AOC says, "So many people in this country hate women. " Oh jeez. Even the guy at the party who pulls out a guitar is like, "Way to ruin the fun.
" [laughter] And who do you see for on the horizon for 2028 in the Democratic primary right now? Yeah. Bernie and AOC.
[music] No, they got the biggest crowds. That doesn't matter. It won't it won't sustain itself, but right now they have no leader.
Bill Maher just did what almost nobody in Democratic media wants to do. Ignore follower counts and ask whether the party's loudest voices can win the country. A viral clip can make someone look unstoppable for 48 hours.
A presidential campaign means hostile interviews and voters who do not live on political TikTok. Mars point is simple. Energy without expansion becomes a fan club, not a governing coalition.
And the receipts get uncomfortable fast. There's Democrats and there's Democrat socialists. I mean those are two distinct parts of the same party.
I mean they they are obviously in a coalition together but they people who are democratic socialists make that distinction. They say I am a democratic socialist. That's Bernie Sanders.
That's Mandami. That's the mayor of Seattle. A number of them.
And so far it plays in big cities but there's no evidence yet that you can you can take that outside of major metro cores in this country. Look Bernie Sanders [music] is 0 for two running for president. That line cuts through the mythology.
Bernie did not lose because voters never heard him. They heard the message twice and chose someone else twice. That does not erase his influence on wages, health care, and college costs.
But influence and electability are different trophies. One earns standing ovations. The other wins the White House.
The left keeps treating enthusiasm as proof of a hidden majority that already had two auditions and did not show up. For example, Bernie Sanders, his big thing was always bringing [music] singlepayer health care to our country of 340 million. But when [music] liberal tie-dyed Vermont tried to do it for a population of 626,000, it collapsed like that poor [music] in the Oval Office last week.
[applause] Bernie, AOC, Mandani are not Democrats. They'll be the first to tell you that they're democratic socialists and that's a very different thing and I don't think people know that yet. Here is where slogans meet spreadsheets and spreadsheets do not care how good the slogan looks on a tote bag.
Universal coverage is a serious goal. Funding it is the hard part. Vermont became the test kitchen and the price tag scared off its supporters.
That does not prove reform is impossible. It proves make it free is not a financing model. Voters need the bill, not just the dream.
Paul reporting how much Latinos [music] despise the woke term Latinex. It's about as popular with them as a reboot of Speedy Gonzalez. [laughter] [applause] Even the country's oldest Latino civil rights group came out [music] against it.
Yet AOC keeps defending it, saying, "Gender is fluid. Language is fluid. " Yes.
[music] And Latino voters are fluid. [applause] and more of them now than ever are identifying as Republican. The joke exposes a larger problem.
Political branding gets invented by activists then handed to the people it supposedly describes. When those people say no, they get a lecture that is backwards. You do not win communities by correcting how they identify themselves.
You win by listening. When a label is more popular with consultants than with the people expected to wear it, stop defending the PowerPoint and hear the voters. Would and should the US actually commit US troops to defend Taiwan if China were to move?
Um, you know, I think that uh this is such a uh you know, I I think that this is a um this is of course a a very long-standing um policy of the United States. Oh my lord. That was at the Munich Security Conference months ago, ladies and gentlemen.
That means she flew overseas to tackle a subject she knew she was going over there to tackle knowing the question that was going to be asked and that was her response. What am I missing? This is where a social media star gets examined as a potential commanderin-chief.
On Instagram, a pause can look thoughtful. On a security stage, it looks like panic. Taiwan is not surprised trivia.
A serious contender needs a clear framework ready. Allies listen. Adversaries study hesitation.
Campaigns weaponize everything. One weak answer can become an opponent's strongest commercial. And follower engagement cannot edit it away.
AOC says so many people in this country hate women. Oh jeez. [laughter] Even the guy at the party who pulls out a guitar is like, "Way to ruin the fun.
" [laughter] Congressman Jamal Bowman says, "Capitalism [music] is slavery by another name. " No, it's not. It's the thing that has given more people more prosperity and hope than any other system, [music] flawed, though it surely is.
