Exclusive: Sen. Slotkin says Dems are "divided" on Trump 2.0
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Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said Wednesday there are two differing Democratic perspectives on Trump 2.0: Some say he's an existential threat to democracy, while others think he's "bad, but survivable."
Why it matters: Slotkin, who won her seat in a state that flipped for President Trump, said the Democratic divide has shifted away from moderate versus progressive. Now, the discussion centers on how to approach a potential second Trump presidency.
- "That doesn't matter anymore," she said. "There are people who are very moderate who believe he's an existential threat. There are people who are very progressive, who are like, 'Let's not do anything and wait for bad things to happen.'"
- Slotkin — who appeared Wednesday at an Axios News Shapers event in Washington, D.C. — says she's in the first camp.
Driving the news: "You can't play a game, you can't win a war ... if you don't have an offense," she told Axios' Stephen Neukam.
- Asked what her vision of the Democratic Party should be centered around, Slotkin pointed to the economy, the cost of living and what she sees as "the existential issue of our time": a shrinking middle class.
- She drew a connection between progressive New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani's primary win and Trump's return to power.
- "The Trump victory is the same message from, I think, [Mamdani's] victory, which is cost of living and the economy is the driving issue for the average person," she said.
Context: Slotkin has pitched an economic war plan for her party that focuses on lifting up the middle class — even if it means slaughtering some "sacred cows to do so," per a recent speech at the Center for American Progress.
- "If you want to understand why our system is fundamentally polarized and broken right now, it's because people feel like the American Dream that they believed in isn't working," she said Wednesday.
- If Democrats don't understand and communicate that "as the existential fight," she said, "it's going to be difficult to capture the popular imagination."
What's next: The policy platform Slotkin has outlined includes some pills that may be challenging for her fellow Democrats to swallow.
- But to rally around a plan, she said, she and her party colleagues will "duke it out."
- "I think the first-order question is, what's the central, fundamental issue of our time?" she said.
- "If we can agree on that," Slotkin continued, "then we can hash out" the "policy prescriptions."
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Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional details throughout.
