The hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe finally admitted that the Democratic establishment is to blame for Kamala Harris’ loss to Donald Trump, using another media personality’s dismantling of the party to acknowledge that “woke is ruined.”
On Monday’s show, hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough joined Maureen Dowd’s Saturday column on The New York Times‘Democrats and the case of mistaken identity politics’, read the full article on air.
“We received a lot of calls about this article and it’s an interesting message for Democrats,” Brzezinski said. “It really crystallized how some Democrats are waking up and realizing that wokeness is bankrupt.”
The recognition marks a major shift for Scarborough, who just days ago attacked “racist Hispanics” and “sexist black men” for not supporting Harris.
He has also underestimated the extent to which inflation helped Trump win another term, as the millionaire host was shocked to see that butter can cost up to $7 at the supermarket.
Scarborough and Brzezinski stopped short of blaming Harris herself for their defeat.
Morning Joe co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough discussed Maureen Dowd’s op-ed in the New York Times about Democrats’ embrace of political correctness.
Dowd believes the Democratic Party’s embrace of far-left ideas contributed to many voters abandoning it at the polls.
Dowd’s overall point throughout his column was that Democrats embraced political correctness, alienating Americans at a time when they fear their free speech is being eroded.
Trump, Dowd wrote, spoke to those fears.
“The party embraced a worldview of political hypercorrectness, condescension and cancellation, and supported diversity statements for job applicants and terminology in faculty lounges such as “Latinx” and “BIPOC” (Black, Indigenous, People of Color).” Dowd wrote. .
He continued: ‘This alienated half the country, or more. And the chaos and anti-Semitism on many college campuses certainly didn’t help.”
James Carville, the veteran Democratic strategist who helped Bill Clinton win the White House in 1992, has long criticized the party for engaging in “identitarianism.”
He praised Harris for not bowing to her gender and ethnicity, but thought it was too little, too late.
“We will never be able to eliminate its stench,” he said, referring to identity politics. ‘It’s like when smoke gets on your clothes and you have to wash them over and over again. Now people flee from him like the devil flees from holy water.’
Dowd argued that Trump did not make his supporters feel like they were walking on eggshells.
Dowd’s overall point throughout his column was that Democrats embraced political correctness, alienating Americans at a time when they fear their free speech is being eroded.
“Donald Trump took advantage of the irritation of many Americans upset at being seen as insensitive for speaking the way they have always spoken,” Dowd wrote.
“Donald Trump took advantage of the irritation of many Americans upset at being seen as insensitive for speaking the way they have always spoken,” he wrote.
The article also delved into the views of white progressives, who are clearly further to the left of “the minorities they advocate,” Scarborough said.
Trump made significant gains with black and Latino communities, while getting a majority of white women to vote for him.
According to the month of October Financial times According to the article Dowd references, 75 percent of people who identify as white progressives believe that “racism is built into our society.”
Only 62 percent of black Americans and 38 percent of Hispanics agreed.
And on immigration, one of Trump’s strongest issues, nearly half of black and Hispanic Americans favored a tougher approach to border security.
Only 15 percent of white progressives thought the government should strengthen law enforcement on the southern border.
Trump made significant progress with minority communities, including black Americans
Hispanics were also a key group that handed the White House to Trump
Immigration routinely ranked as one of the top issues for voters, and Trump repeatedly criticized Harris for how the Biden administration allowed millions of immigrants into the United States.
Dowd mentioned that Harris veered toward the center after turning left in the 2020 Democratic primary, a race she ultimately dropped out of.
For example, he no longer supported the decriminalization of border crossings, as he had four years earlier.
“We have laws that must be followed and enforced, that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally, and there should be consequences,” Harris said in August during her first major television interview as a Democratic candidate.
She also changed her mind on fracking after a clip of her saying she supported a ban on the controversial practice went viral at the height of the campaign season.
‘I will not ban fracking. “I have not banned fracking as vice president of the United States, and in fact, I was the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which opened up new leases for fracking,” Harris said in her only debate with Trump.
Trump had more “standout” moments with his “outsized” wit and prevailed over the vice president, one expert said.
According to Dowd, transgender issues were another negative aspect of Harris’ campaign, although she did not frequently mention trans people or trans girls and women competing in women’s sports.
“Democrats learned the hard way in this election that mothers care just as much about abortion rights as they care about their daughters competing fairly and safely on the playing field,” Dowd wrote.
Many Republicans across the country spent tens of millions of dollars on ads addressing the issue, with one television ad warning, “Liberal nutcase Kamala is for them.” “President Trump is for you.”
Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat who ran unopposed in the election, said the party needs a rebrand on trans issues.
“Democrats spend too much time trying not to offend anyone,” Moulton said after the election. ‘I have two little girls. I don’t want a male athlete or former athlete running over them on the field, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.’
Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez, who narrowly kept her seat in a red congressional district in Washington, said the party needs serious reform.
“There’s no weird trick that’s going to fix the Democratic Party,” he told The Times. “This will require parents of young children, people in rural communities and professionals to run for public office and be taken seriously.”
Dowd claimed that Harris had an air of elitism that clung to her, much like previous Democratic presidential candidates. Appearing with celebrities like that didn’t help dispel that notion, he said.
Many of the same celebrities showed up to campaign with Hillary Clinton and Harris eight years apart, including Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen.
Dowd also claimed that Harris had the same air of elitism that many thought former Democratic presidential candidates Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton had when they were running.
An unnamed Democratic lawmaker told Dowd that Harris made the “colossal mistake” of running “a billion-dollar campaign with celebrities like Beyoncé when many of the struggling working-class voters she wanted couldn’t even afford a ticket to a Beyoncé concert, much less a down payment on a house.
Many of the same celebrities showed up to campaign with Clinton and Harris eight years apart, including Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen.
Both women suffered similar defeats by Trump in the Electoral College vote.
Clinton won the popular vote by 2.9 million votes, while Harris will likely lose it by more than 3.5 million votes.
