Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan said in prepared remarks ahead of a speech on Thursday that her party needs to “f****** retake the flag” and adopt “the goddamn alpha energy,” Politico reports.
Newsweek reached out to Slotkin’s office via email Thursday for comment.
Why It Matters
Democrats have faced challenges since losing the White House, Senate and the House after the 2024 presidential election. Uproar over certain policies and uncertainty about which figureheads to rally behind within the party have frayed internal cohesion.
It is unclear who the party will eventually support, as polling shows former Vice President Kamala Harris leading the pack of potential presidential 2028 candidates, followed by New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, California Governor Gavin Newsom and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
What To Know
According to Politico, Slotkin is preparing to make speeches regarding a “war plan” to “contain and defeat Donald Trump.”
In her prepared remarks as viewed by Politico in a recorded dry-run, Slotkin will speak to potential voters on the road highlighting the public’s view of the party as “weak and woke.”
She will urge her Democratic colleagues to “f****** retake the flag” and adopt “the goddamn Alpha energy,” like Dan Campbell, NFL head coach of the Detroit Lions, and air out potential 2028 presidential candidates in an open primary, Politico reports.
While speaking to Politico ahead of the speech, Slotkin was unsure if she would ultimately call it a “war plan,” adding that the verbiage is “a military-style operational plan. I don’t understand how to rally us into a coherent approach if we aren’t on the same page on where we’re going.”
Slotkin also noted her choice of words, saying: “I thought it was very important to put something down on paper, but it wasn’t to liken him [Trump] to ISIS or anything like that. It was just to say if you want to counter something that you see as a problem, you got to have a plan or what else are you doing?”
Slotkin holds a key Senate seat in a swing state the president won in the 2024 election. The Michigan lawmaker has received praise for delivering the Democratic response after Trump’s address to Congress in March.
Slotkin also told Politico that success right now looks like winning back the House, fair elections and maintaining Democratic Senate seats. Another win could be in the courts, Slotkin says, as the Trump administration is in the middle of a deportation case involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia that has gripped the nation.
“We need to have this fight as a nation about whether we should still uphold the Constitution and still believe there are three co-equal branches of government and the president is blatantly ignoring one of those branches right now,” Slotkin said.
“I wouldn’t have picked this case myself, because it’s hard with the El Salvador piece. He’s in another country, but the case picked us.”
What People Are Saying
Wajahat Ali, columnist and co-host of the Democracy-ish podcast, posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday in reaction to Politico’s article: “This is a recipe for failure. Why? She is using bad-faith Republican messaging, amplifying it, and using it to attack Democrats. Retire, @SenatorSlotkin.”
Buttigieg, on the FLAGRANT podcast that aired on Wednesday: “I do think my party needs to do a much better job, especially with the kind of finger-wagging that you’re talking about; I think we are like very prone to that,” Buttigieg said, adding that he has seen it on both sides of the aisle.
What Happens Next
Slotkin is scheduled to deliver an additional speech next month, Politico reports.
