Dan Turrentine Takes Aim: No Strategy, No Authenticity
Dan Turrentine was on Mark Halperin’s 2Way, and he came out swinging. Once a Democrat insider, he’s now calling out the party for its total lack of direction. The message is clear: no plan, no passion, no authenticity.
On the show, Turrentine didn’t mince words. He slammed the leadership with a blunt “F.” He took aim at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, mocking his non-stop Twitter/X updates as awkward and fake. No sugarcoating here—if you’re not winning, you might as well be failing hard.
Turrentine warned that if the Democrats can’t grab the House back in the midterms, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries might be in big trouble. In his view, the party’s top dogs are floundering, clueless about modern tactics and how to really connect with their base.
Below is a snippet straight from the discussion. All the quoted text is exactly as it was said:
MARK HALPERIN: Punchbowl News, a Washington insider publication, regularly looks at the leaders of both parties and ranks them. Let’s steal that idea just for today. Schumer and Jeffries—Dan, what letter grade would you give them for their performance so far in 2025? Letter grade for Schumer, letter grade for Jeffries, in terms of serving the interests of their party?
DAN TURRENTINE: F. They have no strategy. Both of them—F.
HALPERIN: Both of them an F?
TURRENTINE: They started unsure of where to go. They remain terrified of the base. They have no understanding of modern tactics in terms of how to organize and break through. And they have zero strategy. We’re heading into a budget negotiation this fall—after the disaster in March—and they still have no strategy.
HALPERIN: Sean, do you give them an F or an F-minus?
TURRENTINE: F-plus.
SEAN SPICER: Well, when I was in high school, we used to call it a “circle D.” That meant, “Mr. Spicer, you’re failing the class, but you try, so we’ll give you a pass.” I don’t even give them a circle D.
TURRENTINE: Yeah, they’re not trying.
SPICER: Dan’s right. It’s the definition of flailing—just throwing mud at a wall. Look at Schumer’s Twitter feed yesterday. He tweeted about Jim Crow, Epstein, inflation, tariffs…
TURRENTINE: Even his tweets read like a statement in the congressional gallery.
SPICER: Because they are!
TURRENTINE: There’s no authenticity, no humor—nothing that breaks through. Just dry and boring.
Watch the video embedded below to catch the full exchange:
Even if Turrentine carries a liberal label, his no-holds-barred approach hits home for anyone tired of bland political leadership. His sharp critique reminds us that talk is worthless without strategy—and right now, the Democrats have plenty of talk and very little action.