Dems embrace 'Dark Woke' in attempt to push back against Trump

It seems that the Democrats have finally figured out which way they're going to go. In the months since Kamala Harris lost the presidential election to Donald Trump, it's been unclear what the Democrats stand for, what their vibe is, or how they plan to proceed.

It's been a toss-up as to whether they'd veer further left into the progressive wing of the party or embrace the center. They've decided: they're going "dark woke," veering progressive, vibing brat, and cursing up a storm.

A new article out from The New York Times paints a picture, with a photo of Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett standing in shadowy sunlight as the graphic, of a Democrat Party leaning into their dark side.

"As liberals try to get their groove back," the Times writes, "some party insiders say Democratic politicians have been encouraged to embrace a new form of combative rhetoric aimed at winning back voters who have responded to President Trump’s no-holds-barred version of politics."

What does that look like in practice? It's Tim Walz blasting Elon Musk on stage, then saying he made the billionaire "cry." Walz notoriously said he enjoyed watching Tesla stock drop, despite it being a holding of pension funds for workers in his state. Everyone in Walz's party loved it while many others saw it as desperate, cringe, and out of touch. 

"It’s an attempt to step outside the bounds of the political correctness that Republicans have accused Democrats of establishing," the Times goes on. "And it requires being crass but discerning, rude but only to a point."

"Dark woke" is a take on the meme "Dark Brandon," which also wasn't particularly effective. It referred to "the version of the former president that conservatives most feared," the Times notes. However, the "Brandon" meme was based on a viral moment at a NASCAR race when, after winning, a driver was interviewed only for the crowd to be heard in the background chanting "f*ck Joe Biden."

The interviewer told viewers the crowd was saying "Let's go, Brandon," as the driver's name was Brandon. After that moment, saying "Let's go, Brandon" became synonymous with "f*ck Joe Biden" and Dems tried to rebrand it as a positive, but it mostly fell flat.

That crassness, that "rude only to a point," is represented by Crockett, New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and also by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' recent speech from California music festival Coachella's stage. 

AOC, per Axios, "is racing to fill the vacuum" as Democrats "are scrambling for a new identity." She's been on a tour with Sanders, going around the country on a private jet to complain about the rich. 

As the nation moves right, the Democrats want to curse their bloody heads off, keep calling everyone they disagree with Nazis, and still not stand for anything. They say that cursing is a "shortcut to authenticity," meaning that Americans can expect more bleeps from Dems in the coming months.

Their "party platform" is still the slap-dash one they put together for the convention last summer that's all about Biden's vision for America, a vision that was widely rejected in November.

"I don't think this is Trump country, I think this is our country," AOC has said in her red-state stops with Sanders. A spokesperson for Sanders said, "The best way to defeat authoritarianism is with a strong, working-class coalition that spans the political spectrum."

The working class largely went for Trump in the recent election and it's the working class that the Trump administration is focusing on with their work on trade, the economy, and social reforms, such as removing men from women's sports.

Democrats have not had a leader since Kamala Harris lost to Trump in the recent presidential election and so far, AOC is second in polling to Harris as to who Dems should run in the next national election.