The party’s online antics can’t take the place of an actual agenda.
It’s become an open secret that the Democratic Party is utterly adrift, deprived of anything even slightly resembling a coherent vision or strategy that might draw voters to its cause. How can this crisis be navigated? Adopting and promoting an actual agenda of some kind would seem an obvious place to start. If the behavior of many prominent Democratic figures is any indication, however, the only platform the party is currently interested in is X. Serious policy proposals are out of step with the current moment. A new style of political engagement is needed, defined by sophomoric memes, profanity-laden posts, and elaborate parodies of President Trump’s rhetorical style.
Over the last few weeks, California Governor Gavin Newsom has been leading the charge of the edgelord brigade. He’s refashioned himself on social media as an impish troll intent on triggering Trump and his allies into submission. Newsom’s press office has been sharing countless memes depicting Trump as a totalitarian and mocking him for being “ratioed.” On his personal X account, Newsom is promoting parody-MAGA merchandise and taunting Trump with impudent one-liners. Across both accounts, he’s constantly lampooning Trump’s Truth Social ramblings with his own fully capitalized tirades:
WOW !! PRESIDENT TRUMP SAYS ABOUT ME, GAVIN C. NEWSOM: “HE’S A NICE GUY, LOOKS GOOD.” THANK YOU FOR THE KIND WORDS, LITTLE HANDS. EVERYONE SEEMS TO BE TALKING ABOUT ME (AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR!). —GCN
Jeff Blehar recently predicted that Newsom’s Trump-themed drag show would end within a week. But the production shows no signs of slowing down, and the media are enthralled. Just yesterday, left-leaning publications celebrated a new post in which Newsom implies Trump has dementia. Democratic figures are similarly gleeful about Newsom’s shift in persona. “[W]atching him go toe-to-toe with Trump on social media . . . is refreshing, energizing and even fun to watch for many Democrats,” Democratic strategist Anthony Coley told The Hill.
As the New York mayoral race has intensified, Andrew Cuomo has followed Newsom’s lead. In his own pitiable attempt at coolness, he’s unleashed a barrage of pugilistic memes and insults against Zohran Mamdani. Other Democrats who reside on the “dark woke” fringe have long employed such tactics. Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett’s X feed is a nightmare of interminable rants and gratuitous exclamation marks, while Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has made snarky and sanctimonious posts an essential component of her brand. Even the Democratic Party’s official X account is now awash with jabs about the Epstein files and sadomasochistic images of Trump and Elon Musk.
If this Very Online approach to politics has an advantage, it’s that the MAGA movement has little ground to stand on in resisting it. After spending the last decade indulging Donald Trump’s own unhinged social-media scribblings, Republicans can hardly criticize the left for debasing political discourse. Crafting crude posts is the president’s favorite pastime, and it was inevitable that his Democratic foes would eventually try to use his own tactics against him.
But memery and mockery can’t take the place of actual solutions to the challenges facing most Americans. Edgy jokes won’t lower prices, fix the crisis in American education, address threats to national security, or otherwise motivate people to show up at the ballot box. Democrats have failed to establish clear positions on issues foreign and domestic, and public enthusiasm for the party has hit a humiliating low. Online antics may be amusing at times, but most voters will recognize the absence of anything substantive underneath. Others will be repelled outright by the party’s pungent desperation to seem hip, daring, and engaged with youth culture.
To mount a successful comeback, Democrats need to find a compelling message and explain it directly. A forceful social-media presence could be an effective promotional tool if attached to actual ideas. Until then, no amount of faux-trendy edginess will disguise the fact that the Democratic Party has no plan in mind for America’s future, never mind its own.