As Democrats regain their footing after what has to be the most bizarre U.S. election of the modern era, a pretty damned clear voice is emerging, and it’s one that has influence. Elizabeth Warren is doing what she does best: sending a clear message about Democratic values. And Warren is uniquely qualified—no one can talk economic anxiety better than her, but she also recognizes and speaks to the fact that this election was as much about racism as economics.
"We will stand up to bigotry. No compromises on this one, ever," she said, in a speech that didn’t mention Clinton once, but which insisted her party must tune into the economic concerns of millions who voted for Trump. "In all its forms, we will fight back against attacks on Latinos, African Americans, women, Muslims, immigrants disabled Americans—on anyone. Whether Donald Trump sits in a glass tower or sits in the White House, we will not give an inch on this."
Four days later, at a closed-doors meeting of the liberal Democracy Alliance donor network, Warren insisted that Democrats need to step up their economic appeal to everyday voters. Two days after that, she privately met with the Congressional Progressive Caucus on the Hill to talk through the election’s results and lessons.
"It is a false choice to say fighting on economic issues means you don't fight on discrimination issues. Those issues were joined together by Martin Luther King in the 1963 March on Washington, and it is as important today—maybe more important—to join those issues together," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. "It is about signaling to the country how we actually do big things while being good, and not being racist, and not being discriminatory, and not being xenophobic."
There will be a lot of grousing among moderate Democrats, who are more than happy to mouth off to Politico—off the record, of course—that they "are wary of Warren's enhanced role." They argue that "her message of combating a 'rigged system' can only go so far after a billionaire Republican was elected to the White House with a similar theme." Except her message doesn't include the dog whistles pitched at a level everyone can hear. Expect these unnamed "moderates" to keep complaining, though, because nothing makes this group of Democrats lose their spine like losing an election.
It's important to recognize that Warren is also uniquely advantaged because she’s extremely effective at getting under Trump's skin, at poking at his biggest vulnerabilities. It doesn't just work to keep Trump going nuts on Twitter—it actually has an effect. Consider one of the letters she shot off last week, personally addressed to Trump, "that ripped into him for appointing Wall Street officials and lobbyists to his transition team despite his promises to cleave such insiders’ influence." As Politico points out, the "next day Vice President-elect Mike Pence started kicking lobbyists out of the transition operation."