Resistance Democrats embrace combative, profanity-laced 'dark woke' rebrand to combat Trump
"Resistance" Democrats are starting to abandon civil politics in favor of a new provocative and combative "dark woke," a new report says.
The term "dark woke" refers to an online meme that gained popularity in January amid President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Under the "#darkwoke" tag, left-leaning X users share jokes and memes delighting in or wishing for the suffering of Trump supporters.
Though the term is largely an online phenomenon, some members of the Democratic Party are beginning to see some benefits to the "crass" and "rude" attitude.
"Republicans have essentially put Democrats in a respectability prison," Bhavik Lathia, a communications consultant and former digital director for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, told the New York Times on Monday. "There is an extreme imbalance in strategy that allows Republicans to say stuff that really grabs voters’ attention, where we’re stuck saying boring pablum. I see this as a strategic shift within Democratic messaging — I’m a big fan of ‘dark woke.’"
TIM WALZ SAYS DEMS 'SHOULD DEMONIZE' PEOPLE LIKE ELON MUSK DURING OHIO TOWN HALL
The Times used Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett as an example of Democrats going on the offensive against Republicans, such as her attacking Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., for having a "bleached-blonde, bad-built, butch body."
According to The Times, more Democrats are following Crockett's lead as party insiders encourage politicians to use "a new form of combative rhetoric aimed at winning back voters who have responded to President Trump’s no-holds-barred version of politics."
Many Democrats have taken to injecting profanity into their vocabulary in response to MAGA and in an attempt at "authenticity."
"[C]ommunications consultants for Democratic politicians have encouraged — or allowed — more swearing. Profanity, [Democratic strategist Tyson] Brody, 38, said, is often seen as a ‘shortcut to authenticity,’ though it can also be overused and backfire," The Times reported.
WHITE HOUSE TRIES AGAIN TO REBRAND BIDEN, THIS TIME AS ‘DARK BRANDON’
One notable example included a series of videos by Senate Democrats as part of the "Sh-- That Ain’t True" social media campaign, which featured the politicians all reading from the same script swearing as they attacked Trump for breaking campaign promises.
The "dark woke" ethos is seen as a necessary retaliation against the right-wing for younger Democratic Party members.
"All these new staffers, we grew up seeing extremely vile content overflowing from right-wing spaces into regular spaces," Caleb Brock, director of digital strategy for Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told the Times. "We’re ready to combat that by any means necessary."
This embrace of "dark woke" marks a significant shift from former First Lady Michelle Obama’s famous "when they go low, we go high" quote from her speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
By contrast, Democratic Brooklyn councilman Chi Ossé quoted a line from one of Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams' aides to The Times, "When they go low, you gotta dig for oil."
Fox News Digital reached out to the Democratic National Committee for comment.