WASHINGTON — As the Trump administration makes sweeping changes to the federal government, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Thursday that the Democrats are winning in their fight against President Donald Trump’s policies.

Citing Republican initiatives to cut Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare and public education, Jeffries said the Democratic Party is “all hands on deck, and it will continue to be all hands on deck” to protect the programs that make life better for all Americans.

What You Need To Know

  • House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Thursday that Democrats are winning in their fight against President Donald Trump's policies

  • He cited declining approval ratings for the president and record Democratic fundraising as examples of success

  • House Democrats' fight "is all hands on deck and will continue to be all hands on deck," he said

  • In January, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $9.2 million — more money that it had in any previous January in a non-election year

“Republicans are in free fall right now,” he said during his weekly news briefing at the U.S. Capitol, where he countered the prevailing narrative that the Democratic Party has lost its way. “Republicans in both the House and the Senate don’t know if they should follow orders from Donald Trump or Elon Musk. The whole situation is chaotic and confusing, but it all relates to a corrupt Ponzi scheme that they are running on the American people.” 

Making reference to Musk's statement last month that Social Security is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time, Jeffries claimed Trump's "Project 2025 agenda" to cut Medicaid, get rid of the Department of Education and shrink the federal workforce in agencies from the Social Security Administration to Health and Human Services is the real Ponzi scheme. He characterized it as a Republican attempt to defraud the American people.

Acknowledging that Republicans have complete control of government, he said their power is beginning to show cracks. In next week’s special election in Florida to replace former Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., who resigned this year to serve as Trump’s national security adviser, and former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who resigned in January when Trump picked him to serve as Attorney General only to withdraw from the nomination, Republicans “are panicking in deep red districts.”

Early votes in the two races tracked by Decision Desk HQ show Republicans leading in both races, but by much smaller margins than Trump won by in November. Democrats hope to flip both seats from red to blue and have raised nearly $16 million to do so. 

In January, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $9.2 million — more money than it had in any previous January in a non-election year.

“It’s because the Republican agenda is unpopular. They are completely and totally out of control,” Jeffries said. “There’s been no focus on driving down the high cost of living.”

The minority leader cited polling that shows Trump’s approval ratings in decline. On Thursday, Gallup released a new survey that found a majority of Americans disapprove of the job the president is doing on seven out of eight polling issues, including the economy, foreign affairs, the environment and the federal budget.

“Democrats are winning with quantifiable facts, numbers, fundraising, elections and Donald Trump’s public approval ratings,” Jeffries said. “The substantive fight has been underway from the very beginning, and it will continue with the relentless energy and righteous indignation that the moment deserves.”