They ain’t gonna change
All the personality of “wet cardboard,” a friend said over the weekend of Democrats’ House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.). It wasn’t a comment on his abilities as a legislator. I’m sure Jeffries can count and whip votes with the best of them. Democrats’ problem is their insistance on making their legislative leaders their spokespersons when the skill sets are not necessarily (and frequently are not) coincident.
A raft of postings describing Democrats flailing and failing to respond to Trump 2.0’s march to dismantle the republic appeared over the last week. “Democrats Voice Regret on Scattered Responses to Trump’s Speech,” declares The New York Times. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told Fox News that Democrats’ scattered response to the president’s Tuesday address was “not a good look” and the backlash to Texas Rep. Al Green’s heckling Donald Trump “was ‘a distraction’ from Democrats’ economic messaging.”
The conservative Politico describes ‘Potty mouth’ Democrats as “cursing up a storm” and at the same time being no good at it. “If the first time you’ve used a cuss word in public is reading off a script, it’s probably not authentic and not something you should do,” says Democratic adviser Lis Smith.
The headline on Michael Tomasky’s commentary at The New Republic reads, “Humor Is Vital to Effective Protest, and the Democrats Suck at It.” Even the little signs members held up at the speech — “Lies,” “False,” “Save Medicaid,” “Musk Steals” — were lame.
Tomasky writes:
What they should have done with those little signs is mock Trump. “Stormy Daniels Says Hi.” “E. Jean Carroll Wants Her Money.” “Convicted Felon.” “43 Counts.” “2029 = Prison.” “Orange You Ashamed?” Whatever. And, reviving the old Spy magazine classic, “Short-Fingered Vulgarian.”
That would have rattled him. He doesn’t care about lies or Medicaid. He cares about his vanity and never being wrong. It also would have completely outraged the right-wing propaganda complex. It would have dominated the news coverage for days. In fact we’d still be talking about it.
Here’s something you’ve read here before: “Democrats just can’t seem to think outside the box,” Tomasky complains. “The public language of liberalism has become so timid, so afraid to offend, that too many forms of humor are just out of bounds.” They are “over-cautious and over-earnest in how they talk about almost everything.”
Semafor reported last month that the party is scrambling for a new communications strategy. It doesn’t exactly come off as authentic, writes the Bulwark’s Laura Egan:
But those efforts have led, often, to online mockery. And Democratic officials acknowledge that a lot of the content is still giving off a “How do you do, fellow kids?” vibe.
[…]
FOR THOSE ADVISING DEMOCRATS ON HOW TO GET a better footing in the social media space, the general belief is that the only way through is to rip off the band-aid. That might mean enduring a number of cringe attempts at social media posts until someone figures it out, or until more dynamic and online officials emerge as national leaders.
Democrats’ aging leadership is “living in the past, it’s a new generation,” as Joan Jett sang 45 years ago. They haven’t kept up and they “ain’t gonna change.” Their risk-aversion not only makes their efforts feel inauthentic, but they come off as trend-followers not trend-setters. And it does not smell like leadership to voters, especially younger ones now registering as independents in droves.
“It is more dangerous to be ignored than it is to get yelled at,” said Pat Dennis, president of American Bridge 21st Century.
You get the idea. I’m of a certain age and I get it.
NEW: I just asked Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett if she had a message to Elon Musk.
What would she say to him? Here was her answer:
“Fuck off.” pic.twitter.com/LvzTmmqY1C
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) February 25, 2025
Democrats’ attempts to adapt to the new media environment and to master the attention economy fail miserably, in part, because the leadership’s politics dates from the age of 5-1/4″ floppy disks. Caucus leaders like Jeffries mistakenly resent younger caucus members like AOC and Max Frost to whom social media engagement comes naturally. And “potty mouth” Jasmine Crockett of Texas who don’t give a damn ’bout her reputation. She brings it, the newsies report it, and social media spreads it.
This party is not going to recover lost ground until it retires officials who are past their best-by dates. That’s not about age but about skill sets.
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