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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Great Un-Awokening
Ambitious Democrats with an eye on a presidential run are in the middle of a slow-motion Sister Souljah moment. Searching for a path out of the political wilderness, potential 2028 candidates, especially those hailing from blue states, are attempting to ratchet back a leftward lurch on social issues some in the party say cost them the November election. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who is Black, vetoed a bill that took steps toward reparations passed by his state legislature. California Gov. Gavin Newsom called it 'unfair' to allow transgender athletes to participate in female college and youth sports. And Rahm Emmanuel has urged his party to veer back to the center. 'Stop talking about bathrooms and locker rooms and start talking about the classroom," said former Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emmanuel, the two-term Chicago mayor who said he is open to a 2028 presidential campaign. "If one child is trying to figure out their pronoun, I accept that, but the rest of the class doesn't know what a pronoun is and can't even define it,' Each of these candidates are, either deliberately or tacitly, countering a perceived weakness in their own political record or party writ large—Emmanuel, for example, has called the Democratic Party 'weak and woke'; Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) has said the party needs more 'alpha energy'; others like Newsom are perhaps acknowledging a more socially liberal bent in the past. On diversity, equity, and inclusion, some in the party are also sending a signal they're no longer kowtowing to their left flank. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg removed his pronouns from his social media bio months ago, and questioned how the party has communicated about it. "Is it caring for people's different experiences and making sure no one is mistreated because of them, which I will always fight for?' he said in a forum at the University of Chicago earlier this year. 'Or is it making people sit through a training that looks like something out of 'Portlandia,' which I have also experienced," Buttigieg said. Buttigieg added, "And it is how Trump Republicans are made.' Moderate Democrats are having a moment and there is a cadre of consultants and strategists ready to support them. Ground zero for the party's great un-awokening was this week's WelcomeFest, the moderate Democrats' Coachella. There, hundreds of centrist elected officials, candidates and operatives gathered to commiserate over their 2024 losses and their party's penchant for purity tests. Panels on Wednesday featured Slotkin, Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), described as 'legends of the moderate community,' and included a presentation by center-left data guru David Shor, who has urged Democrats to shed toxic positions like "defund the police." Adam Frisch, the former congressional candidate and director of electoral programs at Welcome PAC, said his party is 'out of touch culturally with a lot of people.' "I think a lot of people are realizing, whether you're running for the House, the Senate, or the presidential, we better start getting on track with what I call the pro-normal party coalition,' Frisch said. 'You need to focus on normal stuff, and normal stuff is economic opportunity and prosperity, not necessarily micro-social issues." Then there is Newsom, the liberal former mayor of San Francisco, who has also distanced himself from so-called woke terminology and stances. The governor claimed earlier this year that he had never used the word 'Latinx,' despite having repeatedly employed it just years earlier and once decrying Republicans who've sought to ban the gender-neutral term for Latinos. Newsom made the claim on his podcast episode with conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk — one of several MAGA personalities the governor has hosted on the platform in recent months. 'I just didn't even know where it came from. What are we talking about?' Newsom told Kirk. The governor, who gained national notoriety in 2004 for defying state law and issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in San Francisco, has also pivoted on some LGBTQ+ issues. Newsom broke with Democrats this spring when he said, in the same podcast episode with Kirk, that he opposes allowing transgender women and girls to participate in female college and youth sports. 'I think it's an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness — it's deeply unfair,' Newsom said, a comment that was panned by many of his longtime LGBTQ+ supporters and progressive allies. Newsom for months has also muted his tone on immigration issues, avoiding using the word 'sanctuary' to describe a state law that limits police cooperation with federal immigration authorities even as he defends the legality of the policy. The governor is proposing steep cuts to a free health care program for undocumented immigrants, which comes as California faces a $12 billion budget deficit. In recent days, however, he joined a chorus of California Democrats criticizing Trump administration immigration efforts in his state. Moore, who recently trekked to South Carolina, vetoed legislation that would launch a study of reparations for the descendants of slaves from the Democratic-controlled legislature. Moore urged Democrats not get bogged down by bureaucratic malaise and pointed to the Republican Party as the reason why. 'Donald Trump doesn't need a study to dismantle democracy. Donald Trump doesn't need a study to use the Constitution like it's a suggestion box," he told a packed dinner of party power players. "Donald Trump doesn't need a white paper to start arbitrary trade wars that will raise the cost of virtually everything in our lives,' Moore said. There are some notable exceptions to the party's border pivot to the center. Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Tim Walz of Minnesota haven't shied away from social issues. Beshear, who has vetoed several anti-LGBTQ+ bills, including during his own reelection year, attacked Newsom for inviting conservative provocateurs Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk onto his podcast. He also drew a distinction with Newsom on transgender athletes playing in youth sports, arguing that 'our different leagues have more than the ability to make' sports 'fair,' he told reporters in March. 'Surely, we can see some humanity and some different perspectives in this overall debate's that going on right now,' Beshear added. The Kentucky governor said his stance is rooted in faith — 'all children are children of God,' he often says. Walz called it 'a mistake' to abandon transgender people. 'We need to tell people your cost of eggs, your health care being denied, your homeowner's insurance, your lack of getting warning on tornadoes coming has nothing to do with someone's gender,' he told The Independent last month. Pritzker, too, recently said that it's 'vile and inhumane to go after the smallest minority and attack them.' This spring, Pritzker declared March 31 as Illinois' Transgender Day of Visibility. 'Walz, [Sen. Chris] Murphy, Pritzker, Beshear — they're not going around talking about it all the time, but they're also not running away from their values,' said one adviser to a potential 2028 candidate granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly. 'They're in the both-and lane.' The party's reckoning with social issues is far from over. In 2021, then-Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro vocally opposed a GOP bill that aimed to ban trans athletes from participating in women's school sports, calling it "cruel" and 'designed to discriminate against transgender youth who just want to play sports like their peers.' This year, as the state's Republican-controlled Senate has passed a similar bill with the support of a handful of Democrats, Shapiro has remained mum on the legislation. It's not likely to come up for a vote in the state's Democratic-held House, so he may be able to punt — at least a while. As Emmanuel sees it, his party has a long way to go to over-correct for what he paints as the excesses of the last few years. 'The core crux over the years of President [Joe] Biden's tenure is the party on a whole set of cultural issues looked like they were off on a set of tangential issues,' Emmanuel said. Dasha Burns, Dustin Gardner, Holly Otterbein, and Brakkton Booker contributed to this report.
