Anthony I am taking this post down for while I am open to constructive criticism I am not open to people telling me what to do. Feel free to repost using more constructive language. Thank you.
dude - you have some points in here that I agree with but starting with a lecture about wordiness to Simon is lame AF and the entire post is just as condescending as the sort of stuff you seem to hate from Dems
Frank, it appears that you believe your job here is to repeat Republican talking points against Democrats inside our community. It needs to end or I am going to suspend your posting privileges. This is my second warning. Thank you.
It won't "tarnish his legacy" when people realize the facts changed, so Joe Biden changed. Hunter would no longer be dealing with principled, professional prosecutors, but with Trump bootlickers eager to please their revenge-seeking big boss. Good Dad Joe protected his remaining son from Trump's tomahawk, Bondi. Frank and Simon, wouldn't you do the same in such a situation?
It absolutely was the right thing to do and I’m so sick of Dems and their circular firing squad (as well as the press) while they all give a pass to the monster who pardons REAL criminals, gives them positions of power in his cabinet, and sets about burning down the Constitution, the country, and its citizens. I’m all for Biden taking every power of immunity granted to him by the loathsome SC to do all in his power to protect that which he took an oath to protect, while he has time.
I don't think anyone should pay any attention to the Hunter Biden pardon. In a few weeks when chaos ensues, hardly anyone will remember it. It is irrelevant.
Biden did some very good things in office, some political failures, but either way it is time to move on. No one should be talking about this, in my view. It's just pointless to dwell on it.
They don’t need any excuses to weaponize the justice dept. They intended to do that all along. Biden had every right to protect his son from such targeted hatred and abuse of justice.
Simon, your presentation should be packaged in a variety of ways to reach a variety of demographic groups - a documentary, a podcast series, a graphic novel, a bunch of TikToks. I have no idea who could do this, but I sure wish Ken Burns would do the documentary!
Including the impact of the bomb threats against polling sites in reliably Blue precincts with large minority populations. I have yet to see a numeric estimate of this impact, which received shockingly little coverage on Election Night or afterwards!
Tom Bonier on Bluesky shared some post-election data from GA and one of the many factors discussed was the impact of the bomb threats. They were found to be insignificant.
Thanks, Simon, for your continued optimism and for sharing data to back it up. One question: I understand several Harris campaign staffers, including David Plouffe, JOD and Stephanie Cutter appeared on the Pod Save America podcast to give their takes on the campaign and its results. Any chance we could get one or more on a Hopium gathering to discuss the same topics and ask questions? Thanks.
simon: agreed 1000%. have never understood how the dems could not promote themselves with all the good that we do! never got the message across. never got the credit. all the new roads, bridges, terminals to be built we will not get credit for. social security, medicare, ACA, medicaid. the lower cost to drugs. no one ever got it. because if they did, surely they would vote to save it. 45M people are on ACA with no back up plan. can they not hear??? can they not see?? there is a massive brain washing going on. now they are focused on tarriffs. after the election?? are the mass of voters seriously uneducated?? uninformed?? joe biden did so much for us and he never to any credit. it's a shame really. maybe the younger dems can turn this around. maybe they know how to use a media megaphone. it's like alice in wonderland or upside down world. with the best economy in the world and all the other good things, no one knew. how sad is that? is it us or them??? good question.
Simon wrote: "We have to have a long and deep conversation about why we were unable to tell the story of the Biden-Harris Presidency more effectively over the entirety of their four year term"
Tragically, the Biden Administration failed to loudly tell this story. By the time "we" and the Harris Campaign were trying to do so, after 3.5 years of Republican disinformation and mainstream media neglect, we were facing a very steep challenge. In essence, Kamala Harris and her supporters (us) were essentially being asked to present a counter-narrative!
This, in my opinion, was a fatal flaw in President Biden’s approach to his presidency. Yes, we can blame the media and the right-wing ecosphere of Fox et al, but the Biden Administration needed to communicate far, far better!
EDIT: Below, I have four concrete suggestions for OUR MESSAGING GOING FORWARD.
Imho, at the end of President Biden’s term, it will be an advantage to loudly and visibly publicize and spread some key metrics, including:
– Price of gas
– Price of eggs
– Cost of childcare
– Cost of Insulin and other key meds
– Inflation vs average wages
– Unemployment rate
– Worker participation rate
– Stock markets
– National debt
– Budget deficit
The moment and of these or other key metrics become worse under Trump than they were when Biden left office, we need to push the news media to underscore that – and show the comparisons.
"we need to push the news media to underscore that " uh, yeah!! how do we do that????? "the media" has been a massive part of this problem. And don't forget that WAPO refused to endorse Harris....
The real people that need convincing or to learn this information for the first time are not on any of the main stream media. Remember that since 2016 Trump has made them the enemy the liers, etc
100% agree. Again, keep the presentation plain and simple so that ANYONE can understand it. Graphs and charts. Short and digestible prose. As mentioned above, TikToks, pods, TV spots during ballgames, billboards, radio, etc.
This needs to start NOW. As an example take Simon’s favorite bar graph and add employment stats from the Clinton presidency through the present. We need to make sure these messages reach every type of audience on a regular basis.
Also, we need to emphasize a list of Biden infrastucture projects, the benefits of these projects, and the number of jobs these create. (Is there such a list?)
For contrast, there should be a comparable list of infrastructure projects launched under Trump.
