It’s always amazing when the mask slips. For years, Democrats have built their brand on compassion. They’re the “party of the people,” the ones who “feel your pain,” who claim to fight for the middle class, the working mom, and the struggling dad trying to keep his lights on. But every now and then, someone from the left says the quiet part out loud, and it’s as cold as it sounds.
Enter Democrat Minority Whip Katherine Clark (MA-05). Clark, as reported right here on RedState, in a moment of unfiltered honesty, told reporters Wednesday that “of course there will be families that are going to suffer,” but that suffering is “one of the few leverage times we have.”
🚨 HOLY SMOKES! In a SHOCKING MOVE, the number two House Democrat Katherine Clark said the quiet part out loud regarding the shutdown...SUFFERING is their tool
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 22, 2025
"Of COURSE there will be families that are going to suffer! [...] It is one of the FEW leverage times we have."
🤯 pic.twitter.com/7m3AOLUWQj
Leverage. That’s the word she used, as if your rent, your grocery bill, your mortgage payment, your kid’s tuition, your small business payroll, are all just poker chips in a Washington card game.
So much for empathy.
This is the same crowd that preaches about “equity” and “justice” while happily weaponizing pain if it buys them another inch of political ground. Clark wasn’t talking about standing up for the poor or defending the Constitution. She was talking about using economic hardship, the real suffering of real Americans, as a bargaining chip to force through their own partisan agenda during the government shutdown.
Let’s call that what it is: cruelty with a smile.
This isn’t new. We’ve seen this playbook before. During COVID, Democrats shut down businesses, schools, and churches while cashing their taxpayer-funded paychecks. They blamed “the system” for your struggles, all while they were the system. Now, when Republicans push to fund the government responsibly and rein in runaway spending, Democrats threaten chaos and pain unless they get their way.
It’s like a political ransom note: “Give us what we want, or America suffers.”
Meanwhile, these same leaders will give emotional speeches about the “single mom working two jobs,” all while engineering the very policies that make her life harder: higher taxes, higher grocery prices, and an economy strangled by their endless spending.
They love to talk about “families,” but let’s be honest, they mean political families, not yours.
It’s all part of the performance. You’ve seen it. The somber tones. The “we care deeply” sound bites on CNN. The carefully worded tweets about “the children” and “our democracy.” But behind closed doors, suffering is a strategy. Your stress is their leverage. And they just said it out loud.
What kind of “leaders” celebrate that?
I see it every week in our church. Moms quietly wondering how they’ll cover groceries. Dads praying their hours don’t get cut. Families stretching every dollar and still coming up short. These aren’t statistics, they’re people we love, people doing their best in a system stacked against them.
And it breaks my heart, because the church can meet some needs, but we can’t stop Washington from making life harder on purpose. We feed, clothe, and comfort, but it seems like it’s only patching the wounds caused by leaders who use pain as politics. Families deserve better than to be pawns.
Maybe that’s the real difference between the parties today. Republicans want families to thrive so the government can step back. Democrats want families to hurt so the government can step in. One sees independence as strength. The other sees dependency as power.
So the next time you hear a Democrat lecture you about “compassion,” remember Clark's quote. Remember that when gas hits five dollars a gallon, when your grocery bill feels like a mortgage payment, and when Washington pretends it’s “for your good,” they told you the truth.
They’re not fighting for you. They’re betting on your pain.
And they’re proud of it.
