Democratic strategist Basil Smikle called out his party on Monday for failing to reach voters with a message they can relate to, even as President Donald Trump’s approval rating plunges.
Appearing on MSNBC, Smikle was asked about a New York Times report that party insiders were spending millions on meetings in luxury hotels and programs on how to reach young men, including studying the “syntax, language and content” of viral media.
“I really have no understanding what that is because honestly, if somebody needed to come talk to me, just come talk to me. Actually, go find me and come and talk to me. Don’t do it in a hotel. Don’t study me like this is some academic exercise,” he said. “That is exactly why we’re not winning. Because we ― because Democrats have been accused of looking and sounding too elitist. That’s a problem.”
MSNBC’s Chris Jansing said focus groups show many voters souring on Trump, but those same voters don’t like anything about the Democrats, either.
Smikle said the party’s current fixation on former President Joe Biden and his reported declining health during his term in office is a perfect case in point of why they aren’t connecting with those voters.
“There’s been a lot of conversation about what people knew about Joe Biden and when did they know it,” he said. “If you actually go into communities and talk to voters, they’re not asking about Joe Biden. They’re asking, ‘What do we do now?’ And if Democrats don’t have an answer for that question, they’re going to continue to lose support.”
He urged Democratic insiders to leave the hotels and go into the communities instead.
See more of his conversation with Jansing and Meghan Hays, a former special assistant to Biden, below: