Democrats have got to stop saying ‘POC'
President Donald Trump's victory over former Vice President Kamala Harris has Democrats reeling — especially because he significantly improved his numbers with nonwhite voters the party desperately needs to keep in its coalition.
How can the Democrats regain the ground they've lost? Sociologist Jerel Ezell has an idea: Stop using the term 'people of color.'
'Democrats are now in the thick of a come-to-Jesus reckoning over these losses,' Ezell writes in this week's Friday Read, 'and it should begin with this obvious truth: There is no deep cultural, social, economic or political linkage between Black, Latino, Indigenous and Asian Americans — at least not one that can be leveraged by the party for votes.'
In sociology, he writes, 'when it's clear that one of our terms has begun to lose its accuracy, we must muster the humility to redefine or jettison it. In politics, at least, it's time to stop thinking about 'people of color.''
Read the story.'It's getting a little uncomfortable, even for me. Even I'm starting to feel like that guy in the picture that would hail Hitler.'
Can you guess who said this about Steve Bannon after he replicated Elon Musk's controversial 'salute' at CPAC? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.**Trump's Kennedy Center Won't Look Like You Think … Trump's takeover of the Kennedy Center stoked fears that it would devolve into Kid Rock and monster trucks. But trustee Paolo Zampolli — the man who reportedly introduced Donald and Melania — has a very different plan in mind. 'He wants a marina for boat parking and water taxis outside; a Cipriani restaurant upstairs; international outposts in Europe, Asia and the Middle East' writes Capital City columnist Michael Schaffer. And we haven't even mentioned sending art to outer space yet.If you're confused as to why everyone's talking about chain saws and memes, you probably didn't keep up with CPAC. But if you drop these talking points into conversation, your friends will think you were practically Vice President JD Vance's plus one. (From Associate Editor Dylon Jones)
Talking to MAGA folks? Pretend like this was not the first time you ever heard of Natasha Owens, who became the latest woman to hop on the 'political text on a gown' trend when she performed the national anthem at CPAC. (Her outfit was emblazoned with a new take on the DOGE acronym, 'Democrats officially getting exposed.') 'Look y'all, her album That America is fine, but true fans know American Patriot was her best.'
Of course you know that Vance got the warm reception the Munich Security Conference denied him. Make a new insult he deployed into a game with your group chat: 'Who's your favorite person the vice president might call an 'androgynous idiot'? Think he'd put Bowie on that list? Tilda Swinton? Prince?'
As someone well-versed in the internecine divisions within the modern conservative movement, you'll be able to point out a certain irony in the schedule of speakers: 'They seriously put Steve Bannon right after Elon Musk? Bannon called the guy a 'parasitic illegal immigrant,' and Musk said he was 'a great talker, but not a great doer.' Whoever set that lineup is wild.'
Everyone will have something to say about Musk's latest prop, the chain saw he got from Argentine President Javier Milei. But there's really only one fact that matters: 'Guys, he never even turned damn the thing on.'
Little House in the 'Woke' Wars … The news of a Little House on the Prairie reboot kicked off a social media debate when Megyn Kelly tweeted at Netflix: 'if you wokeify Little House on the Prairie I will make it my singular mission to absolutely ruin your project.' Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls Wilder in the original series, shot back on Threads: 'Umm…watch the original again. TV doesn't get too much more 'woke' than we did.' In some ways, the social media showdown was nothing new: 'Liberal Hollywood has been a favorite target of 'anti-woke' derision for some time,' writes Jason Kyle Howard. 'But Little House is a particularly striking example of the politicization of popular entertainment precisely because the original show was seen as decidedly non-political.'Elon Musk's 13 Kids Are Dividing the Right … The announcement that conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair had become the fourth woman to birth a child of Elon Musk — his 13th — got a mixed reaction from the right. Former Rep. Matt Gaetz praised Musk's 'incredible genetics,' while former Turning Point USA staffer Jon Root said that 'much of conservatism is filled with godless hypocrites who couldn't care less about conserving traditional family values.' To make sense of 'the potential rupture in Donald Trump's Barstool bros and Bible study coalition,' Adam Wren spoke with conservative sociologist Brad Wilcox. 'I'm delighted that Musk has been a proponent of what we're calling pro-natalism,' Wilcox said. 'But I think Musk hasn't yet demonstrated an appreciation for the important role that marriage as an institution plays in stabilizing family life.'From the drafting table of editorial cartoonist Matt Wuerker.Who Dissed? answer: It was white supremacist streamer Nick Fuentes.
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