‘We’ve got to become an aggressively populist party’: Chris Murphy on the task facing Democrats

Senator Chris Murphy: ‘We are a kleptocracy. This is outright thievery every single day. It’s extraordinary how the president’s net worth has what, tripled, quadrupled since he became president?’ Photograph: Dave Decker/Shutterstock

Pete Buttigieg. Ruben Gallego. JD Vance. All are young politicians who sport facial hair, perhaps in the belief that it confers gravitas. One headline writer even suggested: “2028 Might Be The Year Of The Beard For Presidential Hopefuls.”

Cue Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator who recently joined the ranks of the bearded. The 51-year-old’s is flecked with white, perhaps implying a warrior weathered by battle. Murphy is one of the most outspoken voices in the Democratic opposition to Donald Trump.