May 14 2025 - 8:30pm
In a period of momentous headlines, one can be forgiven for overlooking the latest bit of tawdry drama out of the Democratic Party, and more specifically, the Democratic National Committee, the party’s executive leadership board. But the recent news concerning the fate of a man only recently elected to the position of vice-chair at the DNC is indicative of a much broader problem in American politics — a problem that is almost certain to lead to more dramatic effects down the line.
So what are the details? In short, there is a slow internal war happening inside the Democratic Party at present, as it reels from the 2024 electoral loss and Trump’s second term. One leader in that war is David Hogg — a young political operator who is a rising star inside the party. Hogg recently won an election for vice-chair of the DNC, but he now faces a re-vote after claims that the election breached the party’s rules on gender representation. Now, months later, the elections of Hogg and a fellow vice-chair, Malcolm Kenyatta, have been voided.
This is hardly a case of wokeness gone too far. The real impetus behind the conflict between the party establishment and David Hogg is an open secret: Hogg is the leader of a political action committee aimed at challenging and replacing aging, establishment Democrats with more competent young candidates. Though Hogg has made it clear that he wishes no harm to the party itself, the PAC has pledged to never challenge seats that could be lost to Republicans in a general election. This is nevertheless a threat to the party apparatus, since the median age of congressional Democrats is 57 in the House and 66 in the Senate.
What people like David Hogg are fond of pointing out to justify their actions is that the Democratic Party itself — and indeed, the entire political system — is now remarkably unpopular. Democrat approval ratings are at record lows, and the party lacks a unifying leader. Just recently, 74-year-old Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer bragged about sending Donald Trump a “strongly worded letter” with several “strong questions” about the President’s attacks on Harvard and public research funding. That Schumer didn’t even realize he was walking straight into a punchline says it all; party leadership now seems out of step with reality and unable to keep pace with the world as it looks in 2025.
In another bit of tawdry political drama, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (whose revolutionary firebrand credentials mask a fairly cautious and obedient party woman) made a bid for leadership in the powerful House Oversight Committee — a congressional institution that would be a natural frontline in some sort of pushback against Donald Trump’s various attempts to concentrate more power into the hands of the executive. But AOC was deemed too disloyal for the role, and party grandees instead opted for a man by the name of Gerry Connelly — a 75-year-old man who is battling cancer and has now resigned due to his illness.
Will Democratic leadership manage, by hook or by crook, to fend off challengers like David Hogg? Quite possibly. But that’s the tragedy of American politics today. If Donald Trump fails to achieve his goals, there may be no real alternative — no viable path forward. The political class, as a whole, has become a spent force, too busy fiddling to notice that Rome-on-the-Potomac is burning down around them.
