Former Democratic strategist Dan Turrentine raised concerns on Tuesday about his party’s lack of a strong figurehead like President Donald Trump, who is able to dominate and unify its base.

In a March 16 CNN/SSRS poll, Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez received the most support from Democratic-aligned adults when asked which leader “best reflects the core values” of the party, but she garnered only 10% overall support.

On The Morning Meeting podcast, Turrentine noted that Democratic presidential nominees have struggled to rally voters under a single leader since former President Barack Obama, a stark contrast to the influence Trump holds over his party. “The people that I talk to who run campaigns see it as a problem in that you need your base energized, right? Like, it’s very hard to win an election with a demoralized and fractured base. So they don’t want to discourage the building energy that we have,” Turrentine said.

“What they lament is they don’t want to be captured and driven by that crowd. They want it to be part of a bigger kind of tent again that offers, you know, proactive solutions and can channel it not just against them. The frustrating thing is they’re not sure how to do it. Kamala Harris couldn’t do it. Joe Biden could never do it,” he continued.

“You know, the last person who kind of had some control over the base was Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton couldn’t — it was part of her problem. [Independent Vermont Sen.] Bernie Sanders just nicked at her ankles that whole campaign. And she’d tell you it’s the main reason she lost,” he added.

“It’s the main reason Biden said to [Democratic Massachusetts Sen.] Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, ‘I’ll give you personnel in the White House if you just support me 100% in 2020.’ So it’s a problem that we have. We don’t have a strong leader like Donald Trump. I say this with respect: he is strong. He controls his party. They fear him. Nobody fears us,” Turrentine said.