Democrats' mean tweets trigger Fox News

(Salon) For nearly a decade, Democrats have been trapped in a paralyzing cycle of rhetorical hand-wringing. Ever since Donald Trump first upended the political landscape in 2015, the opposition party has faced an identity crisis over messaging strategy, endlessly debating how to counter racist social media trolling and raw cruelty as primary modes of communication. For years, the party line remained tethered to Michelle Obama’s famous “when they go low, we go high” doctrine — a philosophy rooted in institutional respectability politics. In turn, Democrats have been criticized as too cautious, too scripted and too obsessed with maintaining standards of political decorum that their opponents no longer recognize.

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Under the Trump 2.0 paradigm, something shifted. The tone coming from Democratic social media accounts — beginning with the Kamala Harris campaign’s BRAT summer — has gotten faster and considerably funnier. The neurotic self-policing about the supposed rules of engagement has given way to something that looks more like confidence.

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It began when the DNC account posted an optimistic rallying cry for James Talarico, the party’s nominee in the Texas Senate race: “Fired up. Ready to go. It’s time to take back Texas.” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, apparently unable to resist the urge to inject his signature brand of venom into the discourse, quote-tweeted it with a glaringly false and transphobic swipe: “The Democrats made history in Texas by nominating their first transgender senate candidate.”

The DNC account replied, “shut up you ugly f**k.”

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The DNC seems to have finally realized that instead of retreating or apologizing, the current political climate calls for the party to lean completely into the fight. Mangubat didn’t hide; she did interviews with progressive outlets, doubling down on her assessment of Miller. “What he is doing is ugly,” she told the progressive media outlet MeidasTouch. “He is celebrating when ICE shoots down Americans in the street. He thinks that it’s cool when families are separated . . . I stand by calling him an ugly f**k.” Her coworkers even continued the trolling, presenting her with a custom cake that read: “You ratioed Temu Hitler and also are hot.” ...................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/05/30/democrats-mean-tweets-trigger-fox-news/