Sen. Slotkin Says Dem Politicians Are Terrified of Making Leftists Mad Online

HOOVER: “President Obama chided Democrats, saying they need to toughen up against Donald Trump. You have said we need more ‘alpha energy’ in the Democratic Party.”
SLOTKIN: “Oh, yeah.”
HOOVER: “Are you and former President Obama saying the same thing?”
SLOTKIN: “You know, I — you know that — I don’t know if we’re saying the exact same thing, but it sort of smells the same, right? And I — I think this idea that Democrats are — are so careful, and they’re so caveated, and they’re so worried about offending each other, offending other people, they’re so worried about pissing off people on the Internet. They live often in a world where they constrain themselves.”
HOOVER: “Are they too sensitive?”
SLOTKIN: “I think some of them, sure, are too sensitive. And this is, to me, the central point, is like, especially with Donald Trump in the White House, this is just not a moment to be careful and polite. We need a plan. We need to be on the same page. We need to play as a team. We need to call out when someone isn’t helping the team. And we need to hug someone when they do something great.”
HOOVER: “Sounds like what you’re saying is, you know, Republicans fear Trump, and Democrats fear each other’s factions.”
SLOTKIN: “Sometimes, fear Twitter.”
HOOVER: “Yeah.”
SLOTKIN: “You know, I’ve been shocked — you know, I’m new to the Senate, six months in — how many of my peers said, ‘Well, Elissa, I’d love to be with you on that issue, but, you know, Twitter will be mad. You know, the Internet people will be mad at me.’“
HOOVER: “They literally say that?”
SLOTKIN: “Yeah. There’ll be a bad online response.”