TGS Live: Democrats' Leadership Crisis + Q&A

Nov 3, 2025

John McWhorter, a linguist and cultural commentator, dives into the Democratic Party's leadership crisis and the implications of rising stars like mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. He critiques the party's ineffectiveness amidst Trump's dominance, arguing for the need for grounded leaders with substantive messages rather than those focused solely on identity politics. McWhorter emphasizes the importance of grassroots organizing and questions whether figures like Kamala Harris fulfill the party's need for core philosophies and broader appeal.

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INSIGHT

Dems Must Choose Between Righteousness Or Wins

The Democratic Party faces a choice between being morally doctrinaire or building a broad, electable coalition.
Glenn Loury warns that prioritizing litmus tests on cultural issues risks losing elections and influence.

INSIGHT

Star Power Can Trump Purity Tests

Charismatic, nonconformist candidates can energize broad swaths of voters despite past mistakes.
Loury argues rejecting such stars over past transgressions undermines practical electability.

INSIGHT

Stage Presence Shapes Global Power

Donald Trump dominates stage presence and global optics in ways that alter diplomatic dynamics.
Loury concedes Trump's showmanship sometimes yields concrete geopolitical results, like progress toward ceasefires.

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Last Friday, John McWhorter and I took our ongoing conversation into new territory: we streamed it live. Eighteen years into our partnership, and we’re still finding ways to keep it fresh!

In the first half of the show, we talk about New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani’s position on Israel, which John believes is merely woke moralism. While I’m no fan of Mamdani’s plans for free grocery stores and rent freezes, I press John on whether Mamdani’s views on Israel are as simplistic as he makes them out to be. Perhaps Mamdani’s shocking success in New York is a sign that Democratic voters are sick of the party’s lack of direction and looking for an infusion of new blood. John and I agree that substance-free leaders like Kamala Harris aren’t going to cut it. Trump is running the table at home and abroad, and Democratic leadership seems overwhelmed or, in the case of Barack Obama, strangely passive.

Obama was at one time a community organizer, wasn’t he? What happened to that commitment to local communities? I recently witnessed the power of effective grassroots organizing—I tell John about my trip to San Antonio in honor of my friend Ernesto Cortés’s 50th anniversary at Communities Organized for Public Service, an extremely impressive organizing operation. Black communities need leadership like that, and it is in short supply.

In the Q&A segment, we answer questions submitted by full subscribers and talk to a couple of them on camera. We take questions on black conservatism in American institutions, AI, race reductionism, test scores in college admissions, the Civil Rights Act, and the government shutdown.

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