On NPR’s Morning Edition Thursday, host Steve Inskeep and reporter Stephen Fowler discussed what the future of the Democratic Party would look like following Inskeep's softball interview with former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
It should come as no surprise that Inskeep was all in on the idea that Democrats need to rebrand before the approaching midterms. And luckily for Democrats, he and NPR would be there to handle this new positive spin for them.
“Buttigieg wants Democrats to be the party of change,” Inskeep started, “Is that where the rest of the party stands?” Fowler was more than happy to answer:
One, you are seeing more and more Democratic officials change both the form and format of what their message is. Folks like Congressman Ro Khanna and Governor Gavin Newsom doing lengthy appearances on popular podcasts where they've got more space to share with people who don't engage with politics using language that's beyond the focus-group tested political speak Democrats are sometimes criticized for.
It should be a sign of concern when the highest praise someone can give your party was that you started acting like a human being for the first time. Going on a podcast and talking like you’re on one should not have been treated like an accomplishment, but that’s exactly how NPR touted it – a step away from the fake, scripted messaging liberals were “sometimes” (read regularly) criticized for.
Fowler continued:
Two, you're also seeing less of an argument that the Democratic reaction to everything that President Trump says and does and acts is just to reflexively undo it, which Buttigieg also said in your interview.
If you turned on your favorite fake news station for even a minute during Trump’s second term, you knew Democrats had not moved away from anti-Trump messaging in the slightest. In fact, Buttigieg, in his interview, attacked Trump as an authoritarian himself.
Fowler himself later praised in his reporting how “Democrats have been hyper focused on raising awareness of judicial elections, for example, and hammering home their views on how healthcare and the economy are changing for the worse because of Trump.”
“Because of Trump.” Nothing in this new Democrat game plan sounded remotely different to the messaging their voters have been drifting away from.
Of course, NPR’s solution to that was to manipulate information to help Democrats build “more of a big tent,” as Fowler explained:
Some of the main drivers of that dissatisfaction are people who like Democrats, who will ultimately vote for Democratic candidates, but they're unhappy with their own party right now. That's manifesting itself in a few primary challengers to older incumbent House members, record rally attendance for the populist message of Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Naturally, calling Bernie Sanders and AOC what they were, socialists, wouldn’t quite reach those middle voters feeling excluded from the Democratic Party, so it was better for NPR to fudge the details for the sake of their narrative. NPR can't say "far left" while they constantly find a "far right." In this case, Fowler touted "running more progressive candidates in progressive areas and embracing moderates where that makes sense, too."
NPR's Morning Edition
July 31, 2025
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Democrats are debating how they can climb back into power. They're speaking out in meetings, on podcasts and also on NPR News. Pete Buttigieg, the former presidential candidate, offered his view this week in a long NPR podcast interview, some of which was also heard on this program.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
PETE BUTTIGIEG: I think that Democrats have been slow to understand the changes in how people get their information, slow to understand some of the cultural changes that have been happening, and maybe most problematic of all, too attached to a status quo that has been failing us for a long time.
INSKEEP: Our colleague, Stephen Fowler, has been tracking the debate among Democrats. Stephen, good morning.
STEPHEN FOWLER, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: OK. Buttigieg wants Democrats to be the party of change, it sounds like. Is that where the rest of the party stands?
FOWLER: The party's identity during Trump's second term is starting to look more and more like Buttigieg's view in a few different ways. One, you are seeing more and more Democratic officials change both the form and format of what their message is. Folks like Congressman Ro Khanna and Governor Gavin Newsom doing lengthy appearances on popular podcasts where they've got more space to share with people who don't engage with politics...
INSKEEP: Yeah.
FOWLER: ...Using language that's beyond the focus-group tested, political speak Democrats are sometimes criticized for. Two, you're also seeing less of an argument that the Democratic reaction to everything that President Trump says and does and acts is just to reflexively undo it, which Buttigieg also said in your interview.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
BUTTIGIEG: But it's also wrong to suppose that if Democrats come back to power, our project should be to just tape the pieces together just the way that they were.
INSKEEP: Yeah. I think Buttigieg thinks this is part of the reason that polling is so bad for Democrats. People saw them as standing for a status quo they didn't like. What do you make of that polling?
FOWLER: Well, on the surface, it's not great for Democrats. But if you look under the hood, some of the main drivers of that dissatisfaction are people who like Democrats, who will ultimately vote for Democratic candidates, but they're unhappy with their own party right now. That's manifesting itself in a few primary challengers to older incumbent House members, record rally attendance for the populist message of Senator Bernie Sanders and representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and visuals we've seen from protests, like the No Kings movement and at Congressional Town Halls.
I mean, practically speaking, you're also seeing folks create daylight between the Biden presidency and the Capitol P Party to offer something else.
INSKEEP: Glad you mentioned AOC, another of the party leaders who's been speaking out on NPR. So how does all of this translate into a plan to win more elections?
FOWLER: Well, Steve, last weekend, I was in North Carolina at the Democratic Party's annual fundraising dinner. North Carolina Democrats have been hyper focused on raising awareness of judicial elections, for example, and hammering home their views on how healthcare and the economy are changing for the worse because of Trump.
I talked with the state Senate minority leader, Sydney Batch, after the event and she also said something I've been hearing from Democrats across the country.
SYDNEY BATCH: The Republicans are much better at branding and messaging than we are. We will sit here and give you 150 words, where we probably should have only used five.
INSKEEP: OK. What are her five words?
FOWLER: Candidates that fit their district.
INSKEEP: OK.
FOWLER: I mean, like running more progressive candidates in progressive areas and embracing moderates where that makes sense, too. She says the party's got to be more of a big tent than it has been recently. And that's another thread I'm following next year, Steve, who voters choose to represent their party and how that messaging is received. On the Republican side, Trump's 2024 tent is likely to get smaller and those voters have to go somewhere, including potentially back to the couch.
INSKEEP: OK. So it's an ongoing debate. We have an update on it from NPR's Stephen Fowler. Thanks so much.
FOWLER: Thank you.
