‘Time for change’: Democrats debate their party’s future

Some people think that the reason for the challenges to the Democratic Party are about their policies. Other people say it’s about the people. We’re going to have that conversation right now here on America speaks, I’m Dr Frank Luntz, and let’s get into the conversation.
You I think the messaging that’s happening now with like AOC and with Bernie going to the townspeople, I think that messaging is coming through pretty well. And Pete Buttigieg, I think, I think the messaging that should be stopped, and really stop listening to Chuck Schumer. I think that’s that’s it. I think we need to change the guards. And Okay,
listen to them. I’m going to be controversial here. I want a word or phrase or sentence to describe the Senate Minority Leader. Chuck Schumer, Deborah, I’m going to start with you. Annoyed, Chris,
I’ll date it.
April, timeless,
yesina not
doing enough.
Marie antique. Ashley
door. Matt, Tim, Old Guard,
Carlton
behind the times.
Iman, old Melissa, antiquated. Debbie
old school. April
fineless, Justin
old school. CJ, old device that focuses, okay, if you could give Chuck Schumer one piece of advice, what would that be? And Deborah, I’m gonna start with you. Chuck Schumer’s listening to this conversation. What piece of advice would you give him? What? Wait a minute. You’re a Democrat.
I think he should step down and let someone else take over. I I feel so betrayed by him. I feel like sometimes I even wonder if he what he’s doing behind closed doors. I’m just wonder it just he pushed to have Biden step down too quickly. I mean, not, not soon enough. He voted. He voted for the recent, for the recent shutdown, against it and and sold out a lot of programs.
I’m
just, I’m I’m just tired of him. I’m just,
he’s your senator. What advice would you give your senator?
Step aside, why he’s not listening to the people. He’s not listening to what we want. He he was he was great. He was a great senator for a very long time, but that time has passed.
Ashley, what advice would you give Senator Schumer?
Just get out of the way,
because
he’s holding the party back. I think that, like everyone had said before, you know, with these sort of antiquated views, and you know, he’s not listening, we’re missing out on an opportunity for a new voice to rise up and really start to build the foundation.
Philip, you’re Democrat. Correct, correct, you’re from New Jersey. Correct, correct, he’s a neighboring state. Correct, correct, what advice do you have for Senator Schumer
to step aside and let the new guard come in. You are the old guard. Okay? Unless, unless you, unless you’re your mindset and sensibilities are going to change, which they seem like they won’t. Then it’s time for new blood, as they say.
Yesenia, you’re from Connecticut, correct? Yes. You’re also a neighboring, a neighbor of Chuck Schumer, if he were listening right now, what advice would you give him
to definitely hire an assistant that can put him in a better direction and help him make better decisions?
How many of you, by show of hands, want Schumer to step aside? Raise your hands physically if you wanted to start that’s almost everybody here, but it isn’t everyone. Chris speak in favor of Chuck Schumer, please.
Yeah, I think Chuck Schumer can turn things around. The first thing I would tell him is, listen to your constituents. Stop being afraid. Rally the troops and Damn it, man. Fight, don’t just let this stuff go on. Fight, take it to the people.
Tim, what advice do you have for Chuck Schumer? I
agree with Chris. I think that you know, the thing that people need to realize is they don’t have the votes in the Senate, and they and if he, if not, Schumer, who else? So the problem is the Senate as an institution, most of the people in that institution are 70 years old or older. And, you know, is there a younger person like, you know, Gretchen, Whitmer or whatever, to be Senate Leader? That’s not true. So we need to do what Chris said. It’s the message, it’s the issues, it’s Medicare, it’s Medicaid, it’s Social Security. Get back on those progressive issues that irritated people and the fact that they are upset about the economy and affordable housing that things were mentioned earlier, and get back on those issues. Debbie,
let’s pretend Chuck Schumer is listening right now. What would you say to him?
Paulo and Nancy police. Pelosi footsteps, do what she did. No one, no one thought that Hakeem Jeffries was necessarily ready for it, but she did it, and he’s doing a great job. So step aside. I’m
going to ask you one more time. Raise your hands if you think Chuck Schumer should step aside. I want to get a few more of you into this conversation. CJ, why should Schumer step aside?
I mean, I think it’s time for change. He’s a dinosaur. We’ve seen certain ways and certain policies that he’s tried to give out and put out aren’t working, and change is all not always. But change can be a good thing. We’ve seen it happening between when we went to the Obama administration after what was it? Bush, so we’ve seen change. We’ve seen how it can be beneficial to the people.
April, what would you say to Senator Schumer?
I would tell him he should resign and let more progressive people take over. He served Trump’s agenda on a silver platter when he didn’t go for the vote for a government shutdown. It was ridiculous.
Anyone else want to jump in?
Yeah, he could draw clear lines in the sand. He could be a little bit more bold.
