“If a tree falls in a forest, and there’s no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
I must confess that I never cared much for that old philosophical saying; however, it has kept ringing in my mind over the years as I have considered a perennial problem with the national Democrats—a catastrophic failure to communicate.
A significant characteristic of Democrats on the national stage is their massive failure to publicize their activities, especially when they are doing commendable things.
This problem was on full display on February 5, just 16 days after the presidential inauguration. That day, Senate Democrats began to hold the floor all night to oppose Russell Vought, the author of Project 2025, as head of the Office of Budget and Management (OMB).
To the Senators’ credit, they generated some publicity. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer wrote on Bluesky, “We are holding the floor of the United States Senate overnight to expose how Project 2025 is the Trump White House agenda.” And Pod Save America, the activist podcast run by former Obama aides, ran live streams of interviews with Senate Democrats through the night.
But that was not enough, because too few people knew about it. Two few people knew that these Senators were extending themselves to illuminate what was happening to the country. The next day, there was little media notice of the event. Neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post printed a word about the 30-hour event.
What did the Senate Democrats hope to accomplish with their marathon talkathon? It must have been to influence their Republican colleagues in the Senate and/or the American public. I would argue that influencing the Republican Senators was an exercise in futility. Consequently, much of the emphasis should have been on the public. Not ensuring that the public knows about their effort is a problem.
Of course, millions in this country and around the world knew about and were inspired by Senator Cory Booker’s 25-hour talkathon last week. But it was the kind of effort that would generate publicity.
The February 5-6 talkathon was an early and admirable ploy by the Democratic Senators because they were calling attention to the horrendous direction of the country. One by one, Democratic senators took to the floor of the U.S. Senate on that Wednesday evening — through the night and well into Thursday morning — to vehemently voice their opposition to Russell Vought s head of OMB.
The nearly 30-hour feat was to delay and protest Vought’s inevitable confirmation vote. Without their majority, there is little Democrats can do to block any of Trump’s nominees other than sway at least three Republican senators away from voting to confirm. So, they used every minute of the allotted 30 hours of debate to push back the vote.
Vought is a longtime political analyst who briefly served as the director of OMB at the tail end of the first Trump administration. Since then, however, Vought has become notorious for being one of the lead writers and architects of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s detailed blueprint for turning the next conservative administration into an authoritarian government.
The Heritage Foundation has long admired Victor Orbán, Hungary’s authoritarian leader. In a 2022 interview with Hungarian Conservative, the Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts said, “Modern Hungary is not just a model for conservative statecraft, but the model.” In 2023, Roberts brought the Heritage Foundation into a formal partnership with the Danube Institute, a conservative think tank funded by Orbán’s government.
We, the people, must save our democracy. Notably, we are getting substantial help from democratic leaders. It would help our efforts and theirs if they kept us acquainted with what they are doing.
