‘OUR PARTY IS DIVIDED’: Ex-Clinton advisor says Democrats need a MAJOR ‘reset’

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:01]DNC Chair Kent Martin facing calls to resign from some fellow Democrats over his handling of the so-called autopsy of the 2024 campaign. Of course, he released it under pressure, but did not endorse it. The report says, quote, "The White House did not position or prepare the vice president. Had the White House explored and evaluated ways to leverage Kla Harris earlier in the administration, perhaps it would have improved the president's standing and it could certainly have helped her, you know, be prepared to lead the ticket.

[00:00:35]Congressional correspondent Bill Malusian has the very latest from DC.

[00:00:38]Very interesting hypothesis, Bill.

[00:00:41]>> It is, Kevin. And as you know, the roll out of the DNC's 2024 autopsy report was pretty bizarre. DNC chair Kevin Martin said Ken Martin, excuse me, said he wouldn't release it. Then once it leaked, he did release it, but then he immediately disavowed it as an incomplete and incoherent product. Well, now he's facing some calls to step down from Democrats. Massachusetts Democratic Congress uh Congressman Seth Molton told Axios he believes Martin should resign due to his quote lack of leadership, adding that it was quote utterly nuts that it took us this long to release the autopsy. Other Democrats have been critical.

[00:01:17]>> This is a very shoddy piece of work.

[00:01:19]It's an incomplete piece of work. And I can understand why Ken Martin was reluctant to release it earlier. But as he has said, he owns this problem. He should have just ripped the band-aid off earlier and put it out.

[00:01:31]>> The DNC has got to do a lot better if they're going to meet this moment in history.

[00:01:37]Well, some Democrats have complained that the report didn't even mention the words Gaza or Israel or make any mention of President Biden's disastrous decision to run for a second term, but Martin still has some support within the party.

[00:01:51]Now, could he have handled this autopsy better? Absolutely. He has said he should have. Should he be working more with state parties to make sure they're funded into 26 and 28? Absolutely. But, uh, I don't believe he should resign.

[00:02:04]And as you can imagine, Republicans say Democrats didn't need a report to figure out what went wrong back in 2024 because to them it was obvious that Americans weren't buying what Democrats were selling.

[00:02:16]>> They didn't want open borders. They didn't want the woke DEI nonsense that they were hoisting on the American people and they didn't want weakness projected on the world stage among many other issues. And but the Democrats cannot read the mail.

[00:02:30]and Kevin Kamla Harris lost every single swing state in that 2024 election. And some of the conclusions from the autopsy report as to why that happened is that she ignored rural America, mishandled Latinos, and that the entire Democratic brand as a whole was weak. We'll send it back to you.

[00:02:47]>> Well, a little bit of that and a little bit more than that, Bill. Thank you as always. We appreciate your analysis today, Alisia. And Kevin, here now is Jason Chaffitz, former House Oversight Committee chairman and a Fox News contributor. And Doug Shown, former Clinton advisor and Democrat pollster.

[00:03:03]Gentle gentlemen, thank you so much for being here, joining us on this Memorial Day. Doug, u I got to start with you.

[00:03:10]The long the line is very long of Democrats who want to slam this report, right, and like kind of step away and go, okay, let's not look at the past.

[00:03:19]Let's move to the future. But does Ken Martin need to resign? Does the Democratic party need a reset here?

[00:03:25]>> Uh, absolutely, Elisia. Ken Martin's got to go. He's got to resign. He mishandled the audit. And while it could have been done more comprehensively, certainly what we see is just devastating. And the fact that Ken Martin took the time he did, didn't release it, then released it, disavowed it, he's not providing leadership. Our party is divided between the ascendant progressive wing and the more traditional moderate wing.

[00:03:55]Everything is working against the Democratic brand now as a party. So I say we need new leadership. We need a reset and we need a new path forward given the failures in the past.

[00:04:08]>> Jason, I want to bring you into this conversation. Other than Republicans enjoying the heartburn the Democrats are experiencing right now. Um where are you on this?

[00:04:18]Um, look, inco incomplete, incoherent.

[00:04:21]That describes Kla Harris to a tea. I don't know why you didn't need more than that one sentence. I mean, look, the this is the party, the Democratic party spent $20 million trying to figure out what men think. They spent $10 million trying to come up with an autopsy and they botched it. They don't know how to issue a report, let alone run the country. So when they start looking forward and oh should we fire this person and they got to start from scratch. They don't understand common sense. They don't understand what America thinks. They've never understood Donald Trump. And they put one of the most pathetic people in Kla Harris who can't, you know, articulate a sentence, let alone a vision for the United States of America. So good job Democrats. Keep it up.

[00:05:05]>> So okay, I'm gonna Thank you for that, Jason. I'm going to put up this New York Times Sienna poll. This is Democrat what Democrats are saying supporters are saying the party must do to win in 2028.

[00:05:18]Take a look at this. 25% say move to the left. 18% 18% say stay as is and 52% are saying move to the center. So Doug, you know, when we do look back at the race in 2024, there were issues that like I know from being on the campaign trail that Democrats weren't listening to what voters were saying and and one of them was let's for example the trans athlete issue and I'm just wondering and I' I've seen just from covering that there are factions inside the Democratic party that divide it so much that some feel seem like they would rather lose on principle than come together and win as a party.

[00:06:01]>> Oh, I think that's absolutely right. Uh the data is very clear. The voters and uh the vast majority of Democrats and indeed swing voters, independents, all want a more moderate party. The problem is exactly what you say. There is a progressive wing that is ascended in primaries, very active, very loud, and contributes lots of money, who wants the party to move to the left and do not care if we lose elections as a result.

[00:06:33]Regrettably, I have to agree with Jason Chaffitz. My party needs a complete reset. I'm a Clinton Democrat. That's where the country is and that's the only way we can compete and win the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential election with an agenda that rejects transgender athletes, uh, tightens the border, and does something about affordability.

[00:06:57]>> Jason, I can't let you off the hook here entirely because the GOP right now is having its own struggle with how to deal with this war, how to deal with the negotiations going forward. There's some constrnation inside the GOP.

[00:07:10]I I think there is a wholehearted support for President Trump. It is a tough time in terms of the gas pump. But here's the fundamental difference between Republicans and Democrats.

[00:07:19]Republicans understand that gas prices are up because the president is making sure that we all survive, that you don't have the nuclear nation of Iran, religious fanatics that will use that any place, any time. Democrats want it as policy to have high prices for gas.

[00:07:36]So Donald Trump's high prices for gas will come down when the war is is put to an end. But they but for Democrats, they want high prices and that's what we had under Biden.

[00:07:46]>> Jason Chafus, Doug Shonen, so nice of both of you to join us on this Memorial Day. Thank you so much.

[00:07:52]>> Thanks so much, >> Kevin.

[00:07:54]>> Thank you. Be sure to like and subscribe for all the Fox News latest on YouTube and catch full shows streaming now on Fox