Dem Rep. Smith: ‘We’re Dodging’ on Issues of Border, Crime, Spending

On Friday’s edition of NBC’s “Meet the Press NOW,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said that the Democratic Party had policies that were “too far left on border security, on abolish the police, criminal justice issues, even on government spending.” And “We’re dodging all of these issues.”

Smith said, “I do think we’ve done a really effective job of attacking Trump’s horrific policies. We’ve built a lot of support. We’re well-positioned for 2026 in the congressional elections. We’ve got a lot of good candidates who are driving a message. What I worry about is 2028. We need a coalition that is large enough and cohesive enough to win back the White House. And, right now, there are deep divisions within the party.”

He added that the party “had some policies that were, I guess, best described as too far left on border security, on abolish the police, criminal justice issues, even on government spending. We spent a lot of money, and some on the left advocated the theory that deficits and debts don’t matter. I think that undermined our credibility. We’re dodging all of these issues. … There [are] bitter, bitter differences, and pretending like those differences don’t exist isn’t going to change what’s going to happen come 2028. I think we can build a coalition. I think economic populism, combined with accountability, responsibility, building a strong country, I think there [are] a lot of things we can do. We’re going to need to have that conversation to get us in a stronger position for 2028.”

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