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For those who followed President Donald Trump’s personnel decisions closely in the months following his November victory, not much of what has happened in the past week since his inauguration came as much of a surprise. Suspending scientific research, pausing all cases in the Justice Department’s civil rights division, shutting down communications from health agencies like the FDA, creating a geopolitical crisis with Denmark over the status of Greenland, issuing threats of prosecution to officials who refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities—the Trump administration has so far been exactly as promised, which is to say, horrifying. It’s still early, but many elected Democrats, perhaps still in shock and unable to find consensus, have as a group not been very effective messengers of opposition.

That needs to change, and fast, if they want to avoid getting steamrolled by Trump’s agenda for at least the next year.

That the party is momentarily adrift is hardly surprising. Having leaned so hard on defending democracy during the campaign only to see voters narrowly choose the autocrats, Democrats were left without a unifying message, let alone a consensus messenger, to describe the new president and his allies. Are Republicans grifting billionaires? Corrupt authoritarians? Violent extremists? Foot soldiers in a plot to effectively reverse the second half of the 20th century? How else to explain the abrupt elimination, by executive order, of nondiscrimination policies in federal contracting, which date back to President Lyndon Johnson? But with leading Democrats in what the New York Times called “a political crouch that reflects their powerlessness,” the pushback has been diffuse and ununified.

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer gave a press conference about Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget announcement that it is freezing nearly all federal funds, endangering everything from cancer research and food assistance to small businesses, schools, and nonprofits that rely on the government’s money. Schumer showed the most fight that he has since Inauguration Day in the speech, saying plainly and accurately, “Last night, President Trump plunged the country into chaos,” and calling the move “a dagger at the heart of the average American family in red states and blue states, in cities, in suburbs, in rural areas. It is just outrageous.” “This decision is lawless, dangerous, destructive, cruel. It’s illegal. It’s unconstitutional,” he said.

It was a welcome shift in tone from one of distractible and bemused worry to urgent alarm and outrage. But the presser was notable for who wasn’t there: Any Democrat from a swing state who has been trying to present a conciliatory and collaborative posture toward the new administration. Schumer was joined on stage by Sens. Patty Murray, Amy Klobuchar, Chris Murphy, and........

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