The first year of the second Trump administration somehow proved to be more damaging, consequential and baffling than we could have feared. The 45th and 47th President Donald Trump has converted the federal immigration enforcement apparatus into a personal cudgel used to intimidate, harass and kill Americans. He has used the executive office to enrich himself to the tune of around $4 billion. He has shattered the international order by alienating the country and himself from former allies, and by employing an extremely violent and destabilizing foreign policy doctrine. He effectively mugged the country of Venezuela by kidnapping its president and snatching its oil. He has now started a war with a different country of over 90 million people with seemingly no logical end-goal besides destroying it while it is weak. This has, so far, amounted to the murder of Iran’s leader and scores of civilians — with a chunk of these deaths having come from the obliteration of a girls’ primary school. All the while, one cannot say with certainty that Trump was not close friends with the most prolific pedophile in history — just to name a few things.

So, as we look down the barrel of another three years of this presidency we see ourselves at a crossroads. Many people, I suspect, are hoping for a strong Democratic showing in the midterms and for the Democrats to then be able to “stand up” to Trump. After that, they would like to see Gavin Newsom (or another moderate, “electable” Democrat) emerge victorious in the 2028 presidential election, and get this country back on the right track.

This will not suffice.

I argue that we, the young people of the United States, deserve better. I believe that we deserve the opportunity to elect people who want to improve the conditions of this country, not just protect the status quo. Due, in part, to the dual-party system, voters are made to choose the “least bad” candidate. The parties differentiate themselves by championing emotionally-charged culture war issues, yet they coalesce on many things that constitute the bedrock of American livelihoods in order to preserve the interests of the elite, and maintain U.S. hegemony. 

Democrats have held office for 12 of the past 17 years and have failed to implement comprehensive immigration reform or respond to the wildly growing wealth gap. They have also watched Americans continuously fall behind the cost of living. Barack Obama ran on “hope” and “change,” while deporting more people per year than Trump did in his first term. Additionally, Joe Biden, the Democratic answer to Trump and proud institutionalist, maintained a firm commitment to supporting the state of Israel while it pummeled Gaza and killed thousands of civilians. These Democrats have been entirely insufficient.

If the Trump administration continues to further resemble a gang of bandits, looting and pillaging as it goes while ignoring the economic woes of those who elected it, the chickens will come home to roost. The blatant disregard for the interests of Americans will not go unnoticed. This will leave the door open for new Democrats who brand themselves upon the idea of real change.

The Democratic establishment proved inept, allowing for Trump to take the stage, and as he and his administration continue to implode, voters will again seek something else. We need a new Democratic party, one that champions reform and will focus on putting the resources of the richest empire in human history to work. These new Democrats will have a rare opportunity to channel extreme discontent into a movement. 

This movement should prioritize expanding the U.S. welfare state, helping to guarantee Americans healthcare, education and housing — things that all too many of us struggle everyday to have. This new movement should place the worker above all. It should be built on the idea that the key to undermining the dominance of establishment politics is by creating a broad coalition of the working class that will put aside identity politics and culture war issues to assure tangible improvements to the lives of millions of people. I argue that this type of campaign will be popular far beyond that of the reactionary-populist MAGA movement. Contrary to that movement’s principles of exclusion and neo-fascism, this movement should stress the inclusion of workers from every background and every part of the country.

However, this future will be nothing more than a dream if we, the young voters, do not fundamentally change our thinking about politicians. We must make it clear that Democrats may not take our vote for granted just because they are marginally better than Republicans. We must demand more, using our votes and support as leverage. We must literally tell our representatives what we desire and we must do it constantly so that they maintain no illusions about our feelings. 

Our new Democratic party, the one that we will grow up with into our adult lives, must represent us, and this starts by dismantling the old one and telling would-be politicians exactly what the new one must look like. The seeds of this have already begun to sprout. Zohran Mamdani, Ilhan Omar and other popular challengers to the establishment indeed see the fundamental insufficiency of the party and want to take it into the future. We must hold our representatives and elected officials to the highest standard. Only then will we truly have a new party.

Conor Kelly knows we deserve better.