Some Democrats apparently believe that fighting for justice and equality is electoral kryptonite, a conclusion they reached after watching Donald Trump win by being himself. The shorthand goes that Trump won because Democrats were too “woke” and not sufficiently focused on the economic issues voters supposedly really care about. Steve Phillips, founder of Democracy in Color, would like to gently suggest that this mindset is, in his words, “misguided and potentially politically suicidal.”
Phillips argues that explicitly and aggressively fighting for justice and equality is the best - and possibly the only - winning strategy at this stage of US history. He points out that Trump and his Maga movement are waging an all-out assault on decades of progress in a “targeted, concerted and meticulous attack” on efforts to address racism, sexism and homophobia. As Erica Green wrote in the New York Times, the Trump administration is working to “remedy what he sees as the disenfranchisement of white men.”
Throughout US history, people have consistently underestimated the political appeal of white racial rage and resentment. Abraham Lincoln only won the 1860 election with 39% of the vote because the white pro-slavery vote was split. In 1963, George Wallace - who declared “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” - rocketed to national prominence and won five states in his 1968 presidential run. In 1990, former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke received 44% of the vote in a US Senate race. Trump learned this lesson during the Obama presidency when his attacks on Obama's birth certificate resonated with voters unhappy about a Black president. Before officially entering the 2015 race, Trump polled at just 5%; after calling Mexicans rapists and murderers and positioning himself as defender of white people, he rocketed to the top and never looked back.
Yet many Democrats fear fighting back too aggressively, for fear of alienating white male voters. One of the biggest myths about the 2024 election, Phillips says, is that large numbers of 2020 Democratic voters switched to Trump. In fact, Harris got more votes in Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada and Wisconsin than Biden had four years earlier. What happened is that Trump did a better job of “scaring, stirring up and mobilizing his core supporters” than Democrats did. The myth persists, encouraging Democrats to tone down the “wokeness” - code for distancing themselves from eradicating racism, sexism and homophobia.
Offering a milder version of Republicans’ anti-immigrant, anti-trans, anti-equality policies won’t work, Phillips argues. People drawn to those politics want the real thing. For Democrats in 2028, the challenge is not to change Trump supporters’ minds with facts - facts no longer matter in Trump’s America - but to force a referendum on what kind of country we want: one moving toward justice and equality or one retreating into division and white supremacy.
As of 2020, the majority of those under 18 were people of color, and by 2028, 16 million young people who were under 18 in 2024 will have become eligible voters. Harris won young voters by 19%. Trump won the popular vote by just 2.3 million votes. Winning in 2028 requires inspiration and investment: championing bold, unapologetic progressive policies - New York mayor Zohran Mamdani’s success proves the power of speaking to young people and a multiracial electorate - and moving massive amounts of money to groups doing voter mobilization work instead of squandering millions on ineffective ads. Phillips calls for a million precinct captains, comprehensive voter registration drives in every high school and on every college campus, and sustained, year-round investment in community-based organizations.
The fundamental question is whether Democrats will learn the right lessons from 2024. The path of retreat - moderating on justice issues and chasing Trump voters - leads to continued defeat. The path of principled engagement - standing for equality while investing in mobilization - offers the only realistic route back to power.