Connecticut Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy sat in his office last month watching President Trump denounce diversity requirements for a fatal plane crash crash on the Potomac River As such, members of his staff warned him against publicly venting his anger.
The airborne collision had happened 12 hours ago, they reminded him. The body was still in the water, and the family was still informed of the death of a loved one. Perhaps he deserves a US Senator to honor the tragedy and all its unknown, rather than grabbing and responding to political moments?
Murphy didn't have time to do that.
“Everyone in this country should be furious that Donald Trump is facing that podium and lying to you. Please lie to you on purpose,” he said, 30 minutes after Trump's press conference. He said in a passionate video he recorded and posted within. “All senators and members of Congress should call him on how dishonorable it was.”
Many did, but they were unable to do so quickly or concisely as quickly as Murphy, 51, at 51. Democrats have a hard time figuring out how to deal with him.
Murphy, a career politician who rose to prominence as a gun safety advocate after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, is the most in the first weeks of Trump's second term. Communicators who appeared as one of the effective Democrats are opposed to the president's bound.
In a two-minute social media video, he records from his Capitol Hill office. Almost constant stream of posts on x. Passionate floor speech; and Murphy, an essay he writes in his substance, tries to explain how something is happening in Washington with digestible sounds is very simple. It is the acquisition of the American democratic billionaire.
He also positions himself as the future national leader of the Democrats who find themselves deep in the wilderness as they are seeking strategies to simultaneously rebuild their party and resist Trump. I'm seizing the opportunity.
“It's an overwhelming moment,” Murphy said in an interview at Capitol Hill's office on Wednesday. “Our political brand is fundamentally broken, the rule of law is falling apart, and many people still don't know what Trump's actual agenda is.”
For the past three years, Murphy has been immersed in the literature and ideas of “New Rights,” listening to the podcast “Red Scare,” and reading thought leaders like Curtis Jalbin and Patrick DeNine. He believes he is immersed in what is being prepared for Trump's return to power.
“It gave me a window on how thoughtful they were to make sure they were ready for the first day,” he said.
Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said Murphy met at the moment when “too many Democratic elected officials seem a few steps behind.” He offers Democrats a messaging blueprint on how to take on Trump and Musk and get back working-class voters. ”
Aging from the “boy's wonder” stage of his political career, Murphy (he was 33 when he was first elected to the home), is not exactly charismatic. He is brainy and serious. At a recent press conference, he was turned to talk when Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat and minority leader, joked about his grandson losing his first teeth. He didn't hurt his smile as he waited for them like stone until he was.
Comedian Hasan Minhaji recently explained that he has the look of a McKinsey consultant.
Sometimes Murphy sounds like a high school history teacher giving citizen lessons.
“Donors and tyrannical lords, they are trying to use law enforcement to force loyalty,” he said in one video that people care that the Justice Department has dropped accusations against New York Mayor Eric Adams. I explained why it is necessary. “If you're not loyal, they'll arrest you and threaten you. If you're loyal, they can escape the crime. That's what's happening in America today.”
However, the constitutional crisis could provide opportunities for civil reviewers, and Murphy appears to have broken through.
For the past two months, he has doubled his Instagram both in his official and political explanations. Since January 1st, Murphy's Facebook and Instagram accounts have achieved 29.2 million impressions. Murphy's subscribers are up 223% on Substack. His campaign has spent more on Meta fundraising ads in 2025 over the entire 2023-24-year cycle than he had been running for reelection.
“My 16-year-old son was the first time he told me, 'What's going on? My friend is looking at yours,” Murphy said. “I'm showing up in my 16-year-old Tiktockfeed.”
It is one of his indicators of his current success.
“People are trying to understand this moment,” he said. “They are looking for people who can explain it in very simple terms. I get sent to people who don't read and think about politics every day, but to people who are bothered and want to understand it. I would like to create an explanation and content that will be sent to me.”
Murphy insists he's not just doing all this to run for the president. This is because they don't even believe they'll even enter the race four years from now.
“There's a clear possibility now that there's no free and fair elections in 2028. All of our tasks are to make sure that doesn't happen,” he said.
Murphy said it was easy to imagine a future where “the press is so disrupted and the opposition parties are so troubling and harassed that they are not capable of winning the opposition.”
For 10 years, the issue of gun violence has defined Murphy's career. The 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School took place a month after winning a Senate seat from 2007. For many years he has been running out to colleagues and issues gun safety, so I think it's a victory election issue that he fears politicians will touch.
After the pandemic, he fell into the issue of loneliness, calling it the epidemic and “one of the most important political issues of our time.”
But for now, all of these issues are on the back burner.
“There's nothing wrong with anything other than whether or not we've made billionaires destroy our democracy,” he said. “Now, in our body politics there is a time bomb, which is very likely to be fully equipped by this summer or fall.”
So Murphy decides to burn his hair to make people pay attention. He is on YouTube and has interviewed Minaj with political influencers such as Brian Tyler Cohen, Maidy Hassan and Jack Cockiarella. He is on matter and speaks to Anand Giridalada. He talks to Aaron Parnas in Tiktok. And he's just you got the podcast and talking to John Favreau.
“Actual TV appearances are currently limited in impact,” he said. “What you're actually doing those TV appearances is creating content that ultimately lives somewhere.”
Schumer, who came to criticize Trump from several progressive activists for his inability to effectively deal with him, has encouraged him to continue.
“Chris Murphy's frustration and anger at what Trump is doing are real, he has a unique, powerful, and he has a way of pushing back through incredibly valuable ways,” he said.
Murphy has also changed over time. Recently, he laments the fact that Congressional economic populists like Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has become independent in Vermont and Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren are being treated like extremists. He believes their ideas are most likely to be picked up across voters currently in Trump's camp. But in 2016, Murphy was an early loyal supporter of Hillary Clinton's presidential election over Sanders, becoming a fierce Democratic primary.
His party's devastating 2024 loss, coupled with Trump's blatant abuse of his authority, made Murphy a traditional approach to politics. Recently he has met with his Senate colleagues and convinced them that this is not the time to play with old political rules.
“They don't deserve the benefit of doubt,” he told Trump and other Republican Democrats. “They intentionally hide what they are doing so that responsible, thoughtful, factual people don't say anything.”
When Elon Musk made a straight gesture on the day of inauguration, eliciting comparisons with Nazi salutes, Murphy is not the ones who squeeze his hands on misinterpreting it. It was.
“It was definitely 'Heil' – Hitler's salute,” he said. “Their pattern of lies allows us to assume the worst.”
