The Democrats’ Authenticity Trap

The party keeps trying to engineer viral moments and free-wheeling conversations. It’s self-defeating.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom looks on during the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 20, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?”

WHEN CALIFORNIA GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM released the inaugural episode of his new podcast, This Is Gavin Newsom, it left some Democrats bewildered. Even former Newsom aides told me they were shocked he thought it would work.

It wasn’t just that they didn’t love Newsom coming out against transgender women’s participation in women’s sports (some even said it was a smart political position to stake out given public polling). It wasn’t just that he was giving a platform to Charlie Kirk, one of the more reviled activists on the MAGA right. It was that they didn’t get what Newsom was actually trying to do.

If the governor wanted to reach new audiences, there were other ways to do so than launching a podcast that would primarily attract the interest of diehard Democrats. And if he was trying to show authenticity, there were more effective ways to do it than having an agreeable conversation with Kirk, in which a main focus of the discussion was just how lame Democrats have become.

“None of these people are getting it,” one Democratic strategist told me. “It’s so pathetic. . . . Stop reinventing the wheel and do what’s out there.”

Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment. But in the episode, the governor did shed some light on what he was thinking. He told Kirk that Democrats couldn’t compete if they kept doing the same old three-minute cable news hits. And he nodded along in agreement as Kirk argued that Democrats are woefully incapable of surviving in longform podcast environments because it was “too unscripted” and “too masculine.”

Beyond raising questions about the masculinity of the podcast medium, Newsom’s foray into the forum provided more evidence that Democrats still can’t find their footing there, or frankly in the modern media landscape writ large.

There is no disagreement in the party that voters are increasingly turning to TikTok and Twitch personalities rather than network news anchors to help make sense of the world. But more than four months since their election nightmare materialized, Democrats still seem uncomfortable making the necessary adjustments.

“There are a lot of outlets to go to. The problem is that many Democrats haven’t found those outlets or are not showing up for those outlets because they think that spending their time, energy, and effort on broadcast TV, for example, is going to be effective,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told me in an interview last week. (FWIW, he swore he wasn’t just saying this because he was talking to a reporter publishing on Substack and YouTube.)

The 2024 election was supposed to be a brutal wake-up call for Democrats. Donald Trump won the election by taking advantage of alternative media and building a campaign on viral moments. MAGA had (and has) the most powerful cable channel, the most popular podcast, and the most hyperactive social media site.

Democrats pledged to become more literate in the world of social media, podcasts, and influencers. Their funders hinted they would invest in newsrooms and explore acquisitions themselves. But party operatives I’ve talked to say little of that has happened. Democrats still look stale and unimaginative when it comes to media engagement. Worse, some efforts to grab attention have backfired—making them look even more out of touch.

When I asked strategists and party officials why they think this has been so hard for Democrats to figure out, most acknowledged that the party is suffering from an authenticity problem. The party’s leadership is older. They’re not fluent in social media, and they don’t particularly care or understand what it takes to be—and it shows. On platforms where users yearn for genuine connections, Democrats appear to be trying too hard, like when New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer had to confess to sharing a fake “Spotify Wrapped” full of Bruce Springsteen songs.

“The problem that we have . . . is that they don’t look native to it,” said Rebecca Katz, who was the lead strategist for John Fetterman’s and Ruben Gallego’s successful Senate campaigns. “How comfortable are these elected officials using the platforms that many, many millions of voters use? Does it seem like they are comfortable or uncomfortable? It’s mockable if it seems like they are out of touch.”

For those who have operated in this corner of the political landscape, it’s a major fumbling of the ball. Nearly two decades ago, it was Barack Obama who was revolutionizing the use of social media to propel his insurgent campaign. In 2016, it was Bernie Sanders who tapped into online fundraising in ways few, if any, politicians had done before. Even Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 Senate campaign against Ted Cruz was notable for the degree to which he and his team deployed livestreaming.

But in recent years, Republicans have dominated, adopting a posture of aggressive posting, ubiquitous podcasting, and even building up and acquiring social media properties.

Democrats have gone in the opposite direction, paralyzed at times by an extremely risk-averse culture when it comes to media engagement and dependent on a professional consultant class to message test just about everything they do.

