People Are Tired of the Adults in the Room | Opinion

Despite President Donald Trump’s claims, the 2024 election always felt less like a Trump victory and more like a Democratic collapse. Kamala Harris outspent Trump by nearly $700 million—only to get knocked out on the first night. No amount of ads, door-knocking, or “all-star” consultants could make people like Democrats. And now, as America white-knuckles through a fresh constitutional crisis every other day, Democrats still can’t figure out why voters keep turning them away.

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. Democrats once had leaders like Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and the Kennedys—people you wanted to laugh and have a beer with. They weren’t just competent; they were likable. They could connect, make people laugh, and win voters with policy AND personality.

The problem isn’t that Harris or other Democrats couldn’t do this; it’s that, in their relentless effort to be the anti-Trump, they forgot a simple reality: like it or not, Trump is funny.

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.

This obsession with President Donald Trump has warped the party. It has become less about offering a vision for the future and more about proving that Democrats are right, and Trump is wrong. But being right doesn’t win elections; being relatable does. And you can’t be relatable if you can’t take a joke.

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.

For a brief moment, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz had it. Harris started her run with a bang, flooding the zone with BRAT summer jokes, and a level of excitement Biden just couldn’t ever capture. Walz’s VP run started strong as well. His middle-American way of calling out GOP absurdity resonated. His JD Vance couch jokes landed, and his plainspoken delivery resonated.

But as the campaign dragged on, consultants turned Harris and Walz the into bland, cookie-cutter politicians that Americans despise. Their authenticity and personality were gone, along with any chance of connecting with the voters who needed convincing. So, as the consultants neutered the Harris/Walz energy, their numbers faded, and Democrats’ chances of winning the election went down the tubes.

And now, after a fury of Trump executive orders and Cabinet nominations designed to “own the libs,” it is hard to imagine the party morale getting any lower than it is now. Democrats obviously feel defeated, and they should, but they have no one to blame but themselves.

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.

Joe Jacobson is founder and executive director of Progress Action Fund, a Democratic super PAC with a simple motto: “When Republicans go low, we go lower.”

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.