David Hogg Shows How Little He Knows with Apparent Demand to Trump

On Thursday, a hapless writer for Mediaite was assigned the monumental chore of sifting through David Hogg’s social media archive to unearth his most outrageous statements.

“Ranking the New DNC Vice Chair’s Most Insane Tweets,” the headline proclaimed. One can only feel for Charlie Nash, the author of the piece. He might have found it easier to compile a list of Hogg’s most reasonable tweets; those likely wouldn’t reach double digits.

For those who haven’t been keeping up with the political drama of the past week, Hogg serves as Exhibit A that the Democratic Party has taken no lessons from 2024. Following his survival of the tragic 2018 Parkland high school shooting in Florida, he emerged as an outspoken advocate for gun control.

Initially, of course, many sympathized with him, regardless of political stance. But it didn’t take long to realize that, as a public figure in the national political conversation, he was erratic, perpetually enraged in a way that alienated rather than persuaded, and self-promotional to an extent remarkable even within the grandstanding American political landscape. (Which is saying quite a lot.)

So, in their quest for reinvention after being rebuffed by American voters for veering too far left in 2024, the Democratic National Committee made the baffling decision to elect him as their vice chair.

At least Hogg aligns with one core Democratic principle: making promises he later abandons.

“I’m one of the most politically toxic people in the country and I’m too radical for American politics. No, I’m not running for office,” he once declared in one of those infamous tweets under scrutiny, back in 2022. “We have enough straight white men in power. It’d be nice to see some people who actually look like our country and not privilege.”

Now, having apparently shed the guilt of his “arrant white privilege,” he’s calling on President Donald Trump to replace a competent South African immigrant with an unqualified, upper-class white Harvard graduate who once worked at McKinsey.

It sounds bad—even by Democratic standards—until one realizes he’s actually demanding that Trump fire Department of Government Efficiency chair Elon Musk and install former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in his place. In that case, it’s less bad for Democrats and infinitely more embarrassing for Republicans.

The controversy began with a post Hogg made after an incident on a Philadelphia-area commuter train:

It’s impressive how one could be so wrong in so few words, but let’s break it down, shall we?

First, David Hogg holds no authority to fire anyone other than, perhaps, a handful of symbolic staffers the DNC allows him to manage. While the party may have erred in giving the gaffe-prone 24-year-old a vice chair position, they’re not about to entrust him with anything beyond another fleeting moment in the spotlight.

Second, he has zero influence over personnel decisions within the Trump administration. Not only does he lack any oversight role, but any Republican paying attention to his statements likely assumes that doing the opposite of his recommendations is the right course of action.

And, to top it all off, if blame belongs anywhere for this situation, it’s at Buttigieg’s feet.

Lest we forget, the Trump administration has only been in charge since January 20, 2025. Buttigieg, on the other hand, was confirmed as Joe Biden’s Transportation Secretary in early 2021 and served through the end of Biden’s term.

His primary qualification for the role? A well-documented fondness for trains—though apparently not enough to prompt a timely visit to East Palestine, Ohio, after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed there.

Thus, whatever safety measures could have prevented the Philadelphia train’s malfunction should have been implemented during Buttigieg’s tenure. (For context, according to WPVI-TV, all 350 passengers aboard escaped unscathed.)

And finally, let’s address the most glaring mistake: Elon Musk is not the Transportation Secretary, you incompetent fool.

That position belongs to former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy. Even those uninterested in transportation policy may recognize him from his leadership following the crash of American Eagle Flight 5342 and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport—the first mid-air collision involving a commercial airliner in U.S. airspace since 1986, which resulted in 67 fatalities.

If ever there was a moment when a politically engaged 24-year-old—let alone the newly elected vice chair of the Democratic National Committee—should know who the current Transportation Secretary is, this would be it.

But let’s be honest: Musk would be a terrible pick for Transportation Secretary given his complete lack of aviation expertise and … oh, wait.

Democrats, this part is for you specifically, since most Republicans and independents have already drawn their own conclusions about Hogg’s post—and his history of misinformed activism. This is the person your party believes will help reclaim the youth vote?

Are you still convinced, dear left-leaning voters, that your party isn’t trapped in an ideological echo chamber, unable to recognize how far off course it has veered?