Former CNN host Jim Acosta complained that Democrats have reached a state of “maximum powerlessness” under President Donald Trump’s second term during an episode of The Jim Acosta Show on Monday. Acosta voiced his frustration to political analyst Larry Sabato, criticizing Senate Democrats for continuing the “tradition” of approving presidential cabinet nominees despite many of Trump’s selections facing strong opposition from Democrats.
“Because what we had seen initially as this administration was getting going, as Democrats were saying, well, you know, up in the Senate in particular, when it came to Trump’s Cabinet nominees, you know, it’s their tradition of the Senate, by and large, to sign off on Cabinet nominees and so on,” said Acosta. He did note that while some of Trump’s nominations were “highly controversial,” other nominees received bipartisan support from Democrats.
“Sure, there are going to be some like Pete Hegseth are going to be highly controversial. RFK, Jr, highly controversial,” said Acosta. “But you’ve seen Democratic senators in some cases vote for some of these nominees.” Acosta then mentioned an alleged plan by Democrats to unanimously vote against Trump’s remaining nominations but pointed out that even if Democrats followed through with that strategy, they lacked the numbers to make it effective, Fox News reported.
“What we’ve heard in the last day or two is that maybe some of these Democratic senators are saying, hold on a second, perhaps we should just do a blanket – we’re not going to vote for any of these nominees,” alleged Acosta. “Of course, they don’t have the numbers. They can’t stop people from getting confirmed theoretically speaking.”
This inevitability led to a realization from the former CNN anchor. “But what do Democrats, what can they do at this point? They’re sort of in this situation, this position of maximum powerlessness.” Sabato responded to Acosta’s complaints with a similar feeling of hopelessness. “Yes. And that’s the tragedy of it for Democrats. They should have been able to carry the House. That’s obvious now. And maybe they will in 2026, although I’m not putting any bets on Democrats to win anything the way things are going,” Sabato said.