Politico
3 days ago
- Politics
- Politico
Democrats eyeing a presidential bid scramble to un-woke themselves
Ambitious Democrats with an eye on a presidential run are in the middle of a slow-motion Sister Souljah moment. Searching for a path out of the political wilderness, potential 2028 candidates, especially those hailing from blue states, are attempting to ratchet back a leftward lurch on social issues some in the party say cost them the November election. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who is Black, vetoed a bill that took steps toward reparations passed by his state legislature. California Gov. Gavin Newsom called it 'unfair' to allow transgender athletes to participate in female college and youth sports. And Rahm Emmanuel has urged his party to veer back to the center. 'Stop talking about bathrooms and locker rooms and start talking about the classroom,' said former Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emmanuel, the two-term Chicago mayor who said he is open to a 2028 presidential campaign. 'If one child is trying to figure out their pronoun, I accept that, but the rest of the class doesn't know what a pronoun is and can't even define it,' Each of these candidates are, either deliberately or tacitly, countering a perceived weakness in their own political record or party writ large—Emmanuel, for example, has called the Democratic Party 'weak and woke'; Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) has said the party needs more 'alpha energy'; others like Newsom are perhaps acknowledging a more socially liberal bent in the past. On diversity, equity, and inclusion, some in the party are also sending a signal they're no longer kowtowing to their left flank. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg removed his pronouns from his social media bio months ago, and questioned how the party has communicated about it. 'Is it caring for people's different experiences and making sure no one is mistreated because of them, which I will always fight for?' he said in a forum at the University of Chicago earlier this year. 'Or is it making people sit through a training that looks like something out of 'Portlandia,' which I have also experienced,' Buttigieg said. Buttigieg added, 'And it is how Trump Republicans are made.' Moderate Democrats are having a moment and there is a cadre of consultants and strategists ready to support them. Ground zero for the party's great un-awokening was this week's WelcomeFest, the moderate Democrats' Coachella. There, hundreds of centrist elected officials, candidates and operatives gathered to commiserate over their 2024 losses and their party's penchant for purity tests. Panels on Wednesday featured Slotkin, Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), described as 'legends of the moderate community,' and included a presentation by center-left data guru David Shor, who has urged Democrats to shed toxic positions like 'defund the police.' Adam Frisch, the former congressional candidate and director of electoral programs at Welcome PAC, said his party is 'out of touch culturally with a lot of people.' 'I think a lot of people are realizing, whether you're running for the House, the Senate, or the presidential, we better start getting on track with what I call the pro-normal party coalition,' Frisch said. 'You need to focus on normal stuff, and normal stuff is economic opportunity and prosperity, not necessarily micro-social issues.' Then there is Newsom, the liberal former mayor of San Francisco, who has also distanced himself from so-called woke terminology and stances. The governor claimed earlier this year that he had never used the word 'Latinx,' despite having repeatedly employed it just years earlier and once decrying Republicans who've sought to ban the gender-neutral term for Latinos. Newsom made the claim on his podcast episode with conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk — one of several MAGA personalities the governor has hosted on the platform in recent months. 'I just didn't even know where it came from. What are we talking about?' Newsom told Kirk. The governor, who gained national notoriety in 2004 for defying state law and issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in San Francisco, has also pivoted on some LGBTQ+ issues. Newsom broke with Democrats this spring when he said, in the same podcast episode with Kirk, that he opposes allowing transgender women and girls to participate in female college and youth sports. 'I think it's an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness — it's deeply unfair,' Newsom said, a comment that was panned by many of his longtime LGBTQ+ supporters and progressive allies. Newsom for months has also muted his tone on immigration issues, avoiding using the word 'sanctuary' to describe a state law that limits police cooperation with federal immigration authorities even as he defends the legality of the policy. The governor is proposing steep cuts to a free health care program for undocumented immigrants, which comes as California faces a $12 billion budget deficit. In recent days, however, he joined a chorus of California Democrats criticizing Trump administration immigration efforts in his state. Moore, who recently trekked to South Carolina, vetoed legislation that would launch a study of reparations for the descendants of slaves from the Democratic-controlled legislature. Moore urged Democrats not get bogged down by bureaucratic malaise and pointed to the Republican Party as the reason why. 'Donald Trump doesn't need a study to dismantle democracy. Donald Trump doesn't need a study to use the Constitution like it's a suggestion box,' he told a packed dinner of party power players. 'Donald Trump doesn't need a white paper to start arbitrary trade wars that will raise the cost of virtually everything in our lives,' Moore said. There are some notable exceptions to the party's border pivot to the center. Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Tim Walz of Minnesota haven't shied away from social issues. Beshear, who has vetoed several anti-LGBTQ+ bills, including during his own reelection year, attacked Newsom for inviting conservative provocateurs Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk onto his podcast. He also drew a distinction with Newsom on transgender athletes playing in youth sports, arguing that 'our different leagues have more than the ability to make' sports 'fair,' he told reporters in March. 'Surely, we can see some humanity and some different perspectives in this overall debate's that going on right now,' Beshear added. The Kentucky governor said his stance is rooted in faith — 'all children are children of God,' he often says. Walz called it 'a mistake' to abandon transgender people. 'We need to tell people your cost of eggs, your health care being denied, your homeowner's insurance, your lack of getting warning on tornadoes coming has nothing to do with someone's gender,' he told The Independent last month. Pritzker, too, recently said that it's 'vile and inhumane to go after the smallest minority and attack them.' This spring, Pritzker declared March 31 as Illinois' Transgender Day of Visibility. 'Walz, [Sen. Chris] Murphy, Pritzker, Beshear — they're not going around talking about it all the time, but they're also not running away from their values,' said one adviser to a potential 2028 candidate granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly. 'They're in the both-and lane.' The party's reckoning with social issues is far from over. In 2021, then-Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro vocally opposed a GOP bill that aimed to ban trans athletes from participating in women's school sports, calling it 'cruel' and 'designed to discriminate against transgender youth who just want to play sports like their peers.' This year, as the state's Republican-controlled Senate has passed a similar bill with the support of a handful of Democrats, Shapiro has remained mum on the legislation. It's not likely to come up for a vote in the state's Democratic-held House, so he may be able to punt — at least a while. As Emmanuel sees it, his party has a long way to go to over-correct for what he paints as the excesses of the last few years. 'The core crux over the years of President [Joe] Biden's tenure is the party on a whole set of cultural issues looked like they were off on a set of tangential issues,' Emmanuel said. Dasha Burns, Dustin Gardner, Holly Otterbein, and Brakkton Booker contributed to this report.
