Plain English with Derek Thompson

Episode: How Democrats Lost the Future
Date: October 21, 2025
Guest: Congressman Jake Auchincloss

Episode Overview

This episode explores one of the thorniest questions in American politics: Why is the Democratic Party losing its future, especially among younger Americans and men? Host Derek Thompson analyzes this trend with Massachusetts Congressman Jake Auchincloss, using the congressman’s bold proposal—a "digital sin tax"—as a jumping-off point for a bigger discussion. Together, they tackle the Democratic Party’s messaging failures, the cultural and economic shifts leaving Democrats behind, and how new, risky ideas—like taxing social media giants—could help revive the party’s mission and relevance.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The "Digital Dopamine" Crisis

The Central Problem

• Auchincloss calls digital media “digital dopamine” and compares it to sugar or cigarettes, arguing it is addictive and harmful, especially to children.
  • “These tech companies…have been able to attention frack them, to figure out ways to hijack the dopamine reinforcement system in their brains and monetize that dopamine cycle to the tune of trillions of dollars every year.” – Auchincloss [05:23]

The Impact on Youth

• Mental health among young people is plummeting since the smartphone/social media era began (~2012).
• Social comparison and constant stimulation are making kids “lonelier, angrier, …sadder, …more disconnected” [07:27].
• Kids themselves recognize these harms: When Auchincloss asks groups of students if they’d be happier if TikTok never existed, “most of the hands go up” [08:03].

2. Policy Proposals: Research, Regulation, and the "Digital Sin Tax"

Three-Part Policy Approach

• Research: Task federal agencies with deeply studying social media’s effects on the developing brain, leading to neuroscience-backed regulations.

  • “Stop chasing corporations as they shapeshift across platforms and start just focusing on the target area…delivery of dopamine.” – Auchincloss [09:57]

• Taxation: Proposes a “digital sin tax” on the corporate revenues of Meta, Google, TikTok and others—comparable to taxes on tobacco/alcohol—rather than targeting users.

  • “Tax these companies, it’s a vice. They reward the seven deadly sins.” [10:26]
  • Revenues would be redirected to public goods and real-life activities.

• Regulatory Mindset Shift: Auchincloss argues America “massively stacked the deck for online activity and against in-real-life activity," making it “easy to disseminate porn to children and difficult to build enough houses” [12:55].

  • Advocates for balancing the regulatory climate to boost real-world community and infrastructure.

Addressing Criticisms

• Why not tax TV/entertainment generally?
  • “We should care more about outcomes than process…We didn’t see the collapse in social trust and adolescent well-being until after 2012, after social media ubiquity.” – Auchincloss [13:59]

3. Is Picking a Fight with Silicon Valley Wise?

• Derek Thompson challenges: Would taxing social media giants deny Democrats Silicon Valley’s money, or position them as anti-tech?

  • Auchincloss: “This actually could be a defining fight for the Democratic Party…These corporations have been treating our children like products. They need to pay for it.” [16:25]
  • "Not by being moralistic about it…what an adult decides to do is their business…I think society does have a compelling interest in our kids." [16:55]

• Auchincloss sees this as a new “culture war” worth fighting—a chance for Democrats to go on offense for millennial and Gen Z parents.

4. The "Cost Disease" and Affordable Living

Revisiting American Dreams

• Cost Disease (William Baumol’s theory): Inflation is uneven—costs skyrocket in sectors like healthcare, housing, education, while manufactured goods (like electronics) get cheaper.

• Auchincloss’s prescription:

  1. Pick sectors to prioritize—start with healthcare and housing.
  2. Cut anti-productive regulations (esp. around zoning, generic drugs).
  3. Embrace technology to automate and scale solutions.
  4. Fight entrenched special interests, whether governmental or corporate.
  • “The middle class is paying more than half their take home pay for housing and healthcare combined.” – Auchincloss [21:45]

Party Identity and Costs

• Thompson points out that "cost disease" is typically a conservative talking point; Auchincloss reframes it as an American problem—one Democrats must solve with aggressive, outside-the-box reforms.

5. The Democrats' Tech Dilemma

• Auchincloss argues Democrats should embrace technology for real-world benefits (e.g., gene editing, educational AI), but sharply distinguish this from their critique of attention-hijacking social media.
  • “Being anti-tech is foolish and it’s a scarcity mindset. What I think people are reacting to, rightfully, is that technology unto itself is not a value…a value is a sense of belonging, of trust.” [27:08]

6. Why Is the Democratic Brand So Weak?

• Blames an obsession with process over outcomes, typified by pandemic school closures.

  • “The outcome that mattered was get kids back into school. And in too many instances, the Democratic Party got fixated on process…pivoting around interest groups…married with a sense of condescension.” – Auchincloss [28:18]

• Party comes across as "America’s HR department"—overly procedural, jargon-laden, patronizing [32:16].

• The true scarce political resource isn’t attention: “It’s trust. And the party that builds trust back first…is the party that’s going to have a generational majority.” [33:10]

7. On Populism and Political Messaging

The “Diet Coke” Theory

• “When someone orders a Coke, they don’t want a Diet Coke. And if Democrats think that we are going to beat MAGA populism with a more polite version of populism…we’re going to lose.” – Auchincloss [34:00]
• The party must define a “new center”—not left or centrist, but integrating the best ideas across the spectrum:
  • Libertarian skepticism of power
  • Conservative support for family and faith
  • Liberal defense of civil rights
  • Progressive push for opportunity
  • Populist suspicion of corporate power [34:52]

The Power & Necessity of Simple, Big Ideas

• Thompson argues Democrats lack “big ideas” with memetic, viral power (e.g. ‘Build the Wall’, ‘Green New Deal’).
  • Auchincloss: The Trump years put Democrats “in a straitjacket” defined by opposition but starved for positive, actionable ideas. Now, “we need ideas, talent, and courage.” [41:08]

Touch Grass Populism

• Thompson frames Auchincloss as a “touch grass populist”—defining a moral ‘them’ (social media giants) vs. the ‘us’ (kids, families, communities).
  • Auchincloss enthusiastically embraces the term: “It is absolutely an us versus them. It is absolutely a moralistic good versus bad…a set of policies that are going to expand prosperity and belonging…” [38:39]

8. How to Communicate a Winning Democratic Agenda

• Simplicity, specificity, and virality are vital:

  • “The idea needs to be built for virality. … Make ideas as elemental as possible so that they spread when we share them.” – Thompson [46:07]
  • Examples: ‘Medicare for All’ / ‘Hope and Change’ / ‘Green New Deal’

• In-person, real-world feedback is essential—like “testing material” as a comedian would, to see what ideas actually resonate in communities.

  • “Political resonance is contagious…what lyrics the crowd chants back at us, that’s the policy you want to take front and center.” – Auchincloss [47:06]

9. Working-class & Young Men: The Election Challenge

• Despite memes about “the gender gap,” Democrats have bled support from men for decades—heightened now with young men swinging to Donald Trump.

• Auchincloss: “What we need to do is stop condescending and start building…give young men what they’re really seeking, which is camaraderie and challenge in pursuit of a common mission.” [52:13]

  • Societies always struggle to constructively channel this energy. If not guided, “corporations are going to route it toward online gambling, pornography and social media and it’s going to be corrosive.” [53:30]

• Debate: Should Democrats prescribe team-based, purposeful missions, or just model them?

  • Auchincloss: “Males at that age, in particular, are not individualistic…they immediately form teams. And…much more so than with females, males are focused on forming teams and setting up rules for competition. … We just need to route that impulse…” [56:23]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Auchincloss: “I bought the book How to Break Up with Your Phone in 30 Days. I'm on day one still and haven't made it past. So far be it for me to lecture anybody.” [16:55]
• Thompson: “The party comes across as America’s HR department.” [32:16]
• Auchincloss: “The true scarce currency in politics is not attention, it’s trust.” [33:10]
• Auchincloss: “You have to bear the opprobrium of your friends and allies. It’s easy to go out there as a Democrat and criticize Republicans or vice versa. Courage is Liz Cheney.” [41:27]
• Thompson: “One thing that I like about the digital dopamine tax…is that it’s a big idea. And I don’t think Democrats, especially centrist Democrats, have their big idea.” [39:26]
• Auchincloss, on Medicaid’s case for the middle class: “Medicaid is long term care. Medicaid is at home care. Medicaid is addiction services. ... Medicaid is a sustainable path for long-term services…” [48:48]
• Thompson (on political messaging): “Figure out what you want to say, tell everybody. ... It’s astonishing how many politicians don’t actually know what the f--- they want to say.” [42:04]

Important Timestamps

• 05:14 – Auchincloss’s “digital dopamine” diagnosis
• 08:51 – What’s the policy fix? Sin tax and beyond
• 12:55 – The digital reality vs. IRL regulation asymmetry
• 16:25 – Why fighting tech giants might be a defining Democratic cause
• 19:42 – On “cost disease” and the affordability crisis
• 28:18 – How the party got lost: School closures as a microcosm
• 34:00 – The “Diet Coke theory” of Democratic populism
• 38:27 – “Touch grass populism”: Why drawing moral lines matters
• 41:27 – What political courage really means
• 46:07 – Building policy for memetic virality
• 52:13 – The party’s long-standing problem with men and young voters
• 56:23 – Why young men need teams and constructive “routing”

Tone & Style

The episode maintains a mix of policy wonkishness and plainspoken candor, matching both Thompson’s sharp clarity and Auchincloss’s forthright, sometimes passionate, sometimes self-deprecating style. Both men show a hunger for substance—challenging each other but focusing on big ideas, concrete fixes, and the kind of political imagination that might actually turn around the Democratic Party’s fortunes.

Summary Takeaway

“How Democrats Lost the Future” argues that the party's decline is both cultural and strategic: It’s failed to offer meme-able, memorable, big-idea solutions that address real anxieties—from addiction to social media, to the crushing cost of American life. If Democrats want to claw back trust and relevance, they'll need more than triangulation or process—they'll need to pick bold fights, define a new center, be clear about their enemies and their mission, and above all, rediscover the courage and clarity to say what they want, in ways people actually repeat.