Jun 11, 2025, 9:22 PM (7 hours ago)

I am no longer a DNC Vice Chair.

The DNC Vote to have a new election comes after weeks of contention about our work here at Leaders We Deserve, especially our plan to challenge ineffective Democrats in the primaries.

I started Leaders We Deserve for a simple purpose: to be the EMILY's List for progressive young Democrats. We’ve sought to find the best of the best of our generation and do everything we can to help them run the best campaigns possible and get the financial support they need to win.

We spent millions last year fighting to elect incredible young people: Molly Cook, Mo Jenkins, Averie Bishop and Kristian Carranza in Texas; Bryce Berry and Ashwin Ramaswami in Georgia; Dante Pittman in North Carolina, Nadarius Clark in Virginia, Christine Cockley in Ohio, Sarah McBride in Delaware, Nate Douglas in Florida, Oscar De Los Santos in Arizona and others. We focused on open blue seats and defeating incumbent Republicans, hoping that these open seats would be space enough to achieve what we wanted.

After seeing a serious lack of vision from Democratic leaders, too many of them asleep at the wheel, and Democrats dying in office that have helped to hand Republicans an expanded majority, it became clear that Leaders We Deserve had to start primarying incumbents and directly challenging the culture of seniority politics that brought our party to this place to help get our party into fighting shape again.

We have a real challenge ahead of us. We lost voting share with almost every demographic across the board, and despite all that Trump has done, our approvals remain at 27%.

If we don’t show our country how we are dramatically changing and provide an alternative vision for the future as a party, we will continue to lose. Not because we don't have money, but because we don’t have a compelling vision for the future and we lack the courage we used to have to take on massive policy fights that have helped millions like the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, the first Assault Weapons ban and more.

Even if we had gained a three seat Congressional majority, the three deaths this session would have once again put millions of Americans on the line.

Let me be clear: this is not solely an issue of age — it's an issue of effectiveness that at times is compounded by age.

This is not a call for every older person to leave government. There are lots of great older people who we need, there’s lots of terrible younger people we don’t.

But it’s clear this culture of staying in power until you die or simply fail to do a good job but don’t need to worry about a challenge because you are in a safe seat has become an existential threat to the future of this party and nation that must be addressed.

This crisis of competence and complacency has already cost us an election and millions of Americans their rights. Let's not let it cost us the country.

This culture simply will not change by only focusing on open seats or just throwing half a billion dollars into 30 competitive House seats. We must change the culture of our party that has brought us here and if there is anything activism or history teaches us it's that comfortable people, especially comfortable people with power, do not change. In this moment of crisis, comfort is not an option.

The American people are looking for an answer for how to revive the American Dream that they feel has become more of a fiction than a possibility. We have a crisis of faith in this country, in our elected leaders and in our parties. So far Donald Trump has convinced many people that the answer is to look backward instead of forward. At this moment of darkness we have a sacred obligation not to this party, but to this country as a party.

In his 1960 acceptance speech to the DNC to accept the Democratic nomination to become president, John F. Kennedy said:

“The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too high — to permit the customary passions of political debate. We are not here to curse the darkness; we are here to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future.”

We relight that candle by providing a new vision for the future and leaders to bring us there. That new vision will come from new leaders. Building a future where voters vote for us not because of who we aren’t but because of who we are. That is why it is important we not only defeat Republicans but we use a healthy competitive primary process to make us a stronger party.

The alternative is a continuation of the politics that brought our party to this place. That is unacceptable. We must embrace a healthy culture of competitive primaries to build the strongest party possible.

Being a Democrat means believing in the politics of the possible like we did after Parkland. It's about believing in who we could be not only as a party but as a country. If we put our minds to it and we work hard enough, we can do anything, no matter what stands in our way. That’s why I’m a Democrat.

I came into this role to play a positive role in creating the change our party needs. It is clear that there is a fundamental disagreement about the role of a Vice Chair — and it's okay to have disagreements. What isn’t okay is allowing this to remain our focus when there is so much more we need to be focused on.

Ultimately, I have decided to not run in this upcoming election so the party can focus on what really matters. I need to do this work with Leaders We Deserve, and it is going to remain my number one mission to build the strongest party possible.

I’m thankful to everyone who has supported me in this role. I’m proud to have travelled to 10 states to do 30+ events, raising money for state parties, organizing with young Democrats, and getting out the vote for special elections in Wisconsin and Florida.

I have nothing but admiration and respect for my fellow officers. Even though we have disagreements, we all are here to build the strongest party possible.

Let me be extremely clear: Yes, we need to defeat Republicans. Leaders We Deserve will have many candidates challenging Republican incumbents. But we also need to build a party not defined by not being the less bad of two options in voters' eyes. We need to be the best option period at every level of government.

That change can only come through a full embrace of Democracy not only to defeat Republicans but to elect new Democrats to show voters how we are changing and regain their trust by listening to them, doing all we can to give them the best representation possible. Leaders We Deserve exists to do just that.

