Democrats who pressed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) for years and got roundly rejected at the polls last year chose two new executives to lead their party out of the political desert. But there’s one catch: they are two white men who don’t fit the identity politics of the party’s base and hold widely progressive views that clash with Middle America.

The Democratic National Committee’s election this past weekend of Minnesotan Ken Martin to be chairman and anti-gun activist David Hogg have mystified political observers on both sides of the aisle after an election in which voters clearly rejected the far-left drift of the party.

“Democrats have once again fallen victim to identity politics, and it's going to be very hard for Democrats to walk away from identity politics,” Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, who ousted a Democrat incumbent in November, told Just the News.

“They've essentially evangelized their base to the point where the base has religion around identity and that base is not going to be satisfied unless their leadership continues down that line of thinking,” he added.

Many Democrats agree, including Faiz Shakir, former manager of Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign.

“I’m frustrated by the way in which we utilize identity to break ourselves apart,” he told the crowd. “Listen, I worked at the ACLU. I’m supportive of diversity, equity and all the rest. But we’re competing over the wrong thing when we should be joining together to fight together.” 

After the election, Shakir continued to be frustrated that new leadership hadn’t solved a core problem. “I think the Democratic brand is hurting because people feel that you cannot, with conviction and integrity, tell me what you honestly feel about some hard issues,” he told an interviewer. 

The obsession with far-left values has also led Democrats to explain away their stinging election losses with an excuse most voters don’t share. MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart asked the eight candidates on stage during the DNC election, “So, I’m going to have a show of hands. How many of you believe that racism and misogyny played a role in Vice President Harris’ defeat?”

Every single candidate raised their hand, including Martin and Hogg.

Soon after, the DNC voted two white men to be its next leaders, rejecting more diverse candidates that included a black woman, two white women and a Muslim man. For many it was a display of hypocrisy for a party whose DEI mantra demanded racial and gender equity in education, government and business over the past several years.

Blowback

“You can tell a lot about somebody based not on what they say, but what they do. And the Democrat Party, you know, they have a lot of rhetoric around DEI,” Begich said.

Polling shows the Democrat focus on DEI comes with a blowback. A recent Napolitan News survey found that 63% of Americans oppose the government doing business with companies that hold the basic tenet of DEI: that America is fundamentally racist and sexist.

“DEI was never popular with the public. It had – and still has – a strong following among progressives,” pollster Scott Rasmussen said. “They pushed it into government and corporate America below the radar. Once it became visible, the backlash was inevitable.”

What Americans are most concerned about – and hold great hope Donald Trump will fix – are the issues that most impact their pocketbooks and families.

Credit card debt has skyrocketed to an historic $1 trillion collectively by spring 2024. Hardship withdrawals from retirement accounts exploded 30% with the most common reason cited being avoiding evictions or foreclosure and unpaid medical bills. In the months following the end of COVID lockdowns and mandates, the lower income 80% of Americans (outside of the wealthiest 20%) had less cash than before the pandemic.

The liberal effort to force transgenderism on students also has boomeranged, with even staunch liberals like Bill Maher rejecting it and wondering why it is only a phenomenon in blue states.

“If this spike in trans children is all biological, why is it regional? Either Ohio is shaming them or California is creating them,” he quipped recently.

Jump in Trump's approval rating

While Democrats lean into issues that polls show cost them the election, Trump is plowing ahead in reversing the Biden agenda and with majority support. His 53% approval rating is 10 points higher than the beginning of his first term. 

While entrenched in DEI priorities, this is the first time in 14 years that the DNC will not be run by a female or a person of color. To his credit, Martin claims to understand that those priorities must be in the wake. He told The New York Times that "for the first time in modern history, the majority of Americans believe that the Republican Party best represents the interests of the working class and the poor, and that the Democratic Party represents the interest of the wealthy an the elite." 

If that sentiment remains and subsequent efforts to reverse course are successful, Democrats can possibly reverse the dynamic that caused Kamala Harris to lose out to Donald Trump with working class Americans. Common sense policies and reaching working class Americans are how you win elections.