Democrat Strategist: ‘Cynical Elites and Politicians’ Divide Democrats and Republicans

Democrat strategist Justin Horwitz told Breitbart News Saturday that he has found that Republicans and Democrats have far more in common than it seems, but “cynical elites and politicians,” as well as fringe activists and corporate media outlets, have made it seem as if the opposite is true, all for personal gain.

“What we found is after having these conversations —  with Republicans, with people we thought we really don’t agree with or have huge differences with — we’re finding that we have a lot more in common than anybody realizes,” Horwitz told Breitbart News Saturday.

“And frankly we have cynical elites and politicians who are trying to weaponize our differences in order to focus on what divides us rather than what unites us, and I really do believe it’s that simple, that we agree on most issues,” he said, explaining that the media “weaponizes” and magnifies differences, “whether it be race, ethnicity, socio-economic class —  that that really is the root of our disunity in many ways.”

When asked to elaborate on what these elites are weaponizing, specifically, to divide the country, he used a strong border as an example.

“I really do believe that both Democrats and Republicans believe in a strong border, southern and northern. Right? That we are a nation of laws,” he said. “When Trump stands on stage and he says, ‘We are a nation of laws. We need a border,’ he’s not wrong.”

However, the problem, Horwitz said, is “cynical absolutists” in both parties. Far-left democrats, for example, will say the entire concept of a border is racist, which Horwitz noted is false. The Democrat strategist added that a majority of Democrats he talks to say a strong border is not controversial, but activists on the fringe are making the most noise, making it seem as if that is a majority view.

“You literally have a few fringe actors who are making all of the noise” on both sides, he said, noting that the “forgotten man” is not being properly represented.

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Another issue both sides agree with, he said, is addressing crime, using Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) Chicago as a prime example.

Calling Lightfoot a “disgrace” and perhaps the “worst mayor in the history of Chicago,” Horwitz said Chicago serves as another example of fringe leftists muddying the waters, as the majority of the city knows what the issues are.

“But then you have all these cynical activists making all the noise again, right? And they’re saying defund defund defund and that’s all the police hear, and it’s demoralizing them,” he explained.

He believes the Democrat Party needs to stand up to the fringe and say they do not have room for such rhetoric, particularly now. Lightfoot, who will require people to show both a vaccination card and a driver’s license before entering an indoor restaurant, is “everything wrong with the Democratic Party,” he added.

Those fringe opinions, Horwtiz said, continue to get magnified as each side attacks them for tactical reasons, weaponizing the most extreme in both parties.

“It gets us both thinking that we have way more — our differences are too great to reconcile, when in reality it couldn’t be further from the truth,” Horwitz remarked, attributing the seeming divide to the failure of corporate media and “careerist politicians who cynically weaponize things like identity for personal gain.” That is why he started having these conversations in the first place, which have made him realize that Democrats and Republicans have more in common than widely believed.

Nonetheless, Horwitz said he has received pushback for daring to have these conversations and engage with people across the aisle.

“Have you even listened to Breitbart? Have you ever even read the reporting outside of what CNN has clipped?” he says to his critics, and expressed the importance of both sides holding every politician accountable, asserting that it would be far more effective.

“What you need is a true working-class, bipartisan grassroots movement to hold our politicians accountable so they start working for We the People for the first time in the last 50 years,” he said.

“I won’t bend or fold to a group of loud activists who say ‘Don’t engage with other people in your country who disagree with you.’ That’s madness,” he added.