A former Democratic strategist is sounding the alarm over the party’s failure to rally behind a powerful leader, drawing a sharp contrast with President Donald Trump’s commanding influence over the GOP.
Dan Turrentine, speaking Tuesday on “The Morning Meeting,” admitted that Democrats are suffering from a leadership vacuum that has left the party fractured and its base demoralized. Turrentine noted that while Republicans have a unifying figure in Trump—who he described as “strong” and “feared”—Democrats haven’t had that kind of central figure since Barack Obama.
“What they lament is they don’t want to be captured and driven by that crowd,” Turrentine said of Democrat leaders’ attempts to distance themselves from far-left factions. “They want it to be part of a bigger kind of tent… Kamala Harris couldn’t do it. Joe Biden could never do it.”
He added that even Hillary Clinton failed to take command of the party in 2016, and her inability to unify the base likely cost her the election. The same dynamics persisted in 2020, when Joe Biden reportedly cut deals with Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to avoid being undermined in the primaries.
“We don’t have a strong leader like Donald Trump,” Turrentine admitted. “He controls his party. They fear him. Nobody fears us.”
That lack of fear—or respect—appears to be reflected in the polls. According to a March CNN/SSRS survey, only 10% of Democrats named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as someone who best represents the party’s core values. No other figure fared better, and the overall poll showed Democrats with a dismal 29% favorability rating.
Meanwhile, Trump enjoys a solid 83% approval rating among Republicans in his second term, with 51% strongly approving of his leadership, according to an April ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll. Trump’s influence remains so powerful that his endorsements have played a decisive role in GOP primary victories for nearly a decade.
Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders have tried to build momentum on the left with their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, but there is little sign that the movement is uniting the party. In fact, the far-left’s dominance has only served to deepen divisions among Democrats, who now face a looming identity crisis ahead of the 2028 election.
NewsNation’s Chris Cillizza recently speculated that Ocasio-Cortez may be eyeing a presidential run of her own, after opting not to pursue a leadership position on the House Oversight Committee. Whether she can rise beyond the activist wing and connect with mainstream voters remains to be seen.
For now, Trump continues to define the Republican Party with unmatched authority—something no Democrat has come close to achieving. The contrast is becoming clearer by the day: one party follows a leader, the other is still searching for one.
