Democrats say they are wary of the D-word.

On the heels of a grueling loss in the presidential election in November, Democrats find themselves grappling with how and when to warn the public about the threat President Trump poses to democracy.

It is a narrative Democrats sought to push hard during the 2024 election as everyone from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris and Barack Obama warned of the danger Trump posed to the nation's framework.

But in the months since their election loss, party operatives have largely concluded that those efforts failed. And it did little to convince wide swaths of voters that Trump was the menace Democrats portrayed him to be.

“The problem with that message is that the people who were motivated by that, we've already got,” Democratic strategist Joel Payne said. “It has a limited ceiling on it in terms of a growth message.”

Now, as Democrats watch Trump reshape the government and change the traditional ways Washington works, party operatives have been hesitant to frame the argument simply around “democracy.”

That is the case even after Friday, when many Democrats were shocked by........

© The Hill