We need your support to do this work. If you’re with us in the fights ahead, consider donating $3 or anything that makes sense for you today.

Thank you,

David Hogg

The above was the original post with 78 likes posted in The Way Forward forum.
This is where I was working on a post when two deer walked into my yard in the middle of town.
When I returned to my computer, the post I was going to start didn't even have a finished title, so it became the post you see.

I took 10 minutes away from the family to share this RARE event. In the 40+ years I have lived here in northern Wisconsin, this is the first time I have seen a newborn Fawn with its mom.

I was surprised to find it locked 7 hours later.

WILD wildlife day in the backyard, six feet from the window. Love living in Northern Wisconsin!
https://www.democraticunderground.com/13243412

Reason: WILD wildlife day in the backyard, six feet from the window. Love living in Northern Wisconsin!
https://www.democraticunderground.com/13243412
My appeal:
Reason: Seriously! The Way Forward forum offered some broad discretion on topics. In a world we all see crumbling before our eyes, you see fit to lock a real opportunity to shine the promise of new life, less than an hour old. I am very disappointed in such a negative attitude. You deprived people, fellow Democrats, who are tired of constant doom and gloom on DU. I am disappointed. Seventy-eight people enjoyed my gift to DU—until someone stops the enjoyment.

I tried to share this rare opportunity for people who NEVER GET TO SEE THE SIGN OF SPRING EVER IN THEIR DAILY LIVES.

I WOULD EXPECT THIS FROM THE TRUMP FOLLOWERS BUT DU DEMOCRATS NEVER

I'm sorry, it wasn't Political in nature, and it wasn't negatively Political in nature. It was just NATURE.

Project 2025, spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation and over 70 conservative groups, laid out a detailed transition plan to:
- Dismantle the administrative state
- Reassert presidential control over the executive branch
- Purge civil servants
- Militarize federal responses to dissent
- Weaken LGBTQ+ rights, environmental protections, and democratic safeguards

-Replace career civil servants with loyalists

“Schedule F” reactivated; mass terminations and loyalty vetting underway
- Re-centralize executive power

Dozens of agency heads now report directly to a Trump-appointed oversight layer
- Use DOJ as a weapon

Ongoing prosecutions of political enemies; shielding of allies
- Roll back LGBTQ+ military rights

Transgender military ban reinstated; discharge proceedings accelerated
- Control education content

Federal funding threats for states using CRT, LGBTQ+ content, or rejecting “patriot curriculum”
- Clamp down on media and dissent

DOJ surveillance of journalists; FCC “reviews” of media licenses announced
- Favor fossil fuels over climate science

EPA gutted, clean energy funds frozen, and “climate hoax” language normalized in briefings

Next 30 Days: Consolidation and Control
- DOJ reshuffling to insert loyal prosecutors and judges
- Executive Orders redefining “domestic extremism”
- IRS or DHS actions targeting liberal nonprofits
- Expanded military discharge of LGBTQ+ service members

Next 60 Days: Legal Infrastructure and Pretext Building
- Redefining “citizenship” tied to ending birthright citizenship
- Homeland Security retooling to include ideological enforcement units
- Rollout of a Federal school “compliance” board
- Restrictions on vote-by-mail under “election integrity” branding

Next 90 Days: Structural Authoritarian Moves
- Emergency declarations bypassing Congress
- Use of the National Guard in Democratic strongholds
- AI-powered surveillance initiatives fast-tracked
- Trial balloons to means-test Social Security/Medicare
- DOJ begins blocking lawsuits from blue states

No. They flip the country, not a coin.

This is not governance—it’s a consolidation of power, using:
- A roadmap (Project 2025)
- Enforcers, not administrators
- Chaos as camouflage

- Analyze legislative and executive actions in real time
- Help campaigns develop rapid-response counter-narratives
- Create accessible, fact-based explainers for public education
- Track authoritarian threats using behavioral forecasting
- Assist citizen activists in organizing, writing, and presenting complex arguments

- Generating mass propaganda, memes, and fake news at scale
- Testing political messaging with emotional triggers
- Targeting specific demographic groups using behavioral data
- Driving wedge issues through AI-crafted video, text, and deepfakes

- No coordinated use of AI in public education about Project 2025 or rising authoritarianism
- Underutilization of AI in generating rapid, clear rebuttals to misinformation
- Lack of funding or endorsement for open AI tools for public defense of democracy
- Reluctance to embrace AI due to internal fear of backlash or tech elitism

While institutional Democrats hesitate, citizen voices have taken the lead. Activists, veterans, and everyday Americans are using AI to structure, simplify, and distribute powerful, fact-based messages.

AI must not be feared—it must be democratized. If the left fails to embrace it, the tools of clarity and truth will be monopolized by those who weaponize it for control. A publicly accountable AI strategy for democracy is not optional. It’s overdue.