I've written before about the divided nature of the Democratic Party and how that plays out after a losing election like 2024. Basically the two camps retreat to their corners. The far left argues the loss was because Democrats didn't let their freak flag fly. If only they'd been more progressive, voters would have rallied. 

And usually along with this is a complaint about messaging. Progressives aren't entirely dim so they're vaguely aware that some of their left-wing extremism isn't popular. But rather than blaming the ideology for that, they tend to blame it on the messaging. If only Democrats could better explain to normies why their far left positions made sense, they could win.

On the other hand you have the moderates who (correctly) assess that many voters were turned off by the far left wing of the party and either stayed home or jumped to the other team. They tend to see the "messaging problem" as more of a reality problem. It's not just that the far left sounds out of touch with regular people, it's that they are out of touch with regular people.

Last Friday the party put out this laundry list tweet which was supposed to be a kinda-sorta response to Elon Musk's email asking "What did you do last week?" The point was to show that Democrats are resisting hard.

Here’s what Democrats did in February: pic.twitter.com/tHhyLTkOyN

— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) February 28, 2025

This didn't go over well. Maybe it's because the wall of text is impossible to read and also disorganized and boring. They got lots of pushback, both from critics and people suggesting improvements.

They did the meme https://t.co/0kyF7YGsQ2 pic.twitter.com/3De5bRB9nV

— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) March 1, 2025

Bad messaging 101

Seriously, I've done comms work for 10+ years. This is hideous https://t.co/oQCVOO7DXK

— Ramón Garibaldo Valdéz (@GaribaldoValdez) March 1, 2025

It was bad enough that the comms person semi-apologized and admitted it had landed like a brick.

the “check out this giant laundry list” template always used to bang for us. it’s full of tiny text on purpose!! but the internet thinks we are morons this time. heard 🫡 we are jamming on other ways to share info on this hellsite that voters categorically do not spend time on https://t.co/u8i6mjyXlm

— shelby cole (@shelbylcole) March 1, 2025

She did point out that the party has used this same template before and didn't get nearly the same pushback.

it’s fine, people care and want us to do a good job because this matters. we will keep trying. just sucks ass to log on to this website most days

— shelby cole (@shelbylcole) March 1, 2025

So who knows, maybe it's because all of the progressive have fled to Bluesky. There's just not a group of lefty influencers on X willing to pretend this is great anymore.

But again, the underlying problem isn't that the messaging sucks. The underlying problem is that the message sucks. Recently a group of moderates convened by ThirdWay had a "Comeback Retreat" where they put together a 5-page document spelling out what Dems need to do to win a future election.

The group of moderate Democratic consultants, campaign staffers, elected officials and party leaders who gathered in Loudoun County, Virginia for a day-and-a-half retreat, where they plotted their party’s comeback, searched for why the party lost in November — and what to do about it. Much of what they focused their ire on centered on the kind of identity politics that they believed lost them races up and down the ballot. 

One of the key ways to win back the trust of the working class, some gathered there argued, was to “reduce far-left influence and infrastructure” on the party, according to the takeaways document. That included building a more moderate campaign infrastructure and talent pipeline, pushing “back against far-left staffers and groups that exert a disproportionate influence on policy and messaging,” and refusing to participate in “far-left candidate questionnaires” and “forums that create ideological purity tests.”

There are no big secrets in this document. Most of it could have been written by any conservative blogger or really anyone living outside the left-wing bubble of woke academia. Poor messaging does appear in this list of 10 items but mostly it's a stand in for woke messaging.

1. Overemphasis on Identity Politics Many working-class voters feel Democrats prioritize niche identity-based groups with overbroad, unifying messages, making them feel excluded rather than included. 
2. The “Faculty Lounge” Problem Democrats are often viewed as judgmental, out-of-touch, and dismissive of those without elite education or progressive views. This makes the party seem disconnected from everyday people. 
3. Failure to Prioritize Economic Concerns While voters struggle with jobs, wages, and inflation, Democrats are seen as more focused on cultural and social issues than on economic progress and opportunity. 
4. Weak Messaging & Communication The party’s language is often vague, politically correct, or overly intellectual, making it hard for working class voters to connect with Democratic policies. 
5. Fear of Dissent Within the Party  Democrats are perceived as intolerant of internal debate, where questioning progressive orthodoxy results in backlash rather than open discussion. Candidates and operatives need to feel more comfortable just saying NO to activist groups and unpalatable far-left ideas. 
6. Attachment to Unpopular Institutions Democrats are seen as defending elite institutions (academia, media, government bureaucracy) while being critical of institutions working-class people value (churches, small businesses, police). 
7. Allowing the Far Left to Define the Party Activist groups and progressive staffers push unpopular cultural positions, making it seem like Democrats are more extreme than they actually are. Operatives and campaigns must remember that activist groups exist to promote their single issue and raise money around it, not to make Democrats electable. 
8. Reactionary Rather Than Proactive Democrats often let Republicans set the terms of cultural debates (e.g., crime, immigration) instead of clearly defining their own positions in a way that resonates with voters. 
9. Overreliance on Buzzwords & Political Correctness Terms like "pregnant people" and "Latinx" alienate working-class voters who see them as out of touch with real-world terms and vocabulary. 
10. Lack of a Positive National Identity Message Democrats focus too much on America’s flaws (racism, sexism, inequality) without acknowledging the country’s progress and potential, making them seem pessimistic and unpatriotic.

The next section also mentions their anti-capitalist bent:

Democrats are seen as hostile to success, indifferent to people’s desire to attain wealth, while reflexively attacking wealthy business leaders instead of promoting economic mobility and aspiration. 

To sum it up, Democrats are woke, judgmental, demi-Marxists identified with unpopular academia and the media, focused on narrow cultural issues which leads them to talk like out of touch, anti-American freaks.

Yeah, that's about right.

The problem with this analysis isn't that it's wrong, but that it's dead on. The woke, judgmental, demi-Marxists won't stop being what they are anytime soon and they don't even really want to hide it. Being on the "right side of history" is their whole identity. Denouncing strangers on the internet over trans rights and Black Lives Matter isn't just a sideline, it's who they are.

I don't think there's a happy ending for Democrats here, not in the near term. The woke won't change and most of the populace isn't on board with them (with the exception of a few urban districts, i.e. the Squad's home turf). Hopefully the rest of us can keep it that way and Democrats will keep having this internal battle between the center-left and the woke extremists. So long as they are noisily fighting that out, they should never win another election.