"I think it's bullsh*t": House Dems relapse into Trump-era internal war

• "I think that you're going to see some of the highest numbers of primaries in 2026 — to the left and to the right," one House Democrat predicted. "It's going to feel like four parties."
• The lawmaker added that such a dynamic would leave Democratic leadership "in a really tough place, because it's really [focused on] member protection when it should be preparing" to help a Democrat retake the White House.
• "People are going to their corners in the ring and saying, 'We're the winning corner,'" Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) told Axios, summing up conversations he has had with colleagues since Election Day.

Driving the news: Moderate and progressive Democrats, in interviews with Axios, have blamed their ideological counterparts for the loss.

• "I think the identity politics stuff is absolutely killing us," said one centrist House Democrat.
• Said another moderate: "Whatever you want to try to say about Kamala Harris and her record, you can't try to claim she was a Joe Biden moderate. That's just not accurate."

The other side: A progressive House Democrat shot back at "members that are blaming the trans community and the LGBT community, members who are saying that progressives are the reason we lost the election."

• "Some of us got 78% of the vote in our own elections and the VP got 53%, 54% in some cases — or got less than that," the progressive argued.
• Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), a leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, argued the party failed to recognize the economic pain many Americans are feeling and propose bold solutions to alleviate it.
• "You can't bring a policy paper to a gunfight. This was a populist moment, and we should recognize that," he said.

Zoom in: The infighting is already getting messy, with a top aide to Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) resigning over the centrist congressman's comments about transgender issues to the New York Times.

• Moulton argued that Democrats' efforts not to offend anyone on issues like transgender participation in youth sports ended up alienating some voters.
• Centrist Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) pointed to GOP anti-trans ads in an interview with Axios: "Biological boys playing in girls sports, it doesn't happen that often, the Republicans make that a big issue as a way to get everyone pissed off, and we just didn't talk about it."

The bottom line: The fight is not confined to just progressives versus moderates — it's also rank-and-file Democrats versus their leaders.

• One moderate House Democrat told Axios: "Democrats are terrible at accountability ... if we're in the, like, think tank world, and all that matters is having nice ideas, then sure, maybe we can call that success."
• A House progressive said there "is some real responsibility to be taken. Just acting like we're in a pep rally, saying, 'You all did a good job. ... I think it's bullsh*t. Let's acknowledge that we failed."