Democrats must combat Trump's culture wars, new progressive chair says
The Democratic Party messed up in the 2024 election against Donald Trump and needs a dramatic shift, new Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar said.
WASHINGTON — The Democratic Party messed up in the 2024 election, says Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, the newly elected chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and it needs a dramatic course shift to rediscover its brand and put winning “above being right.”
In a wide-ranging interview with NBC News on Wednesday, one day before he was officially elected as chair, Casar laid out his vision for the future, saying that Democrats need to return to their roots as the party of the working class. That means welcoming voters who disagree with the left on cultural issues and not being “seen as preachy or disconnected.”
In the wake of a devastating defeat to President-elect Donald Trump that Casar insists was avoidable, the congressman said Democrats must refocus their core identity on helping workers and increasing wages — but do so “without throwing vulnerable people under the bus.”
He rejected the view that Democrats need to turn against immigrants or transgender people after Trump campaigned heavily on those issues in his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. Instead, Casar said Democrats should change course by redirecting such attacks and accusing the GOP of fueling culture wars to distract voters from their agenda of helping the rich get richer.
“The progressive movement needs to change. We need to re-emphasize core economic issues every time some of these cultural war issues are brought up,” Casar said. “So when we hear Republicans attacking queer Americans again, I think the progressive response needs to be that a trans person didn’t deny your health insurance claim, a big corporation did — with Republican help. We need to connect the dots for people that the Republican Party obsession with these culture war issues is driven by Republicans’ desire to distract voters and have them look away while Republicans pick their pocket.”
Rating: 5