It’s a new season for Congressional Democrats.
And that’s not always a good thing.
New seasons bring change. New players. New coaches. New approaches.
The problem is finding the right approach.
Especially when you’re on the outside looking in.
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Democrats are now the loyal opposition. Effectively locked out of power in Washington as Republicans control the executive branch and both bodies of Congress.
Democrats have lobbed entire landfills at President Trump since 2015. Some of it worked – a little bit. But certainly not enough to permanently sidetrack Mr. Trump. He executed one of the most extraordinary, improbable comebacks in world political history.
On the TV show "The Office," secretary Pam Beesly noted that she only got ten vacation days a year.
"I try to hold off taking them for as long as possible," said Beesly. "This year I got to the third week in January."
So far, Democrats are flailing as they try to challenge President Trump in his second term. So, they’re dusting off some old plays from a tired, dog-eared playbook.
Like Beesly, they waited as long as they could.
It took precisely 16 days before a Democrat threatened to impeach the President.
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Rep. Al Green, D-Tex., prepped the first articles of impeachment against President Trump in 2017. He didn’t do so until October of that year. But now, Green is ready to impeach the President.
"I did it before. I laid the foundation for impeachment. And it was done. Nobody knows more about it than I. And I know that it’s time for us to lay the foundation again. On some issues, it is better to stand alone than not stand at all," said Green.
But two previous impeachments failed to suppress Mr. Trump. If nothing else, the impeachments may have emboldened him. Especially since despite the House impeaching him, he survived two Senate trials.
But Democratic leaders are leery of impeachment freelancing.
"This isn't a focus of the Democratic Caucus," said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif. "We've laid out our strategy. Legislative. Litigation. Outreach. Communication. That continues to be the focus."
Democrats are united in their opposition of President Trump. But finding a unifying, resonant message is another thing.
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"In the United States Senate, we will not cooperate!" thundered Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. "We’ll cooperate with no appointments when it comes to the State Department!"
"There should be hundreds of thousands and millions of people descending on Washington, DC!" declared Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.
"We must resist. We must be in the streets!" said Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif.
Democrats used to have only one target. That was President Trump.
"They have no rudder. They have no vision. They have no clear leader," observed House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. "The only message they have is anti-President Trump."
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But opponents evolve.
The arch-enemy of Batman was always the Joker. But the Penguin, Riddler and Catwoman were worthy foes, too.
And so Democrats now have a new nemesis: Elon Musk.
Democrats are peppering him with inflammatory rhetoric.
"A godless, lawless billionaire. You know who elected Elon? This is the American people. This is not your trashy Cybertruck that you can just dismantle, pick apart, and sell the pieces of," said squad member Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.
"God damn it. Shut down the Senate. We are at war. Any time, any time a person can pay $250 million into a campaign, and they've been given access to the Department of Treasury of the United States of America. We are at war," said Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J. "We will not take this sh*t from Donald Trump and Elon Musk."
"What we not going to do is stand around while they pull this bullsh*t that they're trying to pull right now," excoriated Rep. Jasmine Crockett,. D-Tex., of Musk and DOGE. "You all know he likes to pal around with Putin, right? He's trying to turn us into Russia."
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"He is a low down, dirty, no good person that along with Trump cannot be trusted," said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. "We have got to tell Elon Musk, nobody elected your ass."
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt blasted Democrats for their incendiary language.
"President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people to make this government more efficient. He campaigned across this country with Elon Musk vowing that Elon was going to head up the Department of Government Efficiency," said Leavitt. "For Democrat officials to incite violence and encourage Americans to take to the streets is incredibly alarming. They should be held accountable for that rhetoric."
But at least one Democrat urges discipline for his colleagues when attacking the President – or Musk.
"There's going to be a lot of balls coming down to the plate. And I'm only waiting for a strike when I'm going to start to swing," said Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn.
Democrats executed another gambit Wednesday. They kept the Senate in session all night to postpone the confirmation of Budget Director nominee Russ Vought. The Senate broke a filibuster earlier on Wednesday. But Vought is someone who would have great influence over DOGE and potentially efforts by the administration to withhold or contour spending. Since the Senate voted to end the filibuster around 1 pm et Wednesday, Democrats opted to burn all time available to them just to protest Vought and DOGE.
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"Russ Vought represents a very specific view of presidential power, which is essentially unitary executive," said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, at 1:45 am et Thursday. "It's this view that once you win, you're basically a monarch."
A cavalcade of Democrats seized the floor throughout the night. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., at 5 am et. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., at 6 am et. Booker at 9 am et.
"Whatever the challenges, whatever the fear, is what I want to tell you right now is don't normalize a president who is violating the separation of powers," said Booker on the floor just after 10 am et. "Don't normalize a president who is violating civil service laws. Don't normalize a president who is ignoring the dictates of Congress and establishing agencies."
Around the same time, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee requested, and received - under the rules - a one-week delay on the nomination of FBI Director nominee Kash Patel.
"Kash Patel has a goal. It's to wreck the FBI," said Welch.
The Democrats’ maneuver chokes off Patel’s nomination from the Senate floor. But only for a week.
"It means that about 168 hours from right now, he'll be confirmed by our committee," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
Democrats can’t do much but delay the inevitable. Republicans can confirm Patel on the floor if they stick together. The same with Vought. Vought is only the second nominee to score a partisan confirmation without Democratic assistance. The other was Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
"We are out of power. But we are not powerless," said Schatz.
But that power is low voltage. Measured in foot candles, not watts.
There are limits to their power. And Democrats are now feeling it.