Democrats are going dark in their latest effort to pull up out of their political tailspin. The new strategy, unveiled in a recent New York Times article, is called "dark woke." It's a harsh, confrontational, profanity-laden tone geared at appearing more edgy and controversial. Or, trying to "out-Trump" Donald Trump.
The problem with "dark woke" is, unlike Trump, it's not authentic. As Fox News host Greg Gutfeld puts it, "If you have to act edgy, you're not." Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany believes this is just the latest in a string of failed strategies by Democrats. "All the cursing is really interesting, as if that's going to create some sort of movement that's going to save you," she says in a recent interview. "I remember 'Dark Brandon,' that didn't work...that was when they tried President Joe Biden with the aviator (sunglasses.) The gimmicky shifts like this, they don't end up working."
Indeed, dark woke recalls the Dark Brandon effort, when Dems tried to make bumbling, elderly, gaffe-prone Joe Biden seem dark, cool, and edgy. But the issue isn't so much the dark, as the woke. No matter how much Democrats try to change their messaging, the underlying policies are the real problem. "They still want trans kids, they still want open borders, they still want to burn down police stations...just now they've added swearing," says Gutfeld.
According to McEnany, Democrats don't need a new strategy, they need a new leader. "You need a movement-like Democrat, someone like a (Barack) Obama, who could thread the needle they way he did, still won moderate voters, and became an icon in Democratic politics...and I don't know if they have that person," she says.
Photo: AFP