Buzz Feed
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
People Share Best And Worst Celebrity Experiences
There's often a huge gap between who celebrities appear to be onscreen and who they really are in person, and unfortunately, that reality can sometimes be more disappointing than we'd like to admit. Over the years, the internet has been flooded with firsthand accounts from people who've crossed paths with stars, revealing just how different those encounters can be. Some celebrities sound incredibly kind, humble, and down-to-earth. Others? Not so much. Recently, I asked the BuzzFeed Community to share their best and worst experiences working with celebrities. Here's what they had to say: "I was working a flight from LA, and on walked William Shatner." I've been a Star Trek fan from the beginning, in part because my dad was an airline pilot with the last name Kirk, therefore Captain Kirk. I'd hoped to have William on a flight someday so I could relay this story to him. Unfortunately, when I asked him if I could get him anything prior to takeoff, all I got was, in a very angry voice, 'Don't want anything to eat or drink, just leave me alone.'" —goldenjaguar92 "I just recently worked with Joan Jett! She was AMAZING! I've been a fan of hers for as long as I've been alive, and I collect Funko Pops. I happened to have one of her, so I asked if she could sign it because we worked together!" "'Worked with' is pushing it, but Keanu Reeves practiced his horse stunts for a movie at my barn." "I'm not a huge fan, but every time he came, he was genuinely nice to the fans and said hi to me every time we crossed paths and even laughed when my coworker fan girled haaaard and signed stuff for her. This was at the end of what he said was a long and hard day, so kudos to him."—progiant876 "I worked with Keith from the Try Guys last summer and his band, Lewberger. Of course, the same day that they were performing and we were working with them was the one day Houston decided to have a derecho, and a literal tornado took the roof off of the venue he was performing at." "The first movie I ever worked on starred Patrick Swayze, amongst others. One day on set, they realized they didn't have legal approval to reference an actual place in LA, so the producers were trying to think of a made-up alternative." "I was standing nearby and heard them and blurted out a fictional name. It was so good, they asked Patrick if he wanted to use that line. He loved it so much he asked me to come help him come up with more ideas to improv his dialogue. We became good friends after that. It broke my heart when he lost his battle with cancer. He was truly one of the kindest, talented, and funniest people I've ever met."—Anonymous, 46, Los Angeles I was an extra in the show Portlandia. Fred Armisen was the sweetest! They were filming a skit as their book owner characters that I wasn't in, so I was waiting around the set and there was a couch, so I sat there with a couple of other extras." "Once Fred was done with his part, he came and sat with us. He was asking everyone their names, and he remembered me! He asked how I was liking being an extra. He was still dressed as his character, which made him feel like a loving auntie. Carrie Brownstein was aloof; she didn't talk to the extras, and she didn't hang out on set. In one of the skits, I had a part as 'Carrie's Annoying Friend', and she was either acting or I truly annoyed her because she would glare at me and not talk to me in between takes. At one point, she kept saying 'go away' as we were filming, and she looked and sounded so angry, I wasn't sure if she was even acting anymore. I looked at the crew, and they just stared back, so I walked off the set and no one said anything."—Anonymous, 31, Oregon "I volunteered to work at the National Civil Rights Museum for the Freedom Awards. Usher was one of the celebrities invited. I opened the door to let him in. He didn't have an entourage, which was very surprising. He shook hands and was very friendly." "Our job was to shield him from excessive contact with those who might want to get too close. We told him we would follow him around to kind of shield him from the crowd. He politely asked us if we would stand back so that he could walk around and be a part of the crowd. We gave him the space he asked for, and it worked perfectly for him and his young admirers. They didn't overwhelm him, and he was friendly and personable with everyone. I was truly impressed with his friendliness and humility."—Anonymous, Memphis, Tennessee "Worked for Jerry Bruckheimer as a receptionist in the 2010s. There was a huge fountain in the middle of the office that was always off since we were in the midst of one of California's many droughts." "But whenever we heard Jerry was coming, we had to run to turn it on to make sure the fountain was going when he entered the lobby, even if he was only there for a few minutes. As soon as he left the building, back off it went."—Anonymous, 32, Los Angeles "A few years ago, I was working on a production team of more than 30 people shooting a big-budget ad campaign for a prominent eyewear brand that was collaborating with Zayn Malik." "This was around the time he was dating Gigi Hadid, and shortly after they had their child. It was a three-day shoot, and Zayn, the 'talent,' was arriving to shoot his scenes at the end of the last day for four hours. Day one was set up and preparation, day two was shooting ancillary content needed for the campaign, and day three was dedicated to setting up for the 'talent' to arrive and shoot his scenes. On day three, buzz around the set was that Zayn is extremely difficult to work with, and only essential production was to be on set when he was on set. Well, when Zayn arrived, it became apparent very quickly that he was living up to his reputation. Zayn was unhappy with the number of wardrobe changes he was asked to do between scenes, had a temper tantrum, and stormed off set like a child. We all sat there astonished at the actions of a grown adult professional until the director called it a wrap early, with barely any of the 'talent's' content shot. An entire production team worked for 2.5 days in preparation for Zayn's four hours on set, and after less than two hours, he stormed off