Dem strategist says party should ditch ‘liberal Joe Rogan’ plan for … Jasmine Crockett

Democratic strategist Max Burns suggested in an op-ed published in The Hill on Wednesday that firebrand Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett is one of Democratic Party’s “rawest and most watchable communicators.”

Burns also wrote in the opinion piece that “at a moment when voters are increasingly tuning out politicians, Crockett is still breaking through.” Crockett has made headlines for going on racially-charged rants and making inflammatoryremarks about Republicans, including referring to wheelchair-bound Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as “Governor Hot Wheels.”

“It’s hard to walk a mile in America’s political-media industrial complex these days without someone asking me about Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett,” Burns wrote. “Whenever I write about the future of the Democratic Party (often), my inbox inevitably fills with enthusiastic Democrats urging me to watch compilations of Crockett’s most viral comments, some of which boast view counts in the millions.”

“The TV-ready former public defender exploded onto the national scene this year as one of Democrats’ rawest and most watchable communicators,” Burns wrote further. “Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg went so far as to declare her the future of the Democratic Party. On Sunday, Fox News anchor Trey Gowdy devoted an entire segment to denouncing her rise to prominence. At a moment when voters are increasingly tuning out politicians, Crockett is still breaking through.”

“Democrats are about to blow millions of dollars on an almost certainly futile effort to build a ‘liberal Joe Rogan’ when they should be studying how Crockett’s unlikely path to Washington shaped her hugely popular message,” Burns wrote in his op-ed. “As one of the few party figures who can speak with authenticity to the millions of voters who lost faith in the Democratic Party after 2024, Crockett should be playing a lead role in reshaping the party’s 2026 message. Do Democrats see what they have?”

In May, The New York Times reported that Democratic strategists were proposing a variety of projects to help the party “find the next Joe Rogan” as part of an effort to get their messaging across to voters. Rogan’s podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” is viewed as being especially popular among young men.

President Donald Trump appeared on an episode of Rogan’s podcast in October 2024, which has since gained millions of views.

“Crockett’s brashness may strike some Beltway stiffs as rude or disrespectful, but it’s actually a powerful reflection of the alienation millions of Democratic voters feel, including the 7% of Black men and nearly 10 percent of nonwhite young people who gave up on the party after the last election,” Burns added in his op-ed. “To those voters, Crockett’s passion doesn’t look disrespectful — it looks appropriate to a moment where most Americans are paying more for everything from groceries to medicine while Donald Trump’s Department of Justice tears away civil rights protections root and branch.”

Additionally, Burns wrote that he believes Crockett has “built a powerful national brand by telling Democrats that it’s OK to pick a fight when that fight is worth having.”

“Now Crockett and the Democrats who have rallied around her have an even more challenging goal: reminding go-along, get-along Democrats that they used to believe in things, too,” Burns wrote in the op-ed. “Crockett has built a powerful national brand by telling Democrats that it’s OK to pick a fight when that fight is worth having. Millions of voters agree.”

Crockett’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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