Dwell protection from Munich: POLITICO is on the bottom on the Munich Safety Convention, the place we’re having conversations with high officers, lawmakers and specialists at our POLITICO Pub. Comply with our unique protection right here.
MUNICH — Senator Mark Warner has a blunt evaluation of the Democratic Get together’s struggles within the wake of its crushing losses within the final election.
“I feel the Democrats’ model is admittedly unhealthy, and I feel this was an election based mostly on tradition,” the Virginia Democrat mentioned at a POLITICO Pub occasion on the sidelines of the Munich Safety Convention. “And the Democrats’ sort of failure to attach on a cultural foundation with a large swath of People is vastly problematic.”
He criticized rigidity inside his get together, blaming it for the Republican sweep of the Home, Senate and White Home.
“I feel the vast majority of the get together realizes that the ideological purity of a number of the teams is a recipe for catastrophe and that candidly the assault on over-the-top wokeism was a legitimate assault,” Warner mentioned.
He expressed begrudging admiration for President Donald Trump’s capability to make outrageous statements with out paying a political value and seize the eye of a public that largely ignores conventional media.
“President Trump can say just about something and it’s forgotten throughout the identical 24-hour information interval, so that could be a whine and a grievance, however it’s the truth,” Warner mentioned.
Trump additionally has a “reinforcing” social media military, Warner famous.
“That’s extraordinary, and Democrats have gotten rather a lot to be taught from that,” he mentioned.
With Democrats cut up between resisting Trump, permitting him to fail or discovering frequent floor, Warner — the Senate Intelligence Committee’s high Democrat — mentioned Trump can’t be given “a move on actions that injury nationwide safety.”
Alongside these strains, Warner ripped the Trump administration’s Division of Authorities Effectivity effort for its raid on federal knowledge, led by a cadre of younger Elon Musk acolytes. He singled out one who Musk rehired despite reviews he posted about his racist beliefs.
“I’ve big safety issues when you’ve 22-year-olds who might not even respect the worth of the data theft being so careless,” he mentioned.
Robbie Gramer contributed to this report.
