Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner offers a candid evaluation of his party’s challenges following significant losses in the last election. “I think the Democrats’ brand is really bad, and I think this was an election based on culture,” the Virginia Democrat said at a POLITICO Pub event on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. “And the Democrats’ kind of failure to connect on a cultural basis with a wide swath of Americans is hugely problematic.”
He criticized the inflexibility within his party, attributing it to the Republican victories in the House, Senate, and White House. “I think the majority of the party realizes that the ideological purity of some of the groups is a recipe for disaster and that candidly the attack on over-the-top wokeism was a valid attack,” Warner said.
He acknowledged a reluctant admiration for President Donald Trump’s skill in making outrageous statements without facing political consequences, successfully capturing the attention of a public that often overlooks traditional media. “President Trump can say virtually anything and it’s forgotten within the same 24-hour news period, so that is a whine and a complaint, but it’s the reality,” Warner said. Trump also has a “reinforcing” social media army, Warner noted. “That’s extraordinary, and Democrats have got a lot to learn from that,” he said.
As Democrats remain divided over whether to resist Trump, let him fail, or seek common ground, Sen. Mark Warner—the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee—declared that Trump cannot be given “a pass on actions that damage national security.” Warner specifically criticized the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for its aggressive data-gathering efforts, led by a group of young Elon Musk loyalists.
He singled out one individual whom Musk rehired despite reports linking him to racist online posts. “I have huge security concerns when you have 22-year-olds who may not even appreciate the value of the information theft being so careless,” he told Politico.
