Ex-Obama aide warns Democrats can’t counter Trump because voters don’t know what the party stands for

“Pod Save America” host Jon Lovett, who served as a speechwriter for former President Barack Obama, said Monday that voters don’t know what the Democratic Party stands for — a problem he argued is preventing them from capitalizing on Donald Trump’s vulnerabilities.

Speaking with MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace on her podcast “The Best People,” Lovett argued that the biggest challenge facing Democrats is defining what they stand for, and suggested that the primaries will not only shape the party’s direction but also show voters what the party actually represents.

“The debates that happen in the upcoming primaries will be, not just the way we figure out where we want to go, but the debate itself will be instructive to people watching it about what the Democratic Party stands for,” Lovett said. “How do we figure out what we stand for.”

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Lovett acknowledged former President Joe Biden’s age and declining communication skills made matters worse, saying, “I didn’t appreciate how much we paid for having the bully pulpit basically open and unmanaged because he was a poor communicator and getting worse all the time.”

“But it’s not just Joe Biden. The American people have – were saying through this election, beyond it, that, yes, Joe Biden is too old. They worry he’s not up for the job, but they have deeper questions about what the Democratic Party stands for. They just don’t know,” Lovett said.

He noted that voters know that Democrats oppose Trump, but don’t know what they support. He also blamed Trump for sucking up a lot of oxygen, which makes it difficult for Democrats to get their message out.

The “Pod Save America” host also discussed Trump’s strong connection with his base, but “Democrats just don’t have that.”

He noted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani do have an authentic connection with their base, but the party still needs to articulate their values clearly so they “don’t lose people.”

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Lovett and his “Pod Save America” co-hosts recently called out Hunter Biden for blaming Obama White House officials and other Democratic leaders for pushing his father out of the 2024 presidential race one year ago.

The former president’s son took aim at the “Pod Save America” hosts specifically, calling them “junior f—ing speechwriters” who have been cashing in on their association with former President Obama. 

The hosts responded during a July episode of their podcast and insisted Biden had no right to criticize.

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“You know, it must be just so hard for Hunter Biden to watch all these people dining out on somebody’s name,” Lovett said sarcastically.

“Mostly it is three hours of Hunter playing the victim,” co-host Tommy Vietor said of the interview. “And he rages at us, and he rages at [David] Axelrod and [George] Clooney, but the problem was the voters, and they never addressed that. The voters thought Joe Biden was too old.”