Somebody else, well,
it seems like he’s playing the old guard of, I mean, the old rule of, like, let’s try to, you know, work together, Kumbaya, yada yada. And it’s, this is, this is not the same rule book. He’s not playing with, he’s playing with old rules. And it’s, it’s a new game, and it just seems like he’s not up to using all these sports analogies. But it just doesn’t seem like he’s up to par with it. You know, he’s, he’s, that’s what he’s just looking so bad.
Go ahead. Stephanie, yeah, I agree with he’s, he’s playing by the old rules, which is, follow the law and, you know, do what you’re supposed to do, which, you know, when the Republicans are flaunting every norm, they’re breaking every norm. So we need a fighter. We need someone who’s going to stand up, you know, take a really strong stand against Trump and that that’s not Schumer. He doesn’t have that fight in him anymore.
Okay, let’s do this. I want you to tell me your favorite Democrat right now, from across the country, you can only pick one. I’m going to walk through all of you who is your favorite Democrat right now? Marie from Illinois. You’re going to start Pete Bucha and tell me why in a sentence,
he’s already has experience being in the White House. He just left Biden’s administration. He’s very well spoken, and he’s very presidential, in my opinion, Chris,
in a sense, who’s your favorite Democrat? And why?
My favorite Democrat is Jasmine Crockett, because she is bold, she is progressive, she is not afraid, and she takes him on head on.
Colton, favorite Democrat. And why?
Um, Andy Bucha, because I think he showed the Democrats can govern both according to our values in a red state, but also, you know, grow the state economically.
April, favorite Democrat, and why?
Jasmine Crockett? Because she says, what everyone is thinking,
Justin, you’re up. You just, I
think Barack Obama, think he’s always been a invigorating leader, has been a unifying person, and has really gathered everybody together.
Iman, you’re up.
Bernie Sanders, he advocates for universal health care, taxing the rich and making a better income inequality goes for the more for the Union. Stuff like that. Tim
Gretchen, Whitmer, I think if we’re going to turn to a new generation, we gotta go to a governor, and she’s a bold leader that can that’s won several times. Name purple state,
Yesenia.
I say Barack Obama. I feel like he’s the only president that I can truly say that I trusted and I would love him back in the office, but I know that’s not possible.
Stephanie,
I can’t believe I’m saying this. But Bernie Sanders, because he has got the messaging just right. He knows how to talk to Americans in a way that they’ll respond to
Melissa, I’d
say Pete Buttigieg. He’s smart, well spoken, unafraid, and he listens to the people. She’s relatable.
Old generation would be Obama, and then current would be probably Tim waltz. I like what he’s done with Minnesota in terms of the education, public health that he’s focused on, and yeah, that’s what he’s doing lately. Deborah,
that’s the AOC. I like what she’s doing virally when she’s trying to keep get people fired up, but without being too well, she is kind of radical, and she’s fired up and angry, but in a really kind of active way, in really active, pardon the phrase, part progressive way. And I just really like what she’s what, what her messaging is, practical. Ashley
Gretchen, Whitmer, for me, she’s in a purple state. She’s been able to win multiple times and actually execute on legis legislation in that state.
Philip Hakeem,
Jeffries, no retreat, no surrender, will come out and say what he’s gotta say, and push aside whoever he’s gotta push aside and push back.
Debbie Bernie
Sanders, I, you know, I didn’t want him as president, but I really like what he’s done in the moment right now. And what is that he’s he’s rallied, he’s rallied at the moment. He’s taken what he sees and decided to go out and pull together people, which is kind of what needs to happen right now.
So which, if you had to choose, and I know this is difficult, but if you had to choose, would you rather have a Democrat who was electable and added the best shot of winning, or a Democrat who you agreed with on the issues and held the best philosophy, which is a higher priority to you, the philosophy of the Democrats, or the electability of the Democrats. If you had to choose, raise your hands if you say electability. Five, six. Raise your hands if you say the ideology of the Democrats. Okay, let’s focus on electability first. Can I get three of you to to explain why electability is so important? Any three of you? Ashley, go ahead
to me, if they can’t be elected, it does not matter what the philosophy is if they are going to go up and lose every single time. It doesn’t matter that that sort of policy is never going to take place if they can’t be elected.
Chris, why is electability so important?
We’ve gotta, we’ve gotta fill the pipeline, and we don’t have a lot of time in which to do it, so we’ve gotta turn this thing around. And the only way we’re gonna do that is we have to get people in there who are going to be elected, or else we’re in trouble.
Philip, you’re up.
Yeah. I mean, it’s what everyone just said. The two individuals just said, it has to do with no matter what it is that I believe, that this person believes, and we’re in sync mentally, if you can’t get elected, who cares? Carlton,
fundamentally, I think America is slightly centered right of a country. If we want to win, you gotta build a big tent, and you might have to let people in the tent you agree with and everything but and if you want to like, if you want to pass these policies, you gotta find candidates who can win and draw as much as you can from that tent.
