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Democrats with an eye on 2028 reject some parts of liberal orthodoxy - WaPo

Some presidential prospects have embraced “Sister Souljah moments” that demonstrate their independence.

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For many Democrats, these declarations of independence echo Bill Clinton’s public slap at the rap artist Sister Souljah in 1992, an event that came to epitomize moments when a politician pointedly distances themselves from the party’s liberal base.

Sister Souljah, commenting on rioters in Los Angeles that year, had told The Washington Post, “If Black people kill Black people every day, why not have a week and kill White people? … So if you’re a gang member and you would normally be killing somebody, why not kill a White person?”

In an appearance before the Rainbow Coalition, a civil rights group, Clinton said Souljah’s comments were “filled with the kind of hatred that you do not honor.” She responded by saying her comments had been intended to convey the mindset of a Los Angeles gang member, not to advocate killing anyone. But Clinton generated headlines for distinguishing himself from the image that many voters had of Democrats as left-wing and countercultural.

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When Shapiro appeared on Nugent’s podcast to tout his success in ending a Sunday hunting ban, he framed it as a blow for “freedom” but also made it clear that he was not claiming to be a hunter. “I want to be brutally honest with you here. I’m not a hunter myself. I don’t pretend to be,” Shapiro said on the podcast. “But I have so much respect for our commonwealth’s hunters and sportsmen, and I thought this was the right thing to do.”

[Nugent] rewarded Shapiro with praise likely to resonate with his listeners. “You are a Democrat, but you know what, Governor Josh? You are my blood brother,” Nugent said. A spokesman for Shapiro said the governor works regularly with people he disagrees with on a range of issues, a necessity to get things done in a politically divided state like Pennsylvania.

Shapiro’s appearance with Nugent, the spokesman said, was an opportunity that presented itself after the governor signed the hunting measure, rather than one he sought out.

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Emanuel sat down with Kelly, a staunch conservative. “Unlike some of the loons over on the other side, he’s a centrist,” Kelly said by way of introduction. As Emanuel talked about education, Kelly fired off a series of questions to ferret out his views on trans issues: Should men be in women’s prisons? Should men be on women’s sports teams?

Emanuel said no to each. “As a father of a son and two girls, they are fundamentally physically different,” Emanuel said. “That’s just biology.”

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Trump repeatedly portrayed Harris and other Democrats as un-American and culturally alien, using terms like “vermin,” “Marxist” and “communist.” Many strategists from both parties believe the most successful ad of the campaign was a Trump spot showing Harris supporting gender surgery for prison inmates, punctuated by the tagline, “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”

“What the Republicans did — wonderfully — was they focused on inflation, they focused on the border and they made the election about that,” Democratic strategist Neil Oxman said. “They said we were too woke and talking about trans stuff and all that crap. And instead of us talking about inflation and the border, we only talked abortion and things that played right into Republicans’ hands. We got caught in the trap. We can’t let that happen again.”