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MUNICH — Senator Mark Warner has a blunt assessment of the Democratic Party’s struggles in the wake of its crushing losses in the last election.
“I think the Democrats’ brand is really bad, and I think this was an election based on culture,” the Virginia Democrat said at a POLITICO Pub event on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. “And the Democrats’ kind of failure to connect on a cultural basis with a wide swath of Americans is hugely problematic.”
He criticized rigidity within his party, blaming it for the Republican sweep of the House, Senate and White House.
“I think the majority of the party realizes that the ideological purity of some of the groups is a recipe for disaster and that candidly the attack on over-the-top wokeism was a valid attack,” Warner said.
He expressed begrudging admiration for President Donald Trump’s ability to make outrageous statements without paying a political price and capture the attention of a public that largely ignores traditional media.
“President Trump can say virtually anything and it’s forgotten within the same 24-hour news period, so that is a whine and a complaint, but it’s the reality,” Warner said.
Trump also has a “reinforcing” social media army, Warner noted.
“That’s extraordinary, and Democrats have got a lot to learn from that,” he said.
With Democrats split between resisting Trump, allowing him to fail or finding common ground, Warner — the Senate Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat — said Trump cannot be given “a pass on actions that damage national security.”
Along those lines, Warner ripped the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency effort for its raid on federal data, led by a cadre of young Elon Musk acolytes. He singled out one who Musk rehired in spite of reports he posted about his racist beliefs.
“I have huge security concerns when you have 22-year-olds who may not even appreciate the value of the information theft being so careless,” he said.
Robbie Gramer contributed to this report.
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