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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
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Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) expressed frustration over the Democratic Party’s lack of a “coordinated response” to President Donald Trump during an interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl on Sunday.

“I think the lack of a coordinated response in the State of the Union was a mistake, and frankly, it took the focus off of where it should have been, which is on the fact that the president spoke for an hour and 40 minutes and had nothing to say about what he would do to bring down costs for American families that were watching that lengthy address, sitting at the kitchen table hoping he would offer something to help them afford a new home or pay their rent, afford health care, or afford child care,” Schiff said.

The lawmaker addressed Sen. John Fetterman’s critiques of the Democratic response, which Fetterman called “a sad cavalcade of self-owns and unhinged petulance.”

“They’re destroying the economy, and they’re making it harder and harder for Americans to afford things. That’s where we need to keep the focus, that’s why we lost the last election, because we weren’t laser-focused on the high cost of living and what they’re doing now is just making it so much worse,” Schiff claimed — falsely, according to the most recent economic data.

Karl also asked Schiff how the Democratic Party should respond to the president. The ABC News host specifically referenced Democratic strategist James Carville, who has suggested that the party should “play dead” and consider a strategic political retreat.

Schiff said he disagreed with that approach and added that his party needed their “own broad, bold agenda to improve the economic well-being of Americans,” though he didn’t explain why Democrats under Biden didn’t adopt better economic policies to achieve just that.

“We need to be advancing policies and making the arguments about what we have to offer, not simply standing back and letting them collapse under their own corrupt weight. To me, that’s not enough. We need to effectively use litigation as we are. We need to effectively use communication to talk to new people in new ways, as we are,” he added.

Other left-wing members of Congress have also rejected Carville’s suggestion, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT., and said, “In fact, the problem is the Democrats have been playing dead for too many years.”

Fetterman took to social media to criticize the responses to Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress last week.

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“A sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance. It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained. We’re becoming the metaphorical car alarms that nobody pays attention to—and it may not be the winning message,” the senator wrote in a post on X.

Several Democratic lawmakers held signs up during Trump’s speech with messages including “FALSE,” “SAVE MEDICAID,” “PROTECT VETERANS” and “MUSK STEALS.” Shortly after Trump began speaking, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) stood up and began shouting that the president didn’t have a “mandate” from voters, and was removed from the chamber on House Speaker Mike Johnson’s order.

Other Democrats chose not to attend the speech at all, while others walked out while Trump was speaking.

“The Democrats should lose the Midterms based on their behavior at last night’s Joint Address to Congress,” Trump declared in a Wednesday post on Truth Social.

Trump declared that “Republicans should utilize the footage provided on the total disrespect they showed to all of those that were honored that night, including young ladies who were killed by illegal migrants, people with terminal cancer, etc. They didn’t even have the common courtesy to stand, smile, or applaud. This could be, on analyzing the full tape of this Historic Event, your full CAMPAIGN TO VICTORY! In other words, Republicans can take what happened last night, and win any Race in the Country.”