‘Morning Joe’ Guest Admits Democrats Have ‘Substance’ Problem

MSNBC contributor John Heilemann claimed Democrats who focused on “language” were missing a bigger problem the party had in the wake of its defeat in the 2024 election.

President Donald Trump carried 13% of the black vote in the 2024 presidential election, according to CNN’s exit poll, compared to 12% in 2020 and 8% in 2016, while also making substantial gains among Hispanic and young voters that year compared to his previous campaigns. Heileman told “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski on Tuesday that while parties “losing traction” with key voter groups often are in that position due to issues. (RELATED: ‘This Is Why You Fu*kers Are Losing Elections’: Jake Tapper Recalls Rude Joke Podcasters Made About His Son)

“I would say that the focus on language is something we’ve seen in a lot of political parties when they get into trouble. This is something, you know, you can think back to the periods where the Republican Party has been out of favor,” Heilemann told Brzezinski. “People think, ‘Oh, well, how do we how do we talk differently? How do we — we have to reach this group, we have to reach that group. And the way to reach this group or that group is to tailor our messaging to try to reach those groups.’ And it turns out, at least in our lifetimes, that the way that you start to reach groups that you have lost favor with or that used to support the party, but now don’t and you’re losing traction with them, is partly a language thing, but really it’s more of a substance thing.”

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“It’s a thing of, like, what does the party believe in? And so when I hear Rahm, enormous respect for Rahm Emanuel, he’s accomplished a lot, I said this literally on the show last week, Elissa Slotkin is another person who’s been saying the same sort of thing, ‘weak and woke,’ that phrase is a phrase that various people who want to moderate the party have been throwing around,” Heilemann continued. “What I think is important here is that it’s not the question of what the party’s image is, but is what does the party stand for. If the party takes positions on issues that are weak and woke, it will seem weak and woke. If it takes positions that are strong and not woke, that is the way to go forward. It’s not about language, it’s about where are you going to deviate from what has become Democratic ideological conformity.”

“I’m sure Rahm has examples, Elissa Slotkin probably has examples, but that’s the conversation, that’s the debate, that’s the work the Democrats have to do right now, is not thinking about their language,” Heilemann said. “The language will follow the positions. The language will follow the substance. And what I am not hearing so far in this first six months after November 6th, after the big loss last year, is that kind of work, the kind of reform work that goes to what does this party want to believe in, that will lure working class voters of all races back to it.”

Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg announced plans to raise money to primary some incumbent Democrats in April, drawing fire from other Democratic leaders before he agreed to donate $100,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). Democratic strategist James Carville suggested that left-wing Democrats like Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota should leave the party, arguing they harmed its chances in elections.

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