr. Trump signed, titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” goes much further.

“It’s a shocking attack on people in this country who are here lawfully, played by the rules and are benefiting the country,” said David Leopold, the chair of the immigration practice at the law firm UB Greensfelder.

Democrats have been afraid to do 2017-style "resistance," but I believe most of the public would welcome denunciations of these policies. Perhaps, as a New York Times story asserts, "It is unclear how much is left in Washington to restrain" Trump. But Democrats could make a lot of noise and help drive Trump's poll numbers down. That would sting. Maybe he'd even change course on a couple of issues. And maybe the Leonard Leo courts would recognize that the public doesn't want the federal judiciary to be a rubber stamp for Trump.

So Democrats should prioritize pounding the table right now. That's the urgent need. I'm pretty sure the party's district directors can figure out how to commemorate Black History Month without a lot of guidance from Washington.