The excessive risk aversion and coddling is still happening between electeds and their staff. Aides and communications staff want to know in advance every topic I plan to broach, sometimes even asking for the questions ahead of time( which my team never provides). There is a palpable vibe shift when substantive questions are asked and follow-up takes place, and before I know it, I can tell I’ m being perceived as“ difficult.”
Here’ s the problem: if elected Democrats can’ t handle fair but substantive questioning from someone on their general political side, how are they supposed to take on the rightwing media machine? How are they supposed to connect with skeptical voters who aren’ t already on MSNBC every night?
Too many Democrats are surrounded by staffers who live in fear of anything unscripted. They want control. But politics is about persuasion. As we learned from President Joe Biden’ s prematurely ended 2024 re-election campaign, when the voting public doesn’ t have confidence that a candidate can fend for themselves and persuasively make the case for their election, elections rarely go well.
When I ask elected Democrats or their staff a simple, direct question, like“ What is the coherent strategy beyond‘ we are better than Trump and Trump is bad’?” I almost never get a clear, compelling answer. Instead, I get a stream of technocratic talking points: statistics about job growth, vague
references to“ meeting voters where they are,” or worse, I get soft-focus, almost corporate vision statements about“ moving forward together” or“ investing in the future.” It’ s all abstract and lacks any emotional clarity, or any real understanding of how to speak to voters who aren’ t already locked in.
I want to be clear in that I’ m not saying all hope is lost. I’ ve interviewed Democrats who are sharp, principled, and who get it. In fact, at the individual level, just about everyone I’ ve interviewed has many good ideas and has their heart in the right place. But the broader party infrastructure? It’ s a mess.
Opposing Trump and whoever takes the MAGA mantle in future elections is necessary, but it’ s not enough.“ We’ re not fascists” is not a strategy. It’ s the bare minimum, and it’ s necessary, but it won’ t win elections.
If the Democratic Party wants to survive, let alone win, it needs to start doing the actual work of connecting with real people, in real language, with real urgency.
The broader danger here isn’ t just that Democrats might lose. It’ s that they don’ t seem to understand why they might lose. If they can’ t recognize the disconnect between their message and the reality voters are living in, the next loss won’ t just be a setback, it’ ll be an indictment of their refusal to change.
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