Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) sent a message to his colleagues in the Democratic Party, urging them to focus on “reestablishing our own credibility” and to revert from solely “bashing” what President Trump’s administration does in response.
“My party needs to reestablish our credibility on a number of issues. It’s not going to be enough, even if it is strategic and tactical and smart, to criticize what Donald Trump does. I mean, we have to do that and we have to do it intelligently, it’s just not gonna be enough because we don’t have the credibility that we need on issues like immigration, like DEI, dealing with racism and discrimination, like the economy,” Smith said during his Tuesday night appearance on NewsNation’s show “CUOMO.”
“I think we need to spend more time reestablishing our own credibility, not just bashing on what Trump does,” he added.
Smith said Democrats should be a “lot more selective” when going after Trump, adding that Democrats’ criticism of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s salute from earlier this month “seemed like a waste of time.”
“I think we need to focus more specifically on issues. Now, when Trump comes out and says he’s just not going to spend money on any domestic programs, that’s probably worth talking about, and it’s had a significant impact,” Smith said.
The House lawmaker, who represents Washington state’s 9th Congressional District, said his party’s politicians should seek to govern “well” and tackle issues such as drug abuse, lack of affordable housing and homelessness among others.
“Show people that we can build housing. Show people that we do believe in opportunity and personal responsibility,” he told host Chris Cuomo. “You can believe in both and you’ll do a better job of delivering for people if you do.”
Democrats are looking to bounce back after suffering various losses in the November election, including House and Senate races along with dropping the control of the White House to President Trump. The party is wrestling with its messaging on Capitol Hill while also looking for strong candidates for the 2026 cycle as the infighting has continued with Trump’s second term well underway.
Smith said the party can push back on some of Trump’s immigration policies while also addressing issues that, in his view, the Biden administration took too long to come around on. He said the party shouldn’t be in favor of deporting “every single undocumented immigrant” in the country and blocking already approved refugees from coming in.
The ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee also said the party dropped the ball on border security because it followed “far-left’s policies” and they should admit that to the public to be able to gain back some credibility.
“Now I think if Republicans wanna have a conversation, we need more border security, we need a secure border and we need to admit on my side the Biden administration didn’t do that, okay. At least not until the last six to eight months, alright,” Smith said.
“We failed and we failed because we followed the far-left’s policies, okay, on don’t deport anybody, open up the borders for many more asylum seekers, not being concerned about the volume, okay. I think we need to be honest with the American people,” he added, adding that it is possible to be a “reasonable Democrat like me and still be deeply troubled by the approach the Trump administration is taking on immigration.”
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