[applause] But but again, something like the free market is kind of synonymous [music] with America. And if you don't like it, I don't know how you can say you love this [music] country. Mah moves from bad messaging to the world view underneath it.
Saying millions of people hate women may excite a friendly room, but it makes ordinary voters feel accused. The capitalism line has the same flaw. You can attack monopolies, corporate capture, stagnant wages, and obscene executive pay without calling the entire market economy slavery.
Most Americans do not want to burn the system down. They want it to stop cheating them. Reform invites them in.
Condemnation pushes them out. Okay, how about this one? Workers [clears throat] workers can migrate free across borders.
That seems like a was a loser for the Democrats last time. I don't think that's going to be a winner. Or or is it really even What does that even mean?
Workers. No, I think we need a secure border and there's a place you can come in. Okay, that's the tail.
It's a loser. Yeah, the DSA are radicals about this concept and radical economic policy is always inelectably married to radical social policy. Their platform, for example, calls for completely open borders.
Therefore, what Biden was doing, but more. You think you're going to win an election on that? This just seems like more extremism at a time when Americans are begging both parties, please, could just [music] one of you act normal.
Could just one of you act normal? Belongs in every campaign office. Border policy can be humane and enforced.
A country can welcome legal immigration, protect asylum, and still know who is entering. Those ideas only become contradictory when activists turn them into a purity test. When Democrats dodge a basic demand for order, Republicans replay the dodge, a movement that cannot clearly say secure border has already lost the opening round.
When he ran in 2020, Bernie Sanders said he would legalize marijuana on his first day as president, but that the business of selling pot would be awarded first to those who suffered most from the And you [music] know what? I can't argue with that instinct. the has been a horrendous instrument of prejudice and punishment for racial minorities.
So it seems fair that they jumped the line for franchises the way Indians did for casinos. But it's also what's holding up Republican support for legalizing which would be good for everybody. And these are the hard practical choices the Democrats have to weigh.
redress the past or reach out to the getable white voter who says, "You know what? I'd like a shot at getting in the pot business. " This is how a popular reform becomes a graduate seminar nobody requested.
Legalization has a broad coalition. Regulate the market, collect taxes, end pointless arrests, and stop wasting police resources. Then the policy becomes a moral admissions process, and everyone fights over who deserves a license.
Repairing past discrimination is valid. Pretending there is no trade-off is not. Sometimes passing 80% helps more people than delivering a perfect speech about the 100% that never becomes law.
Chuck Schumer has been in elected office for 50 years. 1974 he was first elected. 50 years.
AOC will absolutely [music] kick his ass in a primary. She is the leader of the Democratic party in this moment. uh and will continue to be I think the biggest driver of where the party goes uh from a uh governmental policy standpoint and that drives [music] many of my colleagues crazy but the fact is she has tapped into the base of support within the Democratic party and you see the juxiposition between her and Chuck Schumer.
This is bigger than one Senate primary. Schumer has seniority, donors, titles and the Washington machine. AOC has attention, and attention can eat seniority for breakfast.
But dominating a deep blue primary is not the same as winning Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, or Wisconsin. The activist wing can become strong enough to punish moderates inside the party while remaining too polarizing to beat Republicans outside it. The movement wins the clubhouse and loses the stadium.
And who do you see for on the horizon for 2028 in the Democratic primary [music] right now? Yeah. Bernie and AOC.
No, they got the biggest crowds. That doesn't matter. It won't It won't sustain itself.
But right now, they have no leader. Okay? But this is the thing the Republican party has to understand, too.
Both parties lost in the last election. Trump won. Okay?
And I don't know if that's going to transfer. We should have won four more seats [music] in the Senate. If you looked at the last 70 races for the Senate, 69 follow AOC and Bernie.
And who's at the top? They're going to lead right now. Who's at the top of that ticket?
heaven. Mah is right that crowds do not equal votes. McCarthy is right that an empty field gets filled by whoever already has an army.
If mainstream Democrats whisper about electability while Bernie and AOC tour, fund raise, and own the algorithm, the primary could be emotionally decided early. Outsiders become frontr runners through loyal supporters, weak opposition, and momentum. The moderate wing lacks someone capable of turning its voters into a movement.
