Derek Thompson

It's about being deliberate about what you ignore and what you say.

So take the case of Iran.

I feel like you could criticize this on several grounds.

You could criticize this war on constitutional grounds.

The president started a war.

Process, yeah.

Right, that's Article I. That's the role of Congress.

You can prosecute it on moral grounds.

The Iranian children, the American lives lost.

You can also focus on economic grounds.

Look at oil prices.

Look at the pain Americans are going through, and this isn't responsive to their pain.

What's the message that you think Democrats should focus on?

I told you that I wanted to talk about the future of the Democratic Party and then the Iran war comes up.

And I think it's absolutely critical that we start there because that's the breaking news.

But scoping out a little bit.

If you had told me all the things that Trump would have done and said in the first 13, 14 months of this administration, if you told me all those things 13 or 14 months ago, I think I would have predicted that the Democratic Party would have surged in popularity.

And instead, at least as a brand, the Democratic Party is still less popular today than in basically any period in modern history, according to Gallup polling.

Why do you think people say they hate the Democratic Party so much?

I introduced the hated word, so it's okay if you debate about it.