Donald Trump‘s return to the White House wasn’t the only blast from the past—the 2016 past, specifically—discussed on this week’s episode of The Daily Beast Podcast. Co-hosts Joanna Coles and Samantha Bee were joined by John Avlon, a former editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. (Avlon’s tenure at the top of the masthead ran from 2014 through 2018.)
Avlon, who began his career as a speechwriter for Rudy Giuliani, recently fall short in a Long Island congressional race against his Republican opponent.
He discussed his loss as well as Democrats‘ failings across the board in what he described as a “red wave” at the ballot box. Where does that leave the party? Avlon argued that Democrats should engage with unconventional platforms and tough audiences—citing Kamala Harris’ decision to skip an appearance on podcast bro-in-chief Joe Rogan’s show (which boasts a sweeping 14.5 million subscribers) as a particular, and pivotal missed opportunity. “Authenticity matters,” Avlon stressed. “Go into areas where you perceive will be tough or not, quote unquote, your side.”
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Avlon also called for stronger attention to Americans' daily frustrations, whether that’s employment opportunities or the price of milk. (Or, as Coles coined it, the “CVS voters” who want to buy their toothpaste without needing a shop clerk to unlock it from its plexiglass security cage.) He criticized the Democrats’ failure to address middle-class struggles, suggesting this neglect has driven some voters to “strong and wrong” candidates.
“I’m not trying to sugar coat the dangers of this American moment,” he noted. “The idea that Trump could get more votes after trying to overturn our democracy on the back of a lie is something that is a challenge to all my notions of ethics and honor and decency.”
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