The REAL Winner in The Fight Between The DNC & David Hogg
Democrats vs Democrats Only Benefits The GOP
“Stay strong, David. Tearing down the DNC from the inside is no small feat-proud of you for trying.” That was Republican strategist Erin Maguire on X yesterday.
Erin is as savvy as they come and an incredibly gifted communicator who appears almost daily on NewsNation, Fox, and CNN. What does it say about the conflict that has burst into the open between the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and its Vice Chair, David Hogg, that Republicans like Erin are gleefully egging it on?
To be clear, I have always been supportive of David’s activism. He has earned a voice at the table, and I thought, when elected as Vice Chair, he could be an incredibly valuable addition to the DNC leadership. Unlike MAGA-land, I happen to believe having diverse viewpoints is a strength, not a weakness. There is always a natural tension between generations, and change/disruption is never easy or pretty. That’s why I admired David so much for doing the hard thing and trying to initiate change and reform from within. It’s easy to throw stones from the outside, but being willing to go inside and get your hands dirty is a different kind of challenge and requires a different skillset.
I understand David’s frustration with the party apparatus and what he perceives to be the old guard. I happen to share those same frustrations. But even though I agree with a lot of what David is trying to accomplish regarding generational change, I also recognize how unrealistic it is to serve as an elected officer of the DNC while simultaneously running a Super PAC that’s pledged $20 million to defeat elected Democrats in contested primaries.
DNC Chair Ken Martin isn’t wrong when he says, “This isn’t about one individual’s perspective, it’s about principle. It doesn’t matter if you’re a challenger or an incumbent. It doesn’t matter if you’re 18 or 80. Do I have a point of view? Of course. But as DNC Chair, at the helm of the institution that calls the balls and strikes, that’s not up to me to decide. You can’t be both the player and the referee. Our job is clear cut: let voters vote, and once they’ve made their choice, to fight like hell to get that Democrat elected to office. This isn’t a personal stand, it’s a principled stand for something greater than any one of us: the integrity of our party’s democratic process. Our role is to serve as stewards of a fair, open, and trusted process—not to tilt the scales.”
As an elected officer of the party, the needs of the whole must take priority over your individual wants and needs. You are a part of a team. The way a team works is you express your viewpoints, make your case, and if it doesn’t go your way, you still suit up and do your very best to execute the play that’s been called. Even if you disagree with it. And if you can’t do that, you leave the team and go to an environment that aligns with your worldview. You cannot have a dynamic where the player and the coach are in open warfare. That is a recipe for failure. Eventually, either someone will back down or someone will have to be shown the door.
Oh, and by the way, as you are fighting this out, your opposition will only grow stronger. The real beneficiary of this fight between David Hogg and the DNC is the Republicans. Every dollar spent on Democratic primaries is a dollar not being spent on trying to beat Donald Trump and his MAGA acolytes. How in the world are Democrats supposed to convince the American people that our way is actually better if we are too busy fighting amongst ourselves?
I understand that so many in the Democratic Party base want to see more fight coming from the Democratic Party. That they believe the 2024 campaign was mismanaged and there needs to be accountability for that loss, versus just charging forward with a business-as-usual attitude. That, on some level, a fight needs to happen to force change within the Democratic Party apparatus so that a repeat of 2024 doesn’t happen in 2026 or 2028.
One thing I’ll point out to all of those voices is to take note of wins and losses because, at the end of the day, the scoreboard is what matters most. Republicans get behind their guy and do what it takes to win because they figured out a long time ago that it doesn’t matter what you believe about this issue or that issue if you don’t win. Republicans believe in getting the win first and then figuring everything else out after. Democrats seem to want to fight about every single issue as if it’s life or death, not realizing that if they don’t win the election, it doesn’t matter if they’re right or wrong.
Democrats need to focus all their time, energy, and resources on the issues that matter most to Americans. On the issues that affect Americans the most. Stop spending inordinate amounts of time on things that have nothing to do with the everyday experience of working American families. Most parents in this country are not watching cable news. They are not citizen activists. They are not political or partisan diehards. They have never heard of Politico or Axios or watched a single minute of Rachel Maddow or Sean Hannity. All they know or really care about is how much is in their savings account, how much is in their retirement account, do they have healthcare, what type of education their children receive and how expensive will that be, can they afford their rent/mortgage, what childcare options are realistic for their economic situation, what is the price of gas and groceries, and do they have enough cushion to take a vacation every once in a while. Everything else is just noise.
As David Hogg and the DNC navigate this conflict, my hope is that they’ll be able to come together and find a way to coexist, keeping the focus where it needs to be - not on taking out our own Democrats, but on winning back parents and working-class families.