Evan Barker > Quotes

“Republicans cannot rep the same echelon of celebrity because it isn’t socially acceptable to be publicly conservative when you are famous. If you say you like Trump and you’re an actress in Hollywood, you’ll get canceled.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“Now I see what an advantage women, especially women of color, have in Democratic primary races. With a party so focused on identity, it gives them an edge, a way to build donor alliances and identity-based endorsements.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“It was weird. Most of the people I encountered in progressive politics, but especially in the criminal justice reform space, came from extremely privileged backgrounds, like Chloe. Their personal wealth insulated them against the consequences of the policies they promoted.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“The truth is, Kamala Harris did not make me leave the party, though her coronation did make it easier. She was the manifestation of what the Democrats had become: a party without substance. They were loud but said little. Empty, detached from reality, and focused on all the wrong things.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“Interestingly, there is emerging data that supports many of the traits now associated with the Left—from “wokeness” to “cancel culture”—are more favored by women than men. In a 2019 study of 4,407 college undergrads, 58 percent of women agreed it was “acceptable to shout down speakers” they didn’t agree with, while only 42 percent of men did. 59 percent of women prioritized an inclusive society over free speech, compared to 29 percent of men.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“I kept wondering: What policies besides being pro-choice does Kamala have? There was no information on her website, and none of the speeches seemed substantive. I went to a private CNN lounge panel and listened to Kamala’s deputy campaign manager, hoping he’d reveal more of her actual platform and policies. But all he talked about was “saving Democracy” and the need to fund Ukraine. He said nothing about the economy. I felt like I was trapped inside an infomercial with everyone mindlessly cheering like zombies for someone no one had voted for.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“Progressives were not interested in building a movement to fight for economic populism. They were just as out of touch as normal Democrats. They were champions of identity politics and racialism. They were not the same progressives I found when I worked with Brent Welder and fell in love with Bernie’s movement. It wasn’t even close. There was nothing left of who they once were.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“Some men in my family supported Bernie in the primary but were thrilled when Trump beat Hillary. At the time, I chalked it up to misogyny. They just don’t want a woman to be president, I thought. But later, on Brent’s campaign, I realized this conclusion was shallow.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“Three days after Election Day, it was finally clear that Joe Biden had won. I was elated, running out to my living room, playing YG’s “Fuck Donald Trump” over the loudspeakers, opening every window in the house so all my neighbors could hear me. My next-door neighbors were Republicans, and I wanted to annoy them. Outside in my backyard, I spray-painted “FDT” on a shed.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“Working on a progressive campaign began to renew my optimism for the Democratic Party, especially after Karen. At the same time, many of the people I met in the “Bernie Bro” world seemed self-righteous, treating me like I was showing up late to the game, calling me a “Hillary person” who had only begun to see the light. It made them feel good to know they were so superior. This was my first encounter with progressive “moral superiority”—a sign of the purity tests that lay ahead.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“Back when I worked in New Jersey, I was warned to avoid Kamala Harris at all costs. This was in 2017, when she had just been elected a senator in California. Harris had already garnered a reputation among insiders for being difficult to work with and emotionally abusive to staff. “She’s awful!” Seth would yell back at me as I sat in the back seat of Karen’s BMW. “Stay away!”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“I was no longer working for the same Democratic Party I had dedicated my life to in 2008. I was no longer helping the progressive movement I first found when I worked on Brent Welder’s campaign. This new iteration was very different. It seemed to have one, singular goal: punish all white people and demean anyone who wasn’t “oppressed.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“how was it possible that I agreed with so much of what Trump said? Had he never said this stuff before? Or, for the first time in my life, was I open enough to hear it?”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“When I’ve brought up Democrats’ continuing to take the unpopular side of issues like boys playing in girls’ sports, my friends in politics say to me, “But, Evan, that is such a distraction; it affects such a small number of people,” and they write me off, wanting to ignore the issue.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“I’ve always believed that if the public knew what I knew, they wouldn’t bother voting at all. If the donors knew what I knew, they’d stop answering fundraising calls forever. If the politicians had any spine, they’d end the perpetual masochism for good.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“Eventually, I figured out I was playing a game I couldn’t possibly win. My skin color would always mean I was guilty, implicitly racist, unable to ever be fully trusted, and permanently the problem.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“I was becoming frustrated with candidates like Karen and Hillary Clinton. It seemed to me they were more interested in acquiring power than enacting policies that transformed people’s lives. Karen seemed too out of touch to represent regular people in DC.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“Another startling difference—in my years working for Democrats, I had never seen that many people of color at any Democratic event, not even at Barack Obama or Bernie Sanders/AOC rallies. Latinos, Asians, and black people made up half the audience.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“Almost all Democratic operatives, regardless of their type, parroted the same lines to each other. It was common for us to call Republicans racist almost daily, convincing each other that the “alt-right” was “absolutely” terrifying, a force that wanted to literally murder us.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“Ironically, Karen raged daily about Trump’s treatment of women, but she had zero qualms about pimping me out for some dirt on the opposition.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“While it is true their candidates are pro-choice, I believe this is more of a donor acquisition strategy than anything else, knowing older white liberal women love donating to anything related to abortion.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“I remember at cocktail parties in Jersey when donors would size me up. They’d ask me where I went to school, and when I said the University of Kansas, I saw their expressions flush with disappointment. “But you don’t look like someone from Kansas!” one woman said, laughing backhandedly. I didn’t measure up. The only thing that mattered to them was that I didn’t go to Princeton or Cornell.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“I convinced myself, as did the people I worked with, that the crime uptick in America’s cities had nothing to do with the district attorney candidates we helped elect. “Soft on crime” policies, like no-cash bail and not prosecuting minors, promoted by people like Cockburn, had no influence on the mounting crime wave. I told myself that the crime uptick was a hoax created by Fox News to make Democrats look bad. (Later I’d realize I was dead wrong.)”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“Socialists sucked at fundraising. They lacked the understanding, infrastructure, and training to raise money the way the establishment did. Part of it was also their ideals. They didn’t believe in money in politics, so they’d often outright refuse to fundraise at all or put up many barriers to keep themselves from taking the wrong types of cash.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“It seemed extremely difficult to “make it” in progressive politics as a white man.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“Dumbfuckistan” isn’t dumb at all. They are just fed up with the Democrats and want a party that truly represents the working class without being woke.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“After Trump is no longer in office, Republicans should continue with America First as their North Star. In the economy, immigration, and the bringing back of jobs to the US, the fire lit by Trump should guide them.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“Forever chasing the high of a first campaign is a bit like trying to repeat the experience of getting drunk for the first time with friends on a warm summer night when you’re young. No matter how hard you try, it’ll never feel as good again. As time goes on, you realize that age and time catch up with you, and hangovers hurt.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“This may not be polite to admit out loud, but to be honest, taking money from wealthy Democratic donors gave me a thrill. It felt like punching back. My family and I didn’t have a lot of money—why should they have so much more? It felt good to make them uncomfortable, directly pressing them for donations, which I did as often as possible.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative

“It took me a long time to understand why so many Americans are so vehemently opposed to mass illegal immigration. It might be one of the only issues I’ve truly done a one-eighty on in the last few years. I used to assume it was because they are racist. But I realized the issue of immigration is essentially a “class-based” problem.”
― Evan Barker, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative