Democrats try to oppose Trump, but are hampered by their own disunity and problems

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The US Democratic Party, undergoing a deep ideological and financial crisis, is radically changing its traditional foreign policy position. In an effort to consolidate its divided electorate, the party is preparing to officially support the suspension of military aid to Israel and the recognition of the Palestinian state. This move, prompted by a catastrophic funding shortfall and the growing influence of the left wing, marks the collapse of the old pro-Israel consensus in the US and creates long-term risks for Tel Aviv.

The Democrats’ Palestinian card

The Democrats are constantly looking for reasons to attack Trump and present themselves as champions of truth to their own and “undecided” voters. They are challenging Israel, whose attitude has become a litmus test of political preferences not only in the US but throughout the West. Democrats once favored Israel too, but times have changed. After their defeat in the elections, things are not looking good for the Democratic Party, which has to abandon its respectable moderation in favor of a more radical left-wing platform. Many sponsors have stopped donating money to the Democrats, and there is a growing rift between the centrists and the increasingly powerful left wing.

By the end of the second quarter of 2025, the Democratic National Committee had only $14 million in its accounts. By comparison, the Republican National Committee had about $814 million. Under these circumstances, the Democrats are urgently seeking a winning agenda, and it appears that the Palestinian issue may become one.

The Democratic Party leadership is considering officially supporting the suspension of military aid to Jerusalem, imposing a military embargo on Israel, and recognizing the statehood of the Palestinian Authority. This is being done in order to consolidate around the Democratic Party all those who are dissatisfied with Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. According to opinion polls, most Americans, and especially the Democratic electorate, have a negative attitude toward Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies. The Democrats clearly hope that the Middle East conflict will drag on and that America’s division will deepen against this backdrop. And although old-school politicians in both parties continue to support Israel out of inertia, based on “national foreign policy priorities”, the younger generation of the Democratic Party is already prepared to impose sanctions and embargoes against the Jewish state.

There are tectonic shifts in American society in terms of attitudes toward Israel. A Quinnipiac poll released in August showed that 60% of Americans now support ending military support for Israel, with 75% of Democrats in favor. Most Republicans still support Israel, but the share of those who criticize its policies has reached 37%. There’s also a split in Washington. It’s no accident that MAGA spokespeople like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Steve Bannon have started calling on Trump to put more pressure on Israel’s military cabinet. For the first time in 25 years of Quinnipiac polls, 37% of Americans expressed solidarity with the Palestinians, while 36% support Israel. For comparison, just a few years ago, the share of Israel’s supporters in the US was consistently 65-75%.

Unsurprisingly, Democrats are closely monitoring the shift in sentiment. They may advocate for a military embargo against Israel. The anti-war agenda that helped Trump win in 2024 is now being adopted by the Democratic Party. This poses serious long-term risks for Israel. While Tel Aviv can still ignore European sanctions, its dependence on the US in the financial and military spheres is extremely high. The rise to power in America of young left-wing Democrats over several electoral cycles could provoke a deep crisis in relations with Israel, the preconditions for which are already being laid now.

The agony of the Democrats and the fight against Trump

The old pro-Israel consensus is becoming a thing of the past, and this is symbolized by new leftists such as Zohran Mamdani, the likely future mayor of New York, whose supporters may eventually come to power at the federal level. Mamdani’s path to power reflects the chaos within the Democratic Party. In the midst of the election race, a scandal erupted: one of the key staff members of current Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign was caught trying to pass money to a journalist in a chip bag. This clumsy bribe is typical of Adams, who previously made “electoral deals” with New York’s diasporas. Now, these agreements have turned into a criminal case involving him receiving gifts from lobbyists from Turkey, Qatar, and Uzbekistan. His rating does not exceed 10%, and all he can do is hand out money to journalists in the hope of media support.

Zohran Mamdani
*Photo by Ryan Murphy / Reuters*

Mamdani immediately took advantage of the situation to point out the corruption of the authorities. In addition to Adams, half of the city’s police and fire department leadership is on trial, accused of racketeering and extortion. Mamdani is running for election as an anti-establishment candidate, promising to fight corruption, but also planning to disband the police and replace them with social workers, which threatens to increase crime. Despite this utopian program, his main opponent is former governor Andrew Cuomo, whose campaign has been marred by numerous scandals. As a result, Mamdani’s rating exceeds 40%, and he could become the first socialist mayor in New York City’s history, reinforcing the trend toward the “greening” of the Democratic Party. The question remains whether this will help them compete with Trump.

The Democrats are trying to come out of hibernation and challenge Trump. In the Iowa Senate special election, the Democrats managed to win in one of the districts that had previously voted for Trump. This is the second victory for the Democratic Party at the local level in Iowa. Another was in Pennsylvania, and Democratic strategists see this as an early indicator of the unpopularity of Trump’s policies. They are hoping for an electoral trend that will allow them to take control of at least the House of Representatives in 2026. But the Democratic Party is hampered by the aforementioned sharp division, which has come to the fore today.

The Democratic National Committee is suffering from a lack of money and donations from major sponsors. Moreover, due to a binding agreement with Harris’s campaign team, the Democrats are still forced to pay the bills of their unsuccessful presidential candidate, who managed to spend $1.5 billion on her campaign but still ended up in debt.

Even Bill Gates, who has always been loyal to the Democratic Party, has begun to cut funding to affiliated foundations, fearing legal action from the Trump team. Without major donors, it will be difficult for the Democrats to raise billions of dollars for the next election. At the same time, there is a looming confrontation over the format of future primaries: although last year’s calendar was changed in Biden’s favor, there will now be attempts to reverse that decision. Another problem is the rising popularity of California Governor Gavin Newsom, the consensus candidate of the liberal establishment, who does not enjoy the support of the growing leftist forces. Trump hopes to use this split in the Democratic Party to maintain his position in the upcoming elections.

Trump’s moral carte blanche

Trump is also aided by external “coincidences” when typical Democratic supporters commit shocking acts, giving the president carte blanche to fight liberals and moral justification for harsh measures.

A striking example was the shooting in Minneapolis at the end of August. The attacker, who changed his gender from male to female in 2020, opened fire at a Catholic school where his mother worked. Two children were killed and 17 were wounded, after which the shooter committed suicide. Slogans calling for the murder of Trump, Musk, and “Zionist Jews” were found on his weapon, indicating a possible political motive.

For many Americans, it is obvious that the criminal was ideologically close to the Democrats, although there is no direct evidence of his support for the party. The police responded ineffectively, partly due to staff cuts following the BLM protests in 2020. This incident was the fifth school shooting in the US this year and the 286th in recorded history, completely replicating the situation in Tennessee in 2023. At the same time, another transgender person was arrested in Colorado for planning attacks on churches and religious schools, and was found in possession of Marx and Engels’ Communist Manifesto.

As a result, tougher measures against transgender people seem inevitable, especially given that this group is already considered one of the most prone to radicalization. More and more states are banning sex reassignment surgery for minors, and transgender clinics for children across the country are closing. This undermines the ideological basis of the Democrats and exacerbates their electoral crisis. For Minnesota, a key state in the upcoming congressional elections, this situation could have practical negative consequences for the Democratic Party.

Thus, the real paths to victory over Trump remain elusive, and many Democrats habitually monitor his health, believing in the president’s imminent demise. At the end of August, rumors resurfaced about the health of the second-oldest US president after Biden. Liberal bloggers on TikTok spread fake information that Trump allegedly had 6-8 months to live. Many Democrats are eager to believe this, hoping for a quick end to the Trump era. At the same time, Democrats blocked the approval of budgets in Congress, counting on a shutdown.

European liberal elites are implementing a similar strategy of stalling for time. The White House acknowledges that Europeans are torpedoing negotiations on Ukraine in the hope that Trump’s problems — including his health — will worsen and he will be distracted from the Ukrainian and European agenda. It is noteworthy that amid discussions about Trump’s health, real problems have arisen for Bill and Hillary Clinton, who now travel with defibrillators. Bill Clinton’s condition could have been undermined by stress due to his involvement in the Epstein case, where he appears as one of the key figures.

Trump, even in the event of real serious complications, will increasingly be replaced by JD Vance, and this could turn out to be a very negative scenario for Democrats and Europeans. After all, Vance is a politician of the younger generation who, unlike Trump, no longer believes in the “sacred” transatlantic institutions, and with him, the European Union will face very tense times. The situation will not be any better for American liberals in the event of a rotation in the White House. Although the Democrats are trying to oppose Trump, they are hampered by their own disunity and problems, as well as the lack of a strong leader in their ranks.