What should have happened after that is one of the adults on stage should have told their young loyal followers this is not a symbol of freedom. This [music] is [applause and cheering] [applause] if the thought leaders in the Democratic party keep encouraging and not rebuking the idea that America is cringe and the people who run Gaza are great, the Democrats are doomed. Alyssa Slotkin's right.
Liberals are weak and woke, especially the white ones, and they indulge all sorts of nonsense from their kids, a pattern that then continues on in the Democratic party. Last election, it was all the gender stuff, the insistence that men can have babies and such. Mars wording is provocative, but the point is simple.
You cannot lead a country you seem embarrassed to represent. Criticizing America can be patriotic. Treating its symbols like awkward props is different.
Voters see who gets cheered, who stays silent, and which causes receive the most passion. Leadership is not agreeing with everyone in your coalition. Sometimes it means telling your own side clearly and publicly, "No, that is not us.
" Let's start with AOC. We know she's got a grassroots following and she's young, but we also know she has a socialist label. defund error positions, polarizing, [music] no executive experience, and foreign policy scrutiny.
That sounds like the opening slide of a Republican campaign deck. Every weakness is searchable and attached to years of video. Opponents would not need to invent a caricature.
They could edit the archive. AOC can moderate and risk losing the activists who made her powerful or stay pure and confirm the fears of general election voters. That is not merely a messaging problem.
It is a coalition problem. and slogans cannot solve it. One wing is saying don't ever use the word socialist again.
And one is saying I am a democratic socialist. Clear, huh? So, how do we decide who's right?
Well, it turns out we don't really have to flip a coin. We have the evidence. In 2024, 13 Democrats won in districts Trump also won.
All moderates. This isn't rocket science. All the left-leaning think tanks have done [music] autopsies on 2024 and they all came up with the same message.
Move to the center. Even the New York Times, which did so much to promote woke politics, [music] now says the partisans are wrong. Moving to the center is the way to win.
And Democrats should recognize the party moved too far left on social issues after Obama left office. Gosh, if [music] only someone had been saying that all along. But [applause] [applause] but you know, welcome home.
This is Mar's strongest point because it moves from vibes to outcomes. Democrats who survived hostile districts spoke plainly about costs, jobs, safety, abortion rights, infrastructure, and competence. They did not require voters to memorize activist vocabulary.
The center can be cowardly when it stands for nothing. It can also mean popular goals, clear boundaries, and the courage to reject both extremes. Winning swing voters is not selling out.
Persuasion is the job. I don't tell them they're dumb. They're not dumb.
They're ignorant. There's a different There's a difference. [applause] There's a difference.
To call someone stupid. Yes, that's wrong. Stupid.
You're you can't help because you're stupid. But calling him ignorant would be a terrible electoral strategy. It's electoral.
Yes, electoral. Yeah, you know what I meant. Electorally that would be a terrible strategy.
Mah widens the lens. The problem is an information system that rewards certainty before knowledge. Social media turns shallow confidence into a personal brand while political tribes punish complexity.
The right has its own version of this disease. The answer is not to call voters ignorant. That is electoral poison.
Explain tradeoffs, speak plainly, and stop treating disagreement as evil. Politics is not therapy, and the country is not a classroom waiting to be corrected. Can Bernie and AOC win in 2028?
Their strength is enthusiasm. Their weakness is a coalition that narrows whenever ideological purity becomes the entry fee. Mah is not telling Democrats to become Republicans.
He is telling them to stop daring normal voters to leave. Secure the border without demonizing immigrants. Reform capitalism without treating prosperity as a sin.
Expand health care without hiding the bill. Defend minority rights without forcing unwanted labels. Criticize America without acting ashamed of it.
Republicans do not need either candidate to win the nomination. They only need Democrats to look afraid of disagreeing with them. So, is Mah diagnosing the problem honestly?
Could AOC build a national majority? Or would her old clips become campaign ads? Drp your take in the comments.
Hit like and subscribe. By 2028, the real question may be whether anyone inside the party is willing to stop the far-left.
