CNN host warns Democrats must abandon far-left ‘sacred cows’ to win back voters

CNN host Abby Phillip warned that if Democrats want to win back voters, they will need to risk offending their consultant class base with concrete policy changes.

Since their historic defeat in November, the Democratic Party remains divided about how to move forward. While some Democrats are doubling down on the far-left politics many argue alienated voters, others are calling to abandon so-called “woke” politics. But as the party remains in flux, a rising tide of commentators are challenging such Democrats to actually articulate which far-left policies they will kick to the curb in order to regain the working-class voters they lost.

On Tuesday evening, a panel on CNN discussed The New York Times’ report claiming that Democrats are spending $20 million on a study called “Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan.” The study is purportedly a project to “study the syntax, language and content that gains attention and virality in these spaces” of male voters.

The panel spoke about how Democrats lack their own equivalent of podcaster Joe Rogan, and how he gradually went from a nonpolitical figure to becoming prominent in the “MAGA universe.” CNN media correspondent Hadas Gold said one idea she has seen pitched is a “sleeper” podcast, “where they just they help fund the podcasters, let them do whatever they want, really build up that base, it has nothing to do with politics, and then in a few years, sort of seep into politics,” she said, “just like Joe Rogan.” 

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However, she argued, such an idea probably wouldn’t work. 

“The only way that that works is through authenticity, and you‘re not going to make it work by building up these funds and, in any way, being connected to a political party, because the political parties, especially Democrats right now, don’t exactly have a good brand people want to be attached to,” she said.

When Gold praised Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego for appealing to authenticity in his rhetorical style, Phillip responded that Democrats need actual substance to their reform. 

“Okay, but here‘s the thing. They‘re going to have to — you alluded to this,” Phillip said as she pointed to former Biden White House official Dan Koh, who called to take positions that may offend parts of the party. “They‘re going to have to get rid of some sacred cows. This is going to be the hard part. Everybody talks about authenticity until the rubber meets the road, and they have to actually take positions that the activist, you know, consultant class base does not want them to take.”

Podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan has frequently mocked Democrats for scrambling to try to create their own Joe Rogan, noting he himself was once on their side before they embraced so many far-left policies.  ((Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images))

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“I don‘t think they will,” CNN commentator Shermichael Singleton said. “I mean, for Democrats to effectively target men of every color, they are going to have to drastically change some of their positions, especially some of the cultural stuff. I don’t think that’s going to happen, Dan. I think you guys have moved so far to the left, many — I know you’re from the South, Dan, you seem to be more reasonable than most, but for the most part, a lot of you guys don‘t make room for guys to express their views in an open way about a lot of issues.”

When Koh was asked what he would do to change the party, he proposed doing a better job of enforcing the border and supporting upward mobility, saying, “These positions aren‘t popular with a lot of the party, but it‘s what people are — to the point of putting people where they are, it‘s where people are, and it‘s where we need to be as well.”

Then-Arizona Democratic Senate candidate U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., speaks at a Harris-Walz “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour stop at Arizona State University (ASU) on November 4, 2024, in Tempe, Arizona. ( Mario Tama/Getty Images)

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‘ Emma Colton contributed to this report