Okay, I want to take the other perspective. Can I get three of you to explain why ideology is more important than electability? April, Europe,
I think we are where we are as a Democratic Party because we have chosen middle of the road candidates. Nothing’s happened. That’s why our Democratic Party is so weak right now, so in order to actually create change, we all need to band together and start leaning more progressive. The people obviously want that because they’re not out voting. So it doesn’t matter if you pick a middle of the road candidate, they picked Kamala, who. You know, I voted for and they thought that she would win, but that didn’t happen. So we need to change our strategy, strategies at this point.
CJ, yeah, I mean, I think even if you do get elected and you have set policies, nothing gets done right there. It’s a lot of it’s a lot of talk, right? We’ve seen that happen with Joe Biden and then other people as well that we’ve elected. So let’s go with someone that is going to stand behind what they say has a backbone and actually stand up to certain policies that are on other side to move us forward as a party.
For me, it’s been a big challenge to vote democratically lately, because I don’t want centrists. I mean, I must. I mean, it’s okay. Well, the old white guy, you know, that’s the guarantee. Well, I’m tired of the guarantee. I want something different. I want some change. That’s why Obama was elected. No one thought that a black man would ever be voted right in right but they went with that. They went with that change and that one, well, it kind of goes back to convictions and philosophy. You have to be clear on what you want to say. If you’re not, if you don’t believe in what you say, you’re not clear in what you have to say, the message is not going to come across like just recently with Pete Buttigieg with his message, right after the discovery of the chat, not to chat the the the government of the the reporter that was in the conversation with the about the war, like He immediately came out with his messaging. He was he, he related, obviously he was angry, but firm, and he actually used a couple of cuss words, which was kind of unusual for him. But his messaging was so clear. I mean, it was absolutely crystal, and I knew exactly what he what he meant. And I want to stay I know it was 100% behind
him, April, you’re nodding your head there. Why do you agree so much? No,
I agree. I I watched his his interview, and he was spot on. Everything that we are thinking is what he said. It was clear we know that that whole chat is was crazy. I mean, there’s nothing, you know, there’s nothing sane and logical and safe about anything that they said to that reporter, but the Republican Party is just deny, deny, deny. And so he said, what we are all thinking, which is amazing. I wish more of our politicians could be clear and to the point and not have to, you know, dance around the issues.
Colton, you’re up. I mean, I think people bring up P for good reasons. He’s a clear communicator. He was a mayor. He came off that background, but also think of what he did when he was running for DNC chair and when he was in the primaries in 2020 his philosophy in terms of media was, go everywhere, see when I’m podcast, went on Fox News and stuff. And that goes to CJs point too, is, I think that Democrats as a in terms of our messaging, we often couch our words too much, and we’re too sometimes we speak too softly for fear of, you know, saying the wrong thing. I think we should be okay to say the wrong thing. Sometimes accidentally.
Okay. I got two questions right now, and they’re both gnawing at me. I don’t know which to go to first. I want to go to everyone here pick the single best democratic communicator? Maybe it’s somebody you don’t you may not like them for other reasons, but who is the best messenger on the Democratic side? Marie imma, start with you. I’m gonna go through everybody. Marie, you’re up first. Pete Bucha, because, because
he’s very well spoken.
Yesenia, who’s the best democratic communicator, and why
I still stand on what I said earlier. Barack Obama, Obama is the best democratic spokesperson, because he’s just very well spoken. I feel like he gained love from many people very quickly, and I feel like he was honest.
Ashley, the best democratic communicator is,
I agree with Barack Obama, and it’s his charisma and ability to organize people to follow
Philip
AOC no filter, yeah,
Stephanie,
I don’t know, um, you know, I would say Pete Buttigieg, because of he’s able to sort of speak to people of both parties, and knows how to, like, reach across the aisle and get people to, you know, to understand his message. Much Tim
EOC, pretty easily. I think she’s got the energy. She’s got the message for the young voter. She got the she understands the economy. She can speak to it. And you know, she’s the people like her, the future of the party. I think
Chris the best democratic communicator is
Jasmine Crockett. She’s 100% authentic and 1,000% behind the people
Carlton,
I would say it’s a tie for me between like Pete budge and Gretchen Whitmer, in terms of being able to speak clearly to both democratic values and also independence. Middle of the road,
amen, Bernie Sanders, because he’s authentic.
Melissa he Bucha
judge because one he’s very smart and easily understandable, but he meets people where they are. He’ll go on Fox News and he’ll speak to them. So he’s not, he doesn’t just speak to people who agree with him. He speaks to people who disagree with him.
Debbie Gavin
Newsom, because, because I feel like he speaks to everyone he’s been he’s been doing it a long time, and he’s also a straight shooter,
CJ, between Bernie and AOC for the reasons that they don’t care who you are, they’re going to speak their truth.
April, AOC, she is young, she’s fresh as she speaks her mind, and she’s so intelligent.
Justin,
um Barack Obama, very calm, collected person, but he’s also very inspiring. Well,
there you have it. A fascinating conversation about the future of the Democratic Party, as described by fellow Democrats. I’m Dr Frank Luntz. I thank you for listening, and we’ll be back soon with another segment of America speaks you.