SCATHING

Top Dem Senator: Party’s ‘Brand Is Really Bad’ Right Now

Sen. Mark Warner blamed the Republicans’ election sweep on the Democrats’ “ideological purity.”

Democrat Sen. Mark Warner offered a brutal assessment of his party’s standing with voters on Saturday. “I think the Democrats’ brand is really bad, and I think this was an election based on culture,” the Virginia lawmaker said at a Politico event taking place alongside the Munich Security Conference. “And the Democrats’ kind of failure to connect on a cultural basis with a wide swath of Americans is hugely problematic.” Warner, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, blamed the Republicans' election sweep on his party’s positioning. “I think the majority of the party realizes that the ideological purity of some of the groups is a recipe for disaster and that, candidly, the attack on over-the-top wokeism was a valid attack,” Warner said. He went on to praise Trump’s defiant approach with the media. “President Trump can say virtually anything, and it’s forgotten within the same 24-hour news period, so that is a whine and a complaint, but it’s the reality,” Warner said. He expressed concern for the actions of Trump’s presidency so far, saying that the president cannot be given “a pass on actions that damage national security.”