Getting out of those shackles has been a process. As Semafor reported last month, House and Senate members held a private briefing with influencer Brian Tyler Cohen to discuss tips for getting their message out on new media platforms (one piece of advice Cohen offered was to not “overly workshop their online content”). House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has posted more casual, direct-to-camera videos on his social media platforms (he even ditched his suit and wore a flat-billed hat in this one!). Just about every Democrat has scrambled to get booked on Stephen A. Smith’s show in the past few weeks, including Jeffries and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. And congressional Democrats have tried to get in on TikTok trends, like the viral “choose your fighter” video and the “shit that ain’t true” videos that senators posted before Trump’s joint address to Congress.

But those efforts have led, often, to online mockery. And Democratic officials acknowledge that a lot of the content is still giving off a “How do you do, fellow kids?” vibe.

“It’s good to give them credit for trying stuff,” Run For Something cofounder Amanda Litman said in an interview with The Bulwark. “Is it the most effective social media content? Probably not. But baby steps in the right direction is better than baby steps in the wrong direction.”

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FOR THOSE ADVISING DEMOCRATS ON HOW TO GET a better footing in the social media space, the general belief is that the only way through is to rip off the band-aid. That might mean enduring a number of cringe attempts at social media posts until someone figures it out, or until more dynamic and online officials emerge as national leaders.

Say what you will about Trump, but his desire to always be in the spotlight, and to stir controversy when doing it, is his authentic self. Democrats don’t have any equivalent. They may never. But, at a minimum, the party has to see what sticks in hopes that something does. And it can. North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson has amassed a massive TikTok following with fairly bland videos about politics, all while keeping constituents updated via his Substack. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose savvy use of Twitter led her House colleagues to ask her for advice when she first came to office six years ago, has since grown her audience with her use of Instagram Live and Twitch.

“Our party is really in on the idea that you can screw yourself up and get yourself in big trouble if you play the wrong thing. Republicans have less of this,” said Pat Dennis, president of American Bridge 21st Century, the Democratic-led opposition research super PAC.

The party, Dennis said, needs to “be willing to be real and normal,” and party staffers have to get comfortable with taking risks that could, for example, land their bosses in more contentious and free-ranging interviews. “It is more dangerous to be ignored than it is to get yelled at,” he said.

Other officials agreed that the party has to rewire its risk tolerance. Missteps happen. But not trying isn’t an option: The party doesn’t have the luxury of not making it a priority to appear on more apolitical podcasts like This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von (Von said in a recent episode that he invited Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on his show, but an interview never happened).

“The worst thing that I think you can be as a Democrat right now is predictable, even if you have to overcorrect for risk versus stability,” concluded another party strategist.

Donkey Business:

— Speaking of needing to take more risks, Minnesota Governor and VP candidate Tim Walz said in an interview with Politico that he and Harris played things too safe in the 2024 election.

“I think we probably should have just rolled the dice and done the town halls, where [voters] may say, ‘you’re full of shit, I don’t believe in you,’” Walz told Politico’s Elena Schneider, adding that the party was “more cautious” when it came to engaging in different types of media. “In football parlance, we were in a prevent defense to not lose when we never had anything to lose because I don’t think we were ever ahead.”

— In response to Gavin Newsom’s comment on trans women’s participation in sports, Democratic officials have been peppered with questions about where they stand on the issue. A few months ago, it seemed likely that more progressive lawmakers and advocacy groups would go after Newsom for not standing up for trans kids. But I’ve been struck by how few officials have wanted to go there. It’s an early sign that the party feels it overtorqued on the issue and now has to come off as more moderate.

In an interview Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press, Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin said the best solution was to “let the local community figure it out.” California Sen. Adam Schiff said on ABC’s This Week that he wanted “all young people to have the experience of playing in sports,” but he wanted “those sports to be fair.” Pennsylvania Rep. Brendan Boyle told Politico that the party needs to stay “cultural mainstream,” but not “go down the route of beating up and bullying kids who are trans, just so we can get a few votes out of it.”

(To be fair, there’s been some pushback. Former Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot, for example, called Newsom’s comment “disgusting.”)

My open tabs:

— If you haven’t already read this piece by my colleague Jim Swift, make some time for it. And maybe have a box of tissues nearby.

— I found this to be a compelling piece from John Ganz on Trump’s chaotic and contradictory approach to economic policy.

— Oh… and a five-day food diary by Monica Lewinsky? Click.