German Marshall Fund

They could also prove to be a defining moment for the Democratic Party, forcing it to confront some difficult questions about its leadership, its identity and its strategy for the future.

Who speaks for the Democrats? And can the party turn electoral gains into a coherent political alternative? And what lessons will it draw as it looks ahead to 2028? Earlier, I discussed this with Bruce Stokes, associate fellow at Chatham House, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Here's what he said.

There was an American comedian in the 1930s named Will Rogers, and he was once asked what political party he belonged to.

I believe that as a result, our cooperation will become broader and more extensive, and perhaps even more interesting in some respects.

Ian Lesser, an expert on U.S.-European ties at the German Marshall Fund think tank in Brussels, backs up Varaful's view.

This actually makes a big difference for Europe in a number of different important ways.

Simply restoring a degree of trust and predictability, however we get to that, makes a big difference.

Wagner in Philadelphia, thank you very much.

Now, to make sense of what we've just heard, I'm joined in our studio by Penny Nass, Senior Vice President and Brussels Office Director of the German Marshall Fund.

Good morning and welcome.

So, Penny, it's quite normal that the presidential party loses in midterm elections.

And I think Democrats have a heavy lift to show that they can deliver the agenda they've now promised to the American people.

All right, wonderful.

Peggy Naas, thank you so much from the German Marshall Fund.

Thanks for breaking it all down for us.

And now you can see from the clip that we played, that was Norm Eisen you know, talking so high and mighty about how President Trump is going to destroy the rule of law, destroy democracy.

But what he tells you, what you can pull from that, is there is an entire contingent and cohort of Democrats, Democrat activists, including but not limited to sitting senators, people like Alyssa Slotkin, who for the years, the interregnum period and even the first few years of this administration, have been actively training, in some cases using your taxpayer dollars, obviously your grants have been flowing through USAID to groups like the German Marshall Fund, all of these huge Carter Center, the Carnegie Endowments, groups like that that have been training their activists in Hungary, in Poland.

Even Randy Weingarten went over to Hungary and was training her activists on how to understand what they say to topple and overthrow an authoritarian dictator.

We know that that is not President Trump, but that is what these people Since day one, since I stood here about a year and a half ago, have been hellbent on making the narrative.

The demonstrators were calling out underfunding in schools, the high cost of living, public spending and military service.

Markus Ziener is a visiting senior fellow with the German Marshall Fund in Berlin.

Students have voiced that discontent already for quite some time.

And so I'm not sure whether you can say, well, that's just spilling over from France where it all began or Italy to Germany and other places.