Your Messaging Sucks!

Democratic Strategies Must Evolve

Let’s face it, the Democrat’s messaging sucks and is not working! How can Democrats be on the right side of every issue with such a superior candidate while running against such a flawed, dangerous, and non-electable candidate, but lose the election. Shitty messaging that’s how. I think we can all agree that throughout the 2024 Presidential election, the Democrats had the most positive message. It was also clear that the facts were with the Democrats, and we certainly held the moral and ethical high ground. Either morality, ethics, and character are arcane and irrelevant concepts, which I do not believe, or the Democrats are doing a terrible job of communicating with voters. As we look back at the election and try to determine what happened, we must be brutally honest with ourselves. The message we were sending to the American people DID NOT WORK!

For years, the Democratic Party has been obsessed with rules, norms, and traditions. While these are important to those on the Left, the truth is they only matter when everyone agrees to follow them. The Right does not. Throughout the last few election cycles, the Democrats have fallen in line with the concept of “when they go low, we go high” and have focused their campaigns on delivering fact-based messaging and appealing to the intelligence of voters. The reality is that facts and data only matter when there is a preconceived and agreed set of facts to begin with. The Right has their own reality and do not believe in facts, only what Trump and his allies tell them. Relying on the idea that the Left’s positions are factually based or morally or ethically better just does not resonate with the voters. THEIR MESSAGING IS NOT WORKING!

On the most part, the Democrats are largely talking to themselves and selling their ideas to each other while at the same time Trump was telling American voters exactly what they wanted to hear, regardless of the truth. The Left failed to effectively communicate their message to a huge number of American voters. Democrats consistently failed to meet the voters where they are at. It is irrelevant that Democrats were right because being right does not excite the American people. It is not enough to simply rely on giving statistics, even if they are correct, because that does not connect to the individual voters. Rather Democrats must communicate the real-life impacts that the facts and data have on the American people. For Republicans, it is less about facts than it is communicating that they are right, that they can solve all problems, and that only they have the solutions. Republicans don’t care about facts and connect with voters much more efficiently and communicate their message in a way that appeals to voters both personally and individually.

The Right does a much better job of self-promoting and self-protecting. They frequently promote horrible ideas such as mass deportation, but every Republican is on the same page and uses the same talking points in public. Democrats do not do this. Take for example, the issue with pardons. Trump pardoned 144 people during his presidency. Many of the pardons were given to people in his own inner circle or those who were loyal to him. Additionally, Trump has promised to pardon all those convicted because of their actions on January sixth. Republicans are publicly supporting the pardons and are referring to the insurrectionists as patriots because that is how Trump referred to them. They are all on the same page and speak in one voice. Compare that to the reaction on the Left when Biden pardoned his own son. Left leaning news cable organizations, newspapers, and some Democratic members of Congress were publicly questioning his decision and calling it out as hypocrisy. When Democrats attack their own, it gives more credibility and ammunition for those on the Right to use against them and it confuses the American people.

For years, Democrats have allowed the Right to present rumors, use misleading information, and to demonize them. Republicans have portrayed the Left as “woke,” “socialists,” “communists,” and even “evil” and Democrats have not countered this narrative, other than to say, “no we are not.” Republicans are much better at branding. Why is it that these caricatures stick, but when we call Trump a convicted felon, it does not resonate? Three reasons, first because all Republicans repeat the same message, second, they brand it as standing up for the American people against the “radicle Left,” and third because they have a propaganda machine that continuously repeats it to millions of people every day.

For over 40 years Republicans have dominated the propaganda machine. Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, Fox News, Newsmax, and more recently Elon Mask buying Twitter are all individuals and organizations that exist for the sole purpose of promoting the Right-wing agenda and dismantling the Left. The Democrats have little in comparison. MSNBC and occasionally CNN are more fact-based news organizations. They tend to present news from a much more neutral, or slightly Left position, but do not avoid reporting stories that are not positive for Democrats. It is important to recognize that the talking heads on the Right frequently mislead their viewers with false information and outright lies while shielding them from any truth or positive information about Democrats.

Democrats must recognize that there is a very large percentage of the population that relies on FOX as their sole source of information and as such their viewers are insulated from any damaging information about Right-wing positions and candidates while demonizing successes and policy positions from the Left. Where are the news organizations whose sole purpose is to promote the Left? Where are Democratic talking heads that would rival the “My pillow guy?” Where is the radio programs that would compete with Steve Bannon or Alex Jones? The Democrats need to explore creating informational environments and building infrastructures that can not only compete with those on the Right but that will draw viewers away from them. Personally, I do not agree that the Right-wing organizations are ethical in the way they mislead their viewers, however I also recognize that, since Trump, it is how the political game is played and if Democrats want to compete, they can no longer rely on simply “taking the high road.”

Democrats have allowed the Republicans to control the narrative and political misinformation by flooding news airways and social media that is owned and operated by their allies. The Left must create equal or greater avenues of self-promotion and political attack. Democrats should be strategically using the very same Republican tactics that have made them successful. Today voters get most of their information via social media and through online influencers. We should be doing the same. We should be relentlessly promoting our successes and advocating for our candidates. Ask yourself this, when is the last time you heard about the benefits of the American Rescue Plan Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, the Safer Communities Act, or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act? All these pieces of legislation were monumental, but largely overshadowed by the Left’s focus on Trump. We need to brag and not allow Republicans to take credit for our successes. Far too often, Democrats wait until there is a contested electoral race before talking about these successes but by that time the propaganda machines on the Right have already diluted or taken credit for them. Promoting the Left must be non-stop, not only during a campaign but always.

The Democrats must also consider new messengers. When the same people are delivering a different message, it is too easy for voters to associate the new message with the old. Don’t get me wrong, I am eternally grateful for the contribution of Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Joe Biden, Barrack Obama, Bill and Hilary Clinton, and Kamala Harris but the Democratic Party needs to re-invent itself and in doing so must have new and exciting people carrying the torch forward in innovative new ways. We need new “attack dogs” who are not afraid to get into it with the crazies on the Right. Those like Gavin Newsome, Pete Buttigieg, or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, just to name a few, may be viable options in the future and the future is now.

It is long past time to start treating Trump and MAGA the way they have been treating others for years.Of course they will get mad, and I say good, but their true colors will become evident to the American people. The Left needs to get organized and strike back frequently and fiercely. We must start by appealing to people’s emotions, not just their intellect.We need to meet them where they are and tap into platforms that they use most often. Trump voters wanted someone to blame for things that were not going well in their lives, I say we give it to them.Blame Trump! Democrats must realize that our focus should no longer be to save the Democratic Party, but rather saving our nation. We know it is only a matter of time before many Trump voters start to realize the mistake they made and that the promises Trump made are not being kept, Democrats need to capitalize on this and broadcast his failures using every possible outlet. Most importantly, no more pussyfooting around we need to take the fight to them. From now on when they go low, we need to kick them in the face.