A CNN analyst on Wednesday warned that the political conditions that led to President Donald Trump could lead to a similar figure in the future.
Mo Elleithee, a former Democratic National Committee communications director, described how history could repeat itself during a CNN panel hosted by anchor Kasie Hunt.
"I work with a lot of college students; the college students I work with, Barack Obama is a historical figure to them," Elleithee said.
"Their political consciousness was against the backdrop of the past decade of the Trump era," he said. "This style of politics that we've been witnessing for the past 10 years is actually the norm for them. This is what politics is actually like, and I think that is fueling a lot of the youth energy. They want fighters in the way that they see on the other side."
He said that Democrats should be aware of this.
"What this means for the future of the Democratic Party — it's a warning flag, it's a siren that should be going off here in D.C.," Elleithee explained. "I don't want to overstate some of this. What we are seeing is that these insurgent, anti-establishment, often generational-change candidates are winning primaries in the bluest of districts, mostly urban areas. They're taking blue districts and turning them bluer. I think it's like 88 percent of the safe seats the insurgent candidate has won, but in the swing districts, the districts in the suburbs, the districts that are going to be competitive in the fall — but in those primaries — they've only won about 15 to 20 percent of the primaries."
Elleithee mentioned fellow panelist Doug Heye, a former communications director of the Republican National Committee, and described how the Democratic candidates in more urban areas might not dictate who controls the House, but could signal the future of the party.
"They are not going to have an impact on who wins the House," Elleithee added. "But they are — if they, when they — do make it to theHouse.Regardless of who is in control, their voices will be amplified, and I often think of myfriend Doug, who lived through this on the otherside of the aisle. He had the first one; he was thecanary at the party. And so, even though the Tea Party took a little while to take over, when it did, it took us right to Donald Trump."