like a child because he was asked to do wardrobe changes between scenes. The post-production team cobbled together what they could and was able to deliver an abridged campaign to the kicker is that the campaign was scheduled to launch shortly after the shoot. The launch was delayed because a week after he stormed off set, Zayn received a slew of bad press for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend's mother, Yolanda Hadid. This all tracks with what I witnessed on set the week prior. The campaign eventually launched almost a year later, after things had cooled down. "—Anonymous, 43, New York City "Years ago, I was working at a very exclusive salon in Beverly Hills. We had a great client named 'Bob' who was funny and totally cool. After a haircut and blow dry, he invited my boss and me to a preview of his friend 'Rob's' new movie." "My boss took a pass, but I said sure, thinking, 'Yeah, everyone has a movie in Hollywood.' I went with my roommate, not expecting much. To my surprise, everybody who was anybody in comedy was there! It turns out his friend 'Rob' was Rob Steiner, and the movie was When Harry Met Sally! I was floored! Turns out 'Bob' was Bob Zmuda, who created Comic Relief! He was the coolest guy! I never forgot it!"—Anonymous, 60, Novato, CA "I once worked with James Earl Jones. I hired him to do the audio for a small multimedia show I was directing and producing." "He was in a studio in New York City, and I was in a studio in my hometown. I had sent his agent the script, which he passed along to Mr. Jones, and he would read it into the telephone, and I would critique his performance.I answered the initial phone call, 'Hello, Mr Jones!' He immediately said, 'Call me Jim.' He must have detected some nervousness in my voice and said, 'Relax, Jeri, let's just have some fun here. I like doing small, innovative projects like this, and you just tell me how you want it and if I'm doing it right.' After several readings, I got EXACTLY what I wanted, and we spent the next 20 minutes talking small talk about his life in Michigan and answering many of his questions about my life. What a fantastic time we had just 'chewin' the fat.' A SELFLESS AND WONDERFUL GENTLEMAN!!"—Anonymous, 81, Grand Rapids Michigan "Christina Aguilera screamed for her assistant to come running (from across the room) because, 'My coffee is hot. Take the lid off!'" "Mind you, I was a) doing her makeup and could have done it for her, and b) SHE COULD HAVE USED HER OWN LEFT HAND. Needless to say, I never took a job with her again. We do not reward bad behavior."—Anonymous, 45, Los Angeles "G-Eazy. He's rude to minimum-wage staff. Gets real nasty when he doesn't get his way. Will utilize his fan base to inflict hate on someone he doesn't like. Dude is WAY too old to be acting the way he does." "On the opposite end, Dylan Minnette (13 Reasons Why) is an absolute sweetheart who allows the venue to buy extra water bottles for his fans at shows when he's on tour with his band Wallows. He talks with the staff and thanks them for their contributions, everyone from janitorial to security. "—Anonymous, 30, CA "Worked at a theatre with Piper Laurie many years ago. She was the nicest person, just a sweetheart. Near the end of the run, she took everyone involved with her show, all of us backstage people, to one of the most expensive restaurants in town and bought all of us a fabulous dinner. Great memory. Wonderful, talented lady." —Anonymous "I worked as a tour guide and would take celebrities out to see the animals at a famous zoo. I did tours for A-list actors, athletes, and musicians. My favorite was a private tour for Mariah Carey, who insisted on bringing her hair and makeup team on the tour. They touched her up mid-tour. She was nice enough, but was very late for her scheduled tour, I'm talking two hours late for a one-hour tour." —Anonymous, 42 California "Worked with and for Paul Simon, nothing like his and rude individual." —Anonymous, 67, New Canaan, Conn. "My sister was a designer for one of Timothée Chalamet's minor movies. She told me they had one interaction in which she dropped a pile of papers. Timothée helped her pick them all up, even though he was in a rush, and thought it was his fault! It wasn't though, my sister has always been really clumsy, lol." —Anonymous "Used to work for the band Foster the People. They were nice to me and always had a big party after their concerts. Sometimes, Jacob Fink and I would hang out at the party and get a drink." —Anonymous, 24, Fredrick Maryland "I was working security for Guns N' Roses when they were just starting out in the late '80s. Tommy Lee and Heather Locklear came to a concert in Pasadena, and I was assigned to escort them." "I approached and introduced myself. Heather Locklear immediately puts out her hand and says, 'Hello, I'm Heather, nice to meet you.' So genuine, especially since I knew exactly who she was, and she was even more attractive in person."—Anonymous, 60, Los Angeles "Worst celebrity: Mario Andretti. He flew into where I worked and demanded instant service, got pissed and started poking me in the chest with his finger." "The boss came out and told him if he poked me again that I had his (my boss') permission to break his arm and shove it up his ass. Then the boss told Mario to get the f*ck out of his usiness. The best celebrity was Keanu Reeves, saw his band live, and when they took a break, he sat on the edge of the stage BS'ing with us like he knew us."—Anonymous, 62, Portland, OR "Back in the late '90s, I worked on Dharma and Greg starring Jenna Elfman. The set was filled with wonderful actors, but none shone as bright as Jenna." "She was the consummate professional, always on time and brought the magic every time. It was a pleasure dealing with her, no matter the situation. Jenna was very kind to everyone on the set and knew all of our names and engaged with us when she had the time. I'm sure there are plenty of negative interactions people are submitting, take the worst of them, and that is the opposite of Jenna Elfman."—Anonymous, 61, Los Angeles Do you have a story about a celebrity you'd like to share? Drop it in the comments.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Five Fiendish Ways to Celebrate 'World Goth Day' in L.A.
How exactly something becomes a celebratory "day" is questionable, but like falling trees in the woods, if enough people are aware and acknowledge it, that's kind of all it takes. "World Goth Day" became a thing after BBC Radio DJs Cruel Britannia and Martin OldGoth started celebrating dark music in the U.K. on the date annually back in 2009. Most define the "goth" scene (short for Gothic) by its dark fashion and music, but even before this "holiday" came to be —and ever since— there's been contention over the word and what it actually means. There's different sub-categories too: "Trad goth" — traditional lacy, witchy frocks, pale face and dramatic eye makeup; industrial goth — futuristically fiendish looks with cyber vibes; pastel goths and Gothic lolitas — girlish bows, ruffles and doll-like get-ups with edge... And that's just to start. Factor in music artists and genres, and fans of dark culture will almost always have something to dispute. Suffice to say, if you equate "Goth" to Marilyn Manson, Fred Armisen's satirical takes on Portlandia or anything that can be bought at Hot Topic in the mall, you should probably do a little reading, and start HERE. For this round-up, we highlight some obvious and not so obvious ways to get in touch with your dark side tonight, and all weekend long, alongside images of some great gothy get-ups at this past weekend's Cruel World festival that prove this subculture might love death, but it will never die. SHOP TIL YOU DROPYou can snag cheap corsets and tights online, but several stores in Los Angeles offer authentic gloomy glam garb you can try before you buy. (home of the Kreepsville brand) in East L.A. is great for accessories, while Foxblood on Melrose offers the widest selection of black dresses in town (and their sister store down the street offers pretty pastel pieces). At in Burbank, they've got cool tees and DIY clothing; and a drive to Long Beach is worth it for , stocking haunted housewares, accessories and more. IMMERSE IN MUSIC Check out local label Cleopatra Records for the best O.G. deathrock from L.A. and the U.K., plus new artists inspired by the rapturous beats evoking gloom, doom and decadence. TOUCH TOMBS is the ultimate graveyard environment with its gorgeous grounds, historic headstones and wild animals (feral cats, ducks and peacocks). Yes, Marky Ramone's cenotaph is there (he's not), but old movie stars Rudolph Valentino and Cecil B. Demille are even more ghostly & SIPGoths tend to love all things spooky and provides a creepy way to get your caffeine, with freaky and fun flavors inspired by Frankenstein, Edward Scissorhands and more the characters from your nightmares. DANCING TO DIE FORRev. John 's L.A. industrial goth night Das Bunker is one of the most legendary dark dance bashes in the city, but his more sporadic soiree, , going down this Sunday at the Slipper Clutch, provides the macabre mood and dance floor drama that made this scene so popular in L.A. to begin with.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘If We Don't Get Our S--t Together, Then We Are Going to Be in a Permanent Minority'
Days after President Donald Trump took office for the second time, a boatload of candidates vying to lead the Democratic National Committee crammed into a Washington auditorium plastered with MSNBC logos. This was their last big forum before the vote to make the case that they had what it took to rescue their party from irrelevance. The moderators called on a little-known contender, Quintessa Hathaway, to deliver the first opening statement. 'I just want to give you all a little bit of something that's been on my heart,' she told the audience. Then, suddenly, unexpectedly, she broke into song. 'When your government is doing you wrong,' she belted out, 'you fight on, oh-oh, you fight on.' It had only taken four minutes for the battle over the future of the Democratic Party to devolve into what critics likened to a scene from Portlandia, a comedy satirizing ultra-liberals — and it was a punchline that was clipped and replayed across social media in the days ahead. Things only got more surreal, and viral, from there. Over the next hour-and-a-half, the aspiring DNC leaders inadvertently showcased the party's self-absorbed tendencies that strategists argue have driven away swing voters, by turns fixating on identity politics, displaying scorn for large swaths of the electorate and failing to focus on the pocketbook concerns of ordinary Americans. Rather than grappling seriously with why Democrats had lost the presidential election, the candidates quibbled over tactics. No one argued that Joe Biden should never have run for reelection, or questioned whether Kamala Harris had made any major errors. The most unpopular parts of the party's record, from the inflation that spiraled out of control on Biden's watch to a border crisis that went unchecked for years, likewise went unmentioned. Instead, with Trump already fast at work, pardoning more than 1,000 Jan. 6 defendants, moving to send undocumented immigrants to Guantánamo Bay, and empowering billionaire Elon Musk to hack away at the federal government, the would-be leaders of the DNC were quizzed on a series of liberal litmus tests. 'How many of you believe that racism and misogyny played a role in Vice President Harris' defeat?' asked MSNBC anchor Jonathan Capehart. Every candidate raised their hand. 'That's good,' he added. 'You all pass.' Later, a DNC member asked, in reference to party positions: 'Will you pledge to appoint more than one transgender person to an at-large seat?' Only one of eight contenders kept their hand down. In response to the stunning start of Trump's second term, the Democrats campaigning to take the helm of their party hewed to a familiar message, describing the president as a fascist who espoused white supremacist conspiracies. Instead of offering a meaningful plan to confront such danger, critics said, they doubled down on appealing to the faculty lounge set. The spectacle appalled many dyed-in-the-wool Democrats — and deepened the sense that party leaders were not up for the moment. 'I don't know if Dems realize how fucked they are right now as a brand,' said one Democratic strategist who, like others in this story, was granted anonymity to speak frankly. 'It was a bunch of people politely discussing how many deck chairs on the Titanic should be reserved for transgender people,' said another. Nearly two months later, Democrats still haven't bottomed out. The party has lurched from strategy to strategy in their efforts to confront Trump, mostly falling flat. Democrats interrupted and stormed out of Trump's joint address to Congress, which had the effect of making their rowdiness the story and sparking new intraparty feuds. That was followed by the release of cringeworthy videos on social media pegged to the 'Choose your fighter' trend and Gen Z slang that tried to be playful but were roundly mocked as reeking of desperation. The party's latest attempt to emulate the kind of authenticity that voters associate with Trump is using more four-letter words. Interviews with more than 30 Democratic elected officials, party leaders and consultants for this story reveal that after suffering their biggest defeat in decades, Democrats are deeply fractured, rudderless, and struggling to figure out at the most basic level what their message and strategy should be. Some longtime Democrats are worried, even enraged, that few of their leaders have reexamined their prior positions — let alone shown a willingness to consider a dramatic break with party norms or practice. Grassroots activists are demanding more fight from elected officials. Along with the party's high-dollar donors, they are asking when, exactly, their leaders will face the 2024 election with eyes wide open and come up with answers about how to confront Trump, and how to regain lost electoral ground. 'The Democratic Party has to assess how the self-styled party of the working class became seen as a party of elites and institutions at a time when so many Americans are enraged at elites and institutions,' said David Axelrod, the former top Barack Obama strategist. 'I mean, what is it that the Democratic Party offers other than being an alternative to Trump? I haven't seen evidence of that discussion going on.' 'I'm in a great fucking mood,' vented Brendan Boyle, a Democratic congressman from Philadelphia. He clearly was not. It was 3 a.m. on election night, and Fox News had projected that Trump would win the presidential race. Even then, with several swing states still uncalled by other networks, he and many other Democrats already understood how much trouble they were in. It was bad enough that Trump had, as in 2016 and 2020, captured a supermajority of working-class white voters. For Boyle, the son of a janitor who hailed from Ireland, that much was bad enough. But what really terrified him was that Trump had expanded his support well beyond that, encroaching deep into the Democratic Party's longtime base. 'Over the last decade, the Democratic Party has had a working-class voter problem. It started out as a white working-class voter problem,' said Boyle. 'And it has, as I've long feared, spread. It is not just a white working-class issue. It has now spread to the Latino working class and African American working class.' Democrats could make a reasonable argument that 2016 was a fluke. The results of the 2024 election were far more of an existential threat to the party. This time, Trump won the popular vote victory he was denied the first time he captured the White House. He ran the table in the seven swing states. Exit polls showed that Trump carried a larger percentage of Latinos than any other Republican in history. A plurality of young men and a majority of Latino men backed him, and he made gains with Black men, too. In fact, it's hard to find a part of the country that didn't shift toward Trump — from the urban counties of the Northeast to the Native-American counties in the West and also the more educated and suburban counties in between. Judging from the electoral architecture of his victory, some Democratic officials argue, Trump reduced the onetime party of the working man to little more than a narrow club of elites. One of the few voting blocs that moved toward Harris were postgraduate degree holders, and it was Harris, not Trump, who won people who make more than $100,000 annually. Even as Trump's honeymoon has tapered off in recent months — and voters have soured on his handling of the economy — the opposition party has remained deeply unpopular. According to recent polls by CNN, NBC and Quinnipiac University, Democrats' approval ratings are at all-time lows. Only 7 percent of voters rate the party very positively. Boyle said 'it's a time for a massive, wholescale reevaluation' of how Democrats arrived at this place. Many Democrats across the party, from its left flank to its center, are making the same bold-sounding proclamations. Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat who leads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said that there should be a 'new Democratic Party brand that brings in working-class people.' Rep. Ritchie Torres, a moderate from New York City, argued that 'the 2024 election should be seen as a rude awakening and a reckoning for the Democratic Party' because Trump is 'beginning to break the Blue Wall in urban America.' But as much as Democrats talk about change, few have seemed actually willing to make the leap. Instead, they've called for tweaking their tactics or freshening their message — or the way it's distributed, by appearing on outlets like Joe Rogan's podcast — in what amounts to a pitch for better marketing. Even Boyle, who is more clear-eyed about the party's problems than many, was reluctant to point fingers that night in November: 'What I'm not going to do is throw Kamala Harris under the bus, or Joe Biden under the bus.' Recently, he's suggested that Harris' campaign made a mistake when it didn't directly respond to the famous 'Kamala's for they/them. President Trump is for you' ad, but seemed uncomfortable in a media interview discussing trans issues himself. Other Democrats, such as Ken Martin, the Minnesotan who was crowned the new DNC chairman after the January forum, have argued outright that the party doesn't need to do a 180. He has called for strategic shifts, like "contesting races throughout this country" and "standing up a war room." But, he said in an interview, Democrats are in a better position today than they were after Trump first won in 2016. 'Our data infrastructure is way ahead now of the Republicans. Our ground game is way ahead of the Republicans. Our infrastructure through state parties, local parties and the national party is stronger than it's ever been before. So this is not a burn-it-down moment,' he said. 'There are people out here who say, 'Well, we just need to start over. Everything sucked.'' He is not alone. There has been little party-wide rethinking of Biden's economic agenda, even though three-quarters of voters said inflation was a hardship in exit polls. Aside from an occasional headline about someone breaking with party dogma, there hasn't been a broad come-to-Jesus moment over cultural issues, despite the fact that surveys show a majority of Americans do not support liberal policies like allowing transgender female athletes to compete in women's sports or providing puberty-blocking medicine to children. Most Americans thought Biden was too old to serve a second term, but few party leaders have said publicly that he should have never run for reelection in the first place. Biden himself has said that he could have beaten Trump if he had been on the ticket. His top aides are still suggesting or outright arguingthat he shouldn't have been pushed out of the race. Harris, meanwhile, has told her advisers to keep her political options open, which could include another presidential run in 2028 or a gubernatorial bid in California next year. And her senior staff, in a series of public appearances, have been reluctant to acknowledge mistakes. One even called the campaign 'pretty flawless.' Some in the party are despairing that Democrats have their heads stuck in the sand — and that this mentality is making it impossible to build back trust with voters. 'In the wake of the election, I kept asking people what the campaign could have done better. And the answer was a whole lot of nothing,' said Tommy McDonald, a Pennsylvania-based Democratic strategist. 'I'm not sure folks are open to learning any lessons.' If there is any trepidation about renominating an unsuccessful candidate, one closely tied to the unpopular Biden, it's not showing up in polling: In multiple surveys since the election, a plurality of Democratic voters has said that Harris should be the 2028 presidential nominee. That has struck some Democrats, particularly those with experience in competitive states, as a terrible idea. 'I really hope for her sake and the sake of the party she does not run for president,' said Jonathan Kott, a one-time adviser to former West Virginia Democratic-turned-independent Sen. Joe Manchin. 'Democratic primary voters rejected her in 2020 and she did not do any better in 2024.' If nothing else, the jarring first two months of Trump's second term have served as a kind of electroshock therapy for the change-resistant party. It's beginning to ever-so-slightly break the paralysis. Grassroots rage is being channeled at top party officials like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, whom many criticize for employing what appears to them to be an old-fashioned and insufficient approach to taking on Trump. Democratic voters have told pollsters they are frustrated with their own donors have threatened to shut off the money spigot until Democrats develop a clear strategy for navigating this moment. Liberals are fiercely debating the new book, 'Abundance,' and whether it's the answer to lowering prices — or repackaged neoliberalism. 'Donors are incredibly frustrated,' said Alexandra Acker-Lyons, an adviser close to Silicon Valley fundraisers. 'They think there's no plan. There's no leadership.' Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, admitted that the campaign made some miscalculations. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the progressive from Washington state, said that Biden should have passed the torch instead of running for reelection. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a longtime LGBTQ rights champion, suggested that Democrats took the wrong position on trans athletes — and another ambitious Democrat, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, openly disagreed with him over it. At a recent private retreat near Dulles International Airport, Jonathan Cowan, president of the moderate group Third Way, singled out the chairman of the DNC by name while speaking to a room of elected officials and strategists. He chided Martin for saying that the party doesn't need a new message. 'Now is the time for friends inside the Democratic family to have blunt debates about where we really stand. Now is the time to chart a new path forward,' he said. 'Now is not the time for tinkering at the margins, for timidity and safety.' (Martin's response: "I campaigned on a change platform, and the idea that anyone would think I favor the status quo hasn't been paying attention.") But the trouble, according to Democrats itching for big changes, is that there's still no concerted effort to reshape party thinking or widespread sense of alarm about blazing a different direction. Some believe that's partly due to fear over the left's cancel culture. The few Democrats who have argued for taking a different approach than in 2024 have largely been rejected or pilloried. The prime example they point to is Seth Moulton, a House Democrat from the Boston area who, in the aftermath of the election, questioned his party's position on allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls' sports. He also criticized its unwillingness to even talk about certain issues, arguing that 'as a Democrat I'm supposed to be afraid to say that.' In response, some Democrats sought to push him out of the party's tent. Hundreds of people gathered outside of his office to protest his remarks, a local Democratic group vowed to find a challenger to primary him, and a professor at a nearby university reportedly threatened to stop student internships at Moulton's office. Newsom has also taken heat recently for his similar comments, though not with the same intensity. When Beshear challenged Newsom's position, he did so on its merits, rather than scolding him for bringing it up. John Fetterman, the Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, has made the case that his party should stop taking a hair-on-fire approach to Trump during his second term. He met with the president at Mar-a-Lago, supported some of his Cabinet picks, and backed a Trump-approved government funding bill. To some degree, he has been ostracized from the party for his seeming apostasy, with Democrats back home whispering about primary threats and three aides leaving his office since January alone. 'We really got our asses kicked in, and especially in the Senate, we could have been left a gigantic, smoking hole in the ground,' Fetterman said of the 2024 election. 'We could have easily lost Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, and we could be staring down, 56-44. And if we don't get our shit together, then we are going to be in a permanent minority.' Progressives calling for a more leftward tack on economics haven't gotten a much better reception. Faiz Shakir, the former campaign manager for Bernie Sanders' 2020 bid, has said that Democrats should adopt a muscular economic populist agenda to win back working-class voters. When he ran for DNC chair on that platform, he only won two votes. One of the few issue areas where some Democrats say the party has changed its position ever so slightly since the election: the border. A handful of Democrats in the House and Senate joined Republicans in voting for the Laken Riley Act, legislation designed to crack down on illegal immigration. One of the bill's backers, Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, said he won last year in a state that Trump carried in part because 'we rejected what people had assumed the Democratic position had been, which is a very loose, loose enforcement of the border.' Torres, the moderate New York Democrat, said that while 'the number of elected officials who are able and willing to reexamine their ideological priors is vanishingly small' there is 'an unstated recognition' that the party needs to move to the center on border enforcement. 'I genuinely believe that few in the party were satisfied with the Biden administration's handling of the migrant crisis,' he said. 'There's a sense that he did too little, too late.' But Lanae Erickson, a centrist Democrat at Third Way, said the party still isn't winning any credit for a shift from the public because it lacks a clear message on immigration. Many lawmakers once turned to liberal immigration groups for advice. After the 2024 election, she said, they've lost faith in those organizations — and they don't know where to turn now. 'We're in a little bit of a panic moment,' she said. As Democrats struggle to figure out how to reorient their positioning in longstanding debates — from immigration to high prices to the culture wars — others in the party worry they aren't ready for the future, either. David Shor, an influential liberal pollster, has been circulating a presentation to Democrats dissecting the 2024 election. Slide after slide paints a dire picture for the party: Young voters have become more Republican. Trump likely won foreign-born voters. The electorate trusts the GOP more than Democrats on Social Security. Higher turnout wouldn't have saved Harris; in fact, it would have made Trump win by a larger margin. He saved the starkest slides for last. Artificial intelligence, his presentation warns, could remake the world in the blink of an eye. And Americans know it. Sixty-four percent of voters believe AI will perform most jobs better than humans in the next 10 years. Seventy-nine percent said that would be a bad thing. Democrats, he cautions, have to be prepared for a world disrupted by AI. 'We can't get stuck fighting the battles of the past,' the slides read. 'As with Covid, change may happen so fast that it leaves decision-makers behind the curve.'Even at their lowest moments since last year's election, Democrats have been confident that they'll take back the House in 2026. 'I think we're going to win the House no matter what we do,' said Rep. Jerry Nadler, the New York Democrat. 'I'm very bullish about the midterms,' said Jaime Harrison, a former DNC chair. The crazy thing is, they might be right. The president's party almost always loses seats in the midterms, and the GOP's majority is razor-thin. Democrats only need to flip three seats to take back the House. The fact that the Democratic base has recently become older and more educated — an obstacle in presidential campaigns, but an advantage in off-year elections that are dominated by high-information, high-frequency voters — makes it even more likely that they'll have a good year. But intraparty critics said Democrats' near-certain belief that they are going to take back the House in the midterms is also enabling them to continue avoiding hard conversations, and perhaps obscuring the need to have a reckoning. There's still a pervasive sense among some in the party that they don't need to bother with all that — the pendulum will swing their way regardless. 'I think it would be a massive mistake not to come out of this election and make changes,' said Moulton. 'Everyone said we would win the House this year. Now people are saying, 'Oh, well, we'll surely win the House in the midterms.' That's a very dangerous assumption when we lost across the board.' Even if Democrats do win back the House, they need to look no further than 2022 to find a cautionary tale about reading too much into midterm successes. That year, the party's better-than-expected election results papered over the Democrats' deeper problems and enabled Biden to stave off questions about his ability to mount a campaign in 2024. Some Democrats believe that a shellacking in the midterms would have forced Biden to pass the torch sooner, perhaps ultimately leading to a different electoral result last year. And many of those same people are anxious that the party could be fooled again by what is starting to look like its structural advantage in midterm elections. 'Democrats have signaled they're taking the approach that it's not broken, so there's nothing to fix,' said Joe Calvello, a former chief strategist for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. 'In the midterms, we'll probably get lucky with inflation and eggs. And we'll maybe get our ass kicked in '28.' And while things might look good for Democrats in the House, the makeup of the Senate election map next year renders it all but impossible to flip. It's an exercise in needle-threading: the party would need to defend two Democratic-held seats in states Trump won, meaning Michigan, where incumbent Gary Peters is retiring, and Georgia; hold the seat in the fairly blue state of New Hampshire, left open by Jeanne Shaheen's upcoming retirement; defeat Republican Susan Collins in Maine; and oust Republican Thom Tillis in North Carolina, where the presidential race was somewhat close but where Democrats haven't won a Senate race since 2008. On top of that, Democrats would then need to find two more seats to flip in states like Ohio, Florida, Arkansas, Iowa or Texas. That is, to put it mildly, quite unlikely. These aren't merely red states. Most of them have gone from being won by Barack Obama to being controlled by the GOP. Democrats are hemorrhaging support in places like Ohio and Florida. The Senate map is a reminder that, unless Democrats can turn around their fortunes in the American heartland, they will be locked out of power in the chamber for years. 'Where are the seats coming from? Do you think Montana is going to get bluer? Do you think we're going to get one back in West Virginia or Ohio? Can Georgia sustain two seats?' Fetterman said. 'Pennsylvania didn't.' The situation has forced Democrats to think outside the box. Some of the party's top strategists are talking about fielding independent candidates in states that are seen as lost causes for Democrats, as they did last year in Nebraska, where Dan Osborn lost but ran well ahead of Harris. If independent candidates win in those places but refuse to vote to install a Democrat or Republican as majority leader, the thinking goes, they'll at least make the math harder for the GOP to maintain control. The conversation itself is incredibly revealing: Democrats aren't talking about how to win these states, but how to game the system. And it's not like it has worked so far: Osborn lost. Other Democrats are talking hopefully, almost wistfully, about another option: focusing on a path back to relevance in states where the party used to have a foothold. As she raced between meetings in the basement of the Capitol in January, Sen. Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat, said that 'we have to just be relentless and focused on how we expand the map in places where we have had Democratic senators in the not-so recent past.' She ticked off a few states where the party held seats a decade ago — North Carolina, Alaska, Iowa — and argued that 'we have to figure out how to connect with those voters.' A few weeks later, Smith announced she was retiring, multiplying Democrats' headaches by adding one more open seat for the party to defend in 2026.
