The last three weekdays have been a case study on how the Democratic Party’s approach to de-wokification is similar to Saint Augustine’s prayer “Lord, grant me chastity, but not yet!”
The leftist-captured party apparatus may know it needs to change … but just not yet.
On Friday, Third Way released its blacklist of words Democrats should avoid. This was followed by rationalizing reaction like “well, elected Democrats don’t use those words … well, at least not anymore.”
On Monday, the DNC meeting aired live on CSPAN unfolded in a way that multiple viewers questioned whether it was run by a Republican plant or a Russian plant. From social media, it looked like the agenda went:
I. Land Acknowledgement: read from a cell phone on the podium
II. Message from the Chair: our fight for trans youth in sports
III. Polling Presentation: voters don’t care about immigration or crime
On Tuesday, the day started with Speaker Hakeem Jeffries responding to Trump’s terrifying intervention in the Fed with “Dr. Lisa Cook is the first Black woman …”
Reaction was quick and unanimous:
Rotimi Adeoye: “For the love of God, please stop framing it this way.”
Tre Easton: “this must be about more than her. Trump is taking a whack at the Fed because his economic policies aren’t working and he needs a scapegoat. That’s the line.”
Lydia Polgreen: “Bizarre in 2025 to frame this around her identity rather than the core issue: Trump cannot fire her, under law.”
- : the statement “encapsulate the complete headlessness of Democratic messaging in Trump v2.”
Add all this up, and it actually makes a stronger case for leaning into reforming the Democratic Party, including formal organizations like the DNC.
Symptoms, Not Problems
Influential pundits framed the Third Way memo on language as accurate, but a distraction. The title of
’s post on it was “The Obsession Over Woke Language Misses the Point: The focus on certain words is a way to avoid much tougher questions.”Pfeiffer starts by agreeing with Third Way: “I want to stipulate up front: I very much agree that Democrats should avoid most of these words. Democrats need to get back in the business of talking like normal human beings.”
The overall piece is good (read it here, especially the “Magic Words Fallacy” party). But, like many other influential Dems, Pfeiffer downplays the overall issue:
Much of the post-election analysis has centered on the idea that Democrats lost because we were “too woke.” Rahm Emanuel has been making the rounds arguing that Democrats focused too much on abstract cultural issues like trans athletes and bathrooms. The Third Way memo fits neatly into that narrative.
But this is a massive oversimplification. It’s true voters saw Democrats as culturally out of touch. And yes, a devastating ad featuring Kamala Harris’s 2019 comments on taxpayer-funded surgeries for undocumented immigrants in prison played a role.
Still, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were the most prominent Democrats in the country over the last four years. How many times did you hear either of them say “chest feeding,” “intersectionality,” or “microaggression”? I’d venture the answer is never.
This reveals the core misunderstanding: woke language was simply a symptom, not the main problem.
This is true! But instead of pivoting away from the symptom, we need to go deeper. We need to look at the core problem: a generation of Professional Democrats are completely out of touch with normal people.
As we said before the election, the most damaging line of the They/Them ad was not specifically about trans issues. Beyond gender, it was Kamala’s own words on video that seem like they could be swapped out for decriminalizing the border or banning fracking: “The power that I had. I used it in a way that was about pushing for the movement frankly and the agenda.“
Today’s problems are about a movement (“frankly”) and an agenda that cannot pivot strategy. It can only be defeated within the party by a countermovement.
DNC Speakers Are Tip of the Iceberg
Yesterday’s best tweet was from
:
Ken Martin looks incredibly awkward and goofy introducing the land acknowledgement speaker, who serves as Communications Specialist for the Minnesota House of Representatives. According to her LinkedIn, she is the “Sole staffer for the House People of Color and Indigenous Caucus” whose job requires her to “Respond to incredibly difficult political issues with inclusive and equity-based language that fits the voice of fifteen members.”
Other damaging aspects of the DNC were from the Professional Left.
… vice president of advocacy and partnerships at the Vera Institute of Justice and the director of Vera Action, an independent but aligned 501(c)(4) sister organization. She leads the development of Vera and Vera Action’s advocacy priorities and campaigns, partnering with governments and communities to end mass incarceration, fight for immigrants' rights, ensure dignity behind bars, and build safe, thriving communities for all. Insha is a nationally recognized expert on criminal legal reform and has been quoted as an authority in dozens of media outlets. Over the past year, she has spearheaded a national effort to win the narrative on safety, accountability, and justice and to counter "tough-on-crime" rhetoric, especially during elections.
The Vera Institute raised $182,925,546 last fiscal year. It is a 501c3 nonprofit that can raise tax-deductible foundation grants.
The 501c4 Vera Action, which cannot, raised $5,201,437.
So less than 3% of combined fundraising went to the organization that can do political activity.
The speaker’s compensation was $325,541.
There are hundreds of similar organizations, thousands of jobs, and billions of dollars targeting the DNC and similar political entities.
With just 895 days until the next presidential primary, the job is not to hope they suddenly stop doing what they’re paid to do or ignore the DNC.
It is to win inside the party.
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I do not think most people care about woke, nor do they care about the DNC. We are talking about people who got angry at Biden for inflation, when they had absolutely no idea what really happened to them as a result of COVID. COVID…where every group in power around the world lost ground - for the first time ever.
Your post might be read and assimilated by the politically involved, but most Americans are too self absorbed to care. That is why our participation rates are so bad.