U.S. Representative Jake Auchincloss misses the days when Democrats were cool, or so he told a crowd of students at a College Democrats of Boston College event Tuesday evening.
“You’re at an age where you probably can’t maybe quite appreciate or remember what Democrats used to be before COVID,” Auchincloss said. “Like it was cool to be a Democrat.”
He reflected on Bill Clinton’s performance of “Heartbreak Hotel” on the saxophone in Arsenio Hall in 1992 when he was a presidential candidate.
“It was the coolest freaking thing,” Auchincloss said.
Auchincloss explained how Republicans came to dominate politics through their domination of culture, youth, and the media.
“[The culture] started to change around 2018, but the pandemic radically accelerated it,” Auchincloss said. “You probably all felt this. You probably feel this viscerally in ways that I can only sort of observe … because you guys are the creators of culture.”
Auchincloss described the extent of Republican domination in the media.
“Republicans are five years ahead of us, and in today’s media landscape, being five years ahead is a generation,” Auchincloss said.
The current Democratic Party is too preoccupied with policing ideology, according to Auchincloss.
“There used to be this old joke: ‘Democrats fall in love and Republicans fall in line,’” Auchincloss said. “It is exactly the opposite. Democrats are much more ideologically straitjacketed these days. We cancel each other.”
Democrats need to return to a focus on culture, especially when conservatives put such an emphasis on it, Auchincloss said.
“The point is that there are institutions that have been taken over by people that [conservatives] despise, and the Constitution, norms, conventions, rule of law, these are all impediments in their efforts to take down the offended liberal elite,” Auchincloss said. “If we cannot get back into the cultural mainstream—if we do not win the cultural war—we will lose the political fight.”
Auchincloss urged that Democrats are missing the larger picture in their hostility.
“What we also have to do, though, is stop the condescension,” Auchincloss said. “[Voters] are allergic to being patronized, and we do that. Mike Pence was a radio host before he was a politician, and he used to say, ‘I’m a conservative, but I’m not angry about it.’ And that was a great line.”
Auchincloss elaborated on specific examples where Democrats need to be more deliberate on the battles they choose to fight.
“I think voters are absolutely ready for Democrats to say, ‘I don’t want to talk about the locker room or the bathroom,’” Auchincloss said. “We’re going to talk about how we’re delivering excellence in education to every single student in this country. And if you’re talking about, well, 12 NCAA students, then frankly, you’re wasting everybody’s time.”
Auchincloss affirmed the Gen Z audience’s current political viewpoints.
“People’s political conceptions between the ages of 18 and 24 tend to become their lifelong political viewpoints,” Auchincloss said. “Usually, the favorability of the president in power when you’re in college is a very strong predictor of how your political affiliation is going to make the rest of your life.”
He highlighted how he feels the Democratic Party failed in recruiting supporters from Gen Z, specifically men.
“There’s a huge gender divide,” Auchincloss said. “I will say Gen Z women have been pretty progressive. Gen Z men—if you’re an 18-year-old man in America right now, you are more likely to be conservative than if you’re a 75-year-old man in America. That is astounding. We have messed up.”
Auchincloss challenged the audience to think of ways to use social media as a tool for political power without creating polarization.
“Figuring out how to use [phones] to build community rather than to build tribalism, is going to be the challenge,” Auchincloss said. “That’s going to be your generation that figures it out.”
Auchincloss moved on to discuss President Donald Trump’s cuts to higher education and attacks on schools like Harvard University, saying that these are not directed at curbing antisemitism but symbolic attacks on the left.
“The administration right now is attacking universities, not because they are so deeply concerned about antisemitism,” Auchincloss said. “They’re doing it because they view universities as maybe the single bastion of elitist leftists.”
Becoming the party of balanced spending could help Democrats in these times, Auchincloss said.
“The last president to balance the budget was a Democrat, Bill Clinton,” Auchincloss said. “Every single president since then has put either tax cuts or spending on a credit card … I think there’s an opening for Democrats to say, the last president to balance the budget was a Democrat. The next president is going to be a Democrat, too.”
Auchincloss concluded his discussion in Fulton Hall with words of encouragement.
“What I would encourage you all to do is just take really big risks,” Auchincloss said. “Really, really big risks. The universe will bend to your will more than you realize.”
Leave a Reply