The worst part about being chairman of the College Republican club at my school (shoutout to JMU) was constantly being hit on by babes. I’d tell them, “Stop, please, I’m trying to do important work here. Go harass the football star instead.” But NOOOO. They just wouldn’t leave me alone. I never had a moment’s peace.
Because, obviously, nothing’s sexier than being in a political party. It’s the coolest thing ever!
Okay, I’m lying. Most of the time, talking politics is an anti-aphrodisiac: People either don’t care at all — or they care WAY too much. (Hide the knives.) Neither party had a positive Q rating, but for most of the last 50 years, there was no question which party was dorkier, geekier, and more poorly received.
The Republicans were the dorks.
The Democrats controlled popular culture. Music, TV, movies, and literature would glorify liberal causes — and liberal characters — whereas the conservatives in their stories were either money-hungry bad guys or dorky/awkward sidekicks, à la Ned Flanders.
It became a trope: The plucky liberal protagonist and the evil, squirrelly conservative baddie. (Usually the CEO of a sinister corporation.) And after half-a-dozen decades of the world’s most photogenic actors portraying liberals in TV and films, it gave the Democrats a powerful institutional advantage.
If it’s possible for any political party to be cool, it was cool to be a Democrat! They’re hot and sexy!
Think I’m lying? Here’s a short clip from “Friends” in the early 1990s, when the elf-sized George Stephanopoulos was then-President Bill Clinton’s de facto press secretary. But I gotta warn you: If you have a sensitive stomach, you might wanna keep a barf bag nearby because the way Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, and Lisa Kudrow LUST after George will make you sick:
The final few seconds — when the gals gaze in approval of George’s Stephapenis — tells you all you need to know about popular culture: There’s NO WAY IN HELL a network sitcom would’ve let their female leads lust after a real-life Republican cabinet member!
It’s not even in the zip code of possible!
That episode of “Friends” aired in 1994, roughly 30 years ago. A lot has changed: Today, the Democrats are the dorks.
Joe Jacobson, the director of the Progress Action Fund, a pro-Democrat group, wrote an article for Newsweek that addressed this reality head-on, “Make Democrats Funny Again”:
For years, Democrats have branded themselves as the adults in the room — the stable, rational choice. But in practice, that has meant coming off as stiff, preachy, and painfully out of touch. We have positioned ourselves as the political equivalent of the no-fun hall monitor scolding you, while Elon Musk and company drink beer and crack jokes in the parking lot. Democratic leadership seems stunned that this approach is turning voters away. But the numbers don’t lie — our approval ratings are at historic lows, and it’s time for the party to face the reality of the situation: we’re not funny, we’re uptight dorks.
We weren’t always dorks.
Jacobson is a Democrat, which explains why he perceives his party as “the adults in the room.” Because he’s (mostly) right, but he missed an important point: The Democrats aren’t seen as the “no-fun hall monitor” because they’re the mature, grounded, law-abiding adults, but because they’re corrupt, selective, and punitive. Neither is fun, but the former obscures the Democrats’ self-inflicted culpability.
And like a lot of Democrats, Jacobson blames Trump for getting the Democrats off track:
With his absurd hair and larger-than-life persona, Trump is a walking meme. That’s precisely his power. He didn’t win because of business genius or some sixth sense to know the nation’s pulse. He won because he built himself into a character that millions of Americans feel they know. He’s not a politician to them; he’s an entertainer, a spectacle, a symbol of sticking it to the establishment. Democrats, blinded by their hatred of him, have ignored this. Worse, they’ve defined themselves entirely in opposition to him.
But in doing so, they’ve gone too far. They’ve become the uptight principal chasing Ferris Bueller. The stiff, exasperated rule-followers voters love to see lose.
Can’t quibble with any of this. (And by the way, if you rewatch “Bueller,” that principal was 100% right: Ferris was a REALLY bad example! The principal was just super-dedicated to the kids.)
The more the Democrats hate Donald Trump, the more his base loves him. And the more his base loves him, the more the Democrats hate Donald Trump. They’re caught in a vicious circle.
Jacobson continues:
Now, when was the last time you saw a Democrat crack a joke that actually landed with someone outside the base? The right has an entire media ecosystem dedicated to mocking liberals — Greg Gutfeld, Ben Shapiro, right-wing Twitter trolls. Meanwhile, Democratic politicians are out here delivering lectures that sound like a college ethics professor on cough medicine.
Voters don’t want to be talked down to; they want to laugh. They want leaders who can drop a killer one-liner, roast their opponents, and — most importantly — laugh at themselves. Instead, Democrats have spent years trying to win arguments instead of winning people over. The result? A party that often comes across as humorless, uptight, and, well… dorky.
Okay, Jacobson is overstating things here. Trump is very funny, but that’s not why he’s successful. The humor isn’t the steak; it’s the spice and seasoning he uses to sell his message. If the meal itself is lacking, all the spices and seasonings in the world won’t save it.
But I agree with him about the Democrats preaching to their own. That’s the danger of subsisting 24/7 in an echo chamber of your own making: You confuse your likes and dislikes with those of your audience.
Finally:
So, what’s the solution? Simple: Democrats need to get funny. Humor isn’t just for entertainment; it’s a weapon. It disarms opponents, builds connections, and makes people actually want to listen to you. John F. Kennedy had wit. Clinton was effortlessly cool. Obama had comedic timing so good he made roasting opponents look easy. If Democrats want to stop losing elections, they need to stop delivering lectures and start delivering punchlines.
We need to joke, laugh at ourselves, be mad as hell, and stand up when necessary. The voters need to feel like we are their friends again, not some group of dorks who look down on them. Because here’s the truth: people don’t just vote for the most intelligent, the most qualified, the most compassionate person in the room. They vote for the one they’d rather grab a beer with. And right now, that sure as hell isn’t us.
He’s so close to getting it right! Yes, it would greatly help if the Democrats were funnier and more personable, but a Kamala Harris with a better jokebook wouldn’t have won the election.
That’s misdiagnosing the ailment.
Because if he’s right, what’s the solution? Make funnier jokes about leaving the border wide open? A snappy one-liner about partial birth abortions? A clever limerick about biological men beating women in the ring? A zinger about inflation?
It’s not a messaging problem, an image problem, or a humor problem.
It’s a reality problem.
One Last Thing: The Democrats are on the ropes, but the donkeys are still dangerous. 2025 will either go down in history as the year we finally Made America Great Again — or the year it all slipped through our fingers. We need your help to succeed! As a VIP member, you have exclusive access to all our sites: More stories, more videos, more content, more fun, more conservatism, more EVERYTHING! And if you CLICK HERE and use the promo code FIGHT you’ll receive a Trumpian 60% discount!
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