Senator Michael Bennet said that Democrats have a "brand" problem as many Americans see the party as "toxic," DrewBerquist.com reported. The Colorado Democrat made this admission on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday.
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday on Real Time with Bill Maher that he was concerned about how his political party was being perceived. Host Kristen Welker asked Bennet about his thoughts on the matter, and he concurred.
"I do agree that the Democratic Party brand is really problematic. And I think that it is a brand that is...associated with the educated elites in this country, and not anymore with working people in this country," Bennet cautioned.
The Democrats are floundering after a crushing defeat in the 2024 election. While some are continuing to move to the left and embrace the radicalism that got them there, it appears others are attempting to change things.
Bennet believes that the party "is associated with New York and with California" to appeal to average Americans. However, despite this clarity, Bennet also believes that President Donald Trump's policies will drive people back to the Democrats.
"You know, the good news for the party, I think, is that Donald Trump is pursuing the same trickle-down economics that he pursued the first time he was president," Bennet claimed. He went on to say that Trump is giving "tax cuts for the wealthiest people in the United States, and pay for it by taking away healthcare from the American people," which is another Democratic talking point.
"That's really bad for America. But the Democratic Party ought to be able to come back, under those circumstances, with a pretty good argument about why we could lead better than Donald Trump and why we are able to provide a better set of economic policies," Bennet said.
He also championed "universal healthcare" and a "21st-century school system that makes them competitive again," claiming that "our kids are invisible to Donald Trump," the former school superintendent added. "And if the Democratic Party would show up with some imagination, I think, not only would we do better, the American people would do better."
While Bennet and others are on the right track about the problem with the Democratic Party, they have reached the wrong conclusions about how they got there and what to do about it. There's currently in-fighting within the party about how best to pull out of this tailspin.
Some have begun attacking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer after he caved to pressure to side with the GOP to avert a government shutdown. Bennet stopped short of blaming Schumer when the host asked him about it, but he leaned into more leftism.
"I think that a much more important question is what we're going to do, as the Democratic Party, to create a compelling view for Americans that is going to allow us to lead again. We should never have lost to Donald Trump once, much less twice," Bennet admitted.
"The Democratic Party has lost touch with working people in our country, at a time when 50 years of trickle-down economics has meant that most Americans feel like, no matter how hard they work, their kids are not going to live a life better than the life they led. And I think the Democratic Party needs to use this moment of having been repudiated at the national level..." he added.
Democrats don't appeal to average citizens because their ideas are radical and unpopular. However, Bennet is saying the quiet part out loud that the party is out of touch and in need of an overhaul even if he and his cohorts can't figure out what that should look like.
