Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said she believes the Democratic Party gave too much attention to anti-Trump rhetoric versus trying to reclaim voters who stepped away from the Democrats this election cycle.
“There were many headwinds here. There was sexism, there was racism, all of that is true, but I also think there is a real question I hope people start looking at about who people are listening to," she said during a Friday MSNBC appearance. “In my view, there was an over-listening to and an over-lifting up of people who left Trump, not people who left the Democratic Party.”
“The people who left the Democratic Party are the people who are going to win in the future,” she later added.
“The people who left Trump, the Never Trumpers who have important voices — that is not the winning coalition, and I think that is the takeaway,” she stated.
Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) was one of the vice president’s most high profile GOP supporters. Several other people who worked for Donald Trump also backed Vice President Harris in the presidential contest.
The Harris campaign spent the final weeks of the election highlighting GOP members who condemned a second Trump administration like Cheney who declared the former president a “fascist.”
Psaki said the closing argument was unrelatable for many people across the nation.
“Fascism and the threat of democracy is a huge issue in this country. It’s one that should be discussed by journalists, but it is not a good closing message to reach the masses of this country,” Psaki said. “People don’t relate to it, it’s not understandable, and I hope that is a lesson.”
