Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is drawing criticism from online progressives after claiming the party should focus on attempts to “find common ground” with the Trump administration
An interview with the New York Times published Saturday drew instant backlash on social media. Klobuchar claimed in the snippet shared to those platforms that “if there is a middle of all of this hot mess of division, Americans want us to work together when we can and find common ground.”
“It is very clear that, if there is a middle of all of this hot mess of division, Americans want us to work together when we can and find common ground,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar tells the Opinion writer Michelle Cottle.
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— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion.nytimes.com) February 1, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Journalist Karoli Kuns told Klobuchar in a post to Bluesky that Democrats “don’t want that. We want you to preserve the Republic and that means jamming them every way possible.”
Missouri Democratic organizer Jess Piper echoed the sentiment, claiming that “there is no common ground with fascists.”
Democratic communications strategist Murshed Zaheed urged Democratic leaders, especially Klobuchar, to “lead an all-out resistance.”
“You cannot find common ground with fascists. If you are trying to find bipartisanship w fascists get the **** out of the Democratic Party,” Zaheed wrote in a post to Bluesky.
Another user pointed to the naivety of Klobuchar’s remarks, claiming that those in the Trump administration “[don’t] want to work with you ever again,” while those on Klobuchar’s side “want you to stand in their way.”
Other users said Klobuchar’s analysis was proof of, as one historian put it, “breathtaking failure to meet the moment” by Democratic Party leadership.
“This constant drumbeat of “hold the center” needs to f**king end,” journalist Walker Bragman said on Bluesky.
Legal writer Jay Willis wrote the Senator “[made it] clear in the newspaper of record that she is not up to the job of leading the Democratic Party.”
The outcry wasn’t entirely fair to Klobuchar who turned immediately after the quote in question to discuss real ways of gumming up the worst actions of the Trump administration.
“When they start violating the law and firing inspectors general without following the law, when they start illegally cutting off funding for home heating and other things that people need to live, we are going to stand our ground,” she said before switching to kitchen-table issues that could revive the Democratic base after their November drubbing. “We have to suggest some game-changing ideas as the Republicans fight within their camps, of Elon Musk versus Steve Bannon, we have to be out there holding them accountable, but also putting forth a positive agenda.”
The backlash came just days after a slate of Democratic governors, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and five others, demanded Senate Democratic leadership push harder against Trump and his assaults on the federal bureaucracy, per the New York Times.
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