And stop the incessant navel gazing
Appearing on MSNBC earlier today participating in yet another tiresome round of Democratic party navel gazing about “messaging” and “infrastructure” and blah, blah,blah, former GOP strategist Stuart Stephens had some choice words.
He speaks for me on this one:
Chris Jansing: While Obama sounds the alarm about democracy, the NY Times reports that the DNC is in chaos and desperate for cash. They say Obama is headlining a DNC fundraiser next month at the home of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. Is this a sign of the state of the Democratic party? The top messenger and fundraiser is somebody who hasn’t been in office for nearly a decade.
Stevens: You know, I think the biggest problem with the Democratic Party is that they ought to shut up about the Democratic Party. I really don’t understand this. They’re like a bunch of doctors who have a patient walk into the emergency room with a nail in his head and they convene a focus group about why the guy has a headache.
Look you have the most dangerous president that has existed in this country since the Civil War. We have a situation here where it’s obvious what they should do. They should wake up every day and attack Trump and attack Trumpism. We have an international crisis with a bunch of idiots and stooges advising the president of the United States who is himself an idiot and a stooge.
Why do you have to have focus groups to talk about this? And the idea that there’s some message that’s going to work here. The days that you could have a campaign and say ok we’re going to have an education week, we’re going to have a jobs week — those days never really worked, we pretended that they did —but there is no reason to have one “message” from the Democratic Party. What you need is passion.
Jansing: let me ask you something specific. We were just in the White House press briefing. Do they need to be more in the moment. For example, I’m thinking about the Economist/YouGov poll that came out today: “should the U.S. get involved in the Iran-Israeli conflict?” Among Trump supporters, 19% say yes, 53% say no. Not to talk about that in those terms, is that a missed opportunity?
Stevens: I think that you should talk about what people are talking about. The point here is, who is advising the president of the United States? Pete Hegseth? You have this fight inside the Republican Party with the Tucker Carlson wing, whatever the heck that is. You have Laura Loomer picking national security people? This is a disgrace. This is incredibly dangerous.
That’s what you ought to be talking about. You shouldn’t shy away from this. I don’t think that you can vote for Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense and call yourself a patriot. I don’t. And I think they ought to be saying that.
They should be out there attacking the Republican Party. People follow passion. They follow conviction. Why is it that all those people are out there with AOC and Bernie? It’s not that they necessarily agree with AOC and Bernie, whatever the heck that is. I mean Bernie’s to the right of the Republican Party on foreign policy, now. It’s because they believe in something and are out there being passionate. That’s what the Party needs to do. And I think people will follow that. There’s a distinct need for it.
The Republican Party is the party in crisis, not the Democratic Party. You lost an election. Ok, that happens. But look at what is happening to the country. Nothing that Donald Trump ran on is happening. The price of eggs hasn’t gone down. He didn’t end the Ukraine war. We now have elected officials being arrested. We’ve reached a point where we have masked men demanding papers from American citizens.
And you have to have focus groups about what to talk about??? No. You just have to go out there and say it and let everybody say it a different way, that’s ok. Speak to your different constituencies. But run to the sound of the guns don’t debate whether or not those are guns going off.
Bravo. It’s telling that it takes a former GOP strategist to say this so plainly but I’ll take it wherever I can get it.
Why in the world is the Democratic Party having a hard time figuring out what to talk about? There is an endless smorgasbord of atrocities!
I can’t believe it’s June after a 1.4% loss in November and Democrats are still engaged in this sad-sack, self-flagellation. It’s time to stop. Autopsies are fine but I think we’ve got the gist of it. Men– young men, Latino men and Black men deserted the Democratic Party and a bunch of people just didn’t bother to vote and that’s why we lost. If anyone thinks that turning that around will be done with a bunch of hand wringing and pearl clutching I have news for them.
Stevens’ advice is exactly what will bring those people back. People are already getting off the couch and pouring into the streets in protest of this decrepit orange Napoleon in the White House. It’s just the beginning. If elected Democrats can’t lead this resistance then the least they can do is STFU and get in line.