Last winter, I checked in with a friend in Democratic politics. "Life is weird sometimes," she wrote back, and told me she was staying at Alexander Soros' Hamptons house. I made a joke about coming to visit her—growing up in a midwestern working-class family, I'd always enjoyed getting a glimpse into the lives of the rich and powerful. "Sorry, it's for people of color leaders only," she wrote back. "It would be odd if you were there."

As a former Democratic fundraiser, you'd think I would be numb to this kind of discrimination, but the truth continues to pain me: The Democratic Party, once the champions of civil rights in response to real injustices, is now the primary driver of racial division in America today. Lee Atwater's Southern strategy pales in comparison to the modern DNC's approach. No organization is more systematically racist.

How did we get here?

The Democrats' long-term strategy is to stoke racial resentment to build their coalition and energize non-white voters. The rhetoric is designed to convince minorities that America is irredeemably, structurally racist, and only Democrats will look out for them. Social justice ideology, DEI, and wokeness are used in businesses, institutions, and schools to enforce Democratic rule and used internally to enforce party discipline. Note how Democrats united an entire coalition around Kamala Harris. No one wanted to look racist for suggesting there might be a better option.

During the summer of 2020, I was a fundraiser for progressives and saw crazy things. Campaigns started replacing consultants and campaign staff with BIPOC staffers to appear more inclusive. A prominent Democratic group announced funding was reserved solely for organizations led by non-whites. Another campaign pitched a donor-backed plan to source poor white people from Craigslist, pay them to be interviewed, then bait them into racially insensitive remarks. The candidate could then expose their racism as a "white whisperer" who could change their minds. The idea was insane and shut down by consultants who knew better, but still came disturbingly close to happening.

But deep down, this all started feeling wrong to me. It started to feel blatantly racist. Yet I was terrified to speak up.

My personal breaking point came when a BIPOC colleague accused me of being an entitled white woman who needed "DEI training" after I disagreed with her over fundraising strategy. This was bizarre to me, being born with a genetic disease that put massive financial stress on my family. My parents never finished college and were married 11 times between them. I attended a dozen different schools growing up, including an inner-city school where I was in the small minority as a white person. We lived in apartments, houses, and sometimes a mobile home park. I paid for college with Pell Grants and loans that are still outstanding. Contrary to DEI ideology, not all white Americans have privilege.

This person knew nothing about my background and tarnished my reputation based on snap judgements about my skin color. I tried to argue with other operatives that it hurts the progressive movement when people weaponize their identities and de-legitimizes instances of actual bigotry. They would agree privately but refuse to publicly support me.

At first, I went along with the Democratic crusade for racial division. I was scolded for using yellow emojis in Slack, which are complicit in white supremacy, so I switched them to white. When speaking to BIPOC consultants, I made sure to mention how white women are the worst, so they knew I wasn't racist. While reviewing resumes for potential hires, I tracked their race to ensure all people of color received interviews, and ignored most resumes from white men.

Finally, my boss caved and demanded I take DEI training, eventually I was demoted from the campaign by consultants.

People in Democratic politics would be terrified to publicly admit this bullying happens regularly, but they all know it's true.

Unfortunately, many in the Democratic Party see nothing wrong with it. Oppression works as a currency that can reap lucrative rewards, like giving a candidate an edge in a crowded primary race, assisting someone rise to become the leader of a powerful organization, or helping a consultant land a campaign media contract. Ultra-wealthy elite donors like the Soros family perpetuate this ideology because it presents zero challenges to their wealth. Americans uniting along multi-racial class lines scares them more than anything.

Democrats are suppressing their compulsion for division today as Harris downplays her identity, running on color-blind messaging similar to Obama's. But people don't forget. They are now losing the working class in droves, including union rank and file. Kamala couldn't even earn a Teamsters endorsement. Clearly, racial division is no longer working as an electoral strategy. Fighting racism with more racism is deeply unpopular.

If Harris loses, prepare for a full-blown meltdown of epic proportions. They will seethe at the racist deplorables who again elected Trump, and they will refuse to acknowledge racial changes in support because it contradicts their ideology. They will blame misogyny for the Black and Latino men who switched sides. You will hear terms like "white adjacent" and "internalized oppression" trotted out to explain why people of color voted for Trump.

Democrats have done so much damage. They infantilize Black and brown people, treating them as victims with no agency. Instructing whites to never correct a minority is textbook racism, implying they can't handle criticism.

Unfortunately, individuals steeped in DEI will not change their minds lightly, and those who use it for social power will never change. The only way Democrats will learn is by losing elections repeatedly while hemorrhaging minority votes. Racial dealignment between parties could turn the page and open a more hopeful chapter in American politics.

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