Moreover, the moment Trump defunds or shuts down a Biden infrastructure project, Democrats need to protest, loudly announce the cost and the discarded benefits of doing so, and confront Republican politicians to force them to express a viewpoint. By pushing these narratives in the national news media – but even more so in local and regional newspapers and media – we can extract a heavy
The White House's Invest in America site shows where the projects are and allows you to look up what is going on in each state -- https://www.whitehouse.gov/invest/
I just looked up Maryland and it opens a PDF listing the projects as of October 2024.
You can also see the amount public and private investment and stores about various projects.
Thank you! Obviously that site data needs to be exported and republished elsewhere, before noon on 20 January. (The same goes for other key White House information from the Biden Administration.)
Thank you for sharing this as a free article! Susan, given that this thread is at least three days old and less likely to be seen now, I have taken the liberty of posting this in today’s Hopium, with credit to you.
Suggestion: Modeled after the Harris Campaign’s excellent Rapid Response social media posts, the Biden & Harris Team should launch social media accounts as well as to distribute press releases. They should continue to take credit – AND counteract the lies when Trump inevitable tries to steal credit for stuff he never did.
Going forward, Democrats should have this as a key part of their media campaigns!
It's time to move on from Biden. Give the administration credit for what they were able to do but there is plenty of criticism also that's been aimed at them and rightfully so. Give Democratic party credit, drop the Biden name. IMHO, I can't stand him because we'd likely NOT be in this position if he'd been the one term president he said he'd be. Done with the DNC leadership also. They've been playing softball and 1990 politics.
Other Hopium members have suggested Democrats adopt a time-honored European tradition: the Shadow Cabinet!
This means Democrats choose highly-articulate, well-informed, media-savvy spokespersons for a variety of policy areas. These people need to hold regular press conferences where they present the Democratic positions, our own policy proposals, point out Trumpian disinformation and lies. They need to be available to news networks, newspaper journalists and podcasters.
An absolute requirement is that they are able to speak clearly in a language common voters can understand.
This is an excellent suggestion, after all Trump NEVER left the airwaves after losing to Biden. He trolled Biden’s whole term in office, hosted foreign leaders at Mar-a-Lago, and was general a nuisance to Biden. He never stopped acting like he was in power and was enabled by the media. This is definitely needed now to keep democracy on the front burner.
Shadow cabinet of media savvy. I love it. Can’t we call it something more true to our values? Truth cabinet. Candor cabinet. And kets get mayor Pete taking the lead!!!
I quite like Truth Cabinet! (A huge swathe of American voters don’t know what a two-syllable word such as "candor" means, and they’re unlikely to look it up in the dictionary.)
Hi everyone, I want to recommend this piece of analysis to anyone who's not seen it--
I just recently saw a New Yorker piece that was filed soon after the election, about the "ambience of information." It's really struck a chord with me as I've tried to think about our messaging/comms issues as opposed to how Trump/MAGA have communicated for the past two years or so. As in everything else, the two sides are so incommensurate, and attempts to think about it just felt impossibly apples to oranges to me, only much worse. Basically the piece argues that the info people (many) voted based on came to them largely through vague channels, whereby ideas/claims were dumped into the info ecosphere and became viral--sure, even Dems RT'd these things, to mock them or express outrage, but that just also sent these crazy claims on their way too. (Not blaming us, just a side note.) Basically this crap floats around in the ether enough so it seems like conventional wisdom or common knowledge. No idea at this point how to launch our own "crap" like so, because we're not about crap, but still the problem bears recognizing. Here's the article by Nathan Heller: https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/republican-victory-and-the-ambience-of-information
A disciplined People vs. Plutocrats frame will be important, I think. The answer to ‘how to combat Trump taking credit’ is probably the same as ‘how to combat Trump/GOP lies’ in general. Could come up with a million ideas, but instinctively it feels important that some media outlets (MeidasTouch) and online information hubs (Bluesky) that don’t tolerate lies/abuse/sane-washing are emerging and thriving. If people continue to choose and create value within those networks, it takes power away from misinformation networks.
This Atlantic article brings up a good point about how people (they give the example of white women who were fixated on the cheap gas and eggs talking point) were determined to vote for trump, and were impenetrable to any contrary evidence. I’m thinking this is a trump phenomenon. Will be interesting to see if people are willing to suspend cognitive dissonance for any other Republican. Archive link: https://archive.is/R4vA8
agree but don't just put on tv-- not as many people watch traditional tv anymore. Needs to go on all premium tv (where ads are allowed) and blitzed all over every single social media outlet, You Tube, etc. These are the places where most Americans "reside" in their information silos.
I completely agree we desperately need MUCH better messaging. It's something that's both puzzled and angered me for a long time about Dems - too passive and timid, too "make nice", too humble, too . . . what? It's not as if we don't have creative people on our side. We have to understand - and quickly - why we can't communicate better and very broadly, not just amongst those of us who read Substacks etc. We don't have anyone(s) anywhere close to being able to dominate (or even just keep up) the news and discourse the way trump does. And, as far as I can tell, this deficiency is continuing to play out now, at yet another critical moment, the transition. It's horrible and could cost us our democracy. Like you, I wish I contribute more to the discussion about answers. The place that's easiest for me is the idea that it's essential to promote independent, truthful media and try to hasten the demise of legacy media. It can't and won't be fixed if owned by billionaires. Independent media will only succeed with critical mass, so encouraging the switch in every way possible should be high on our list. As to folks who can communicate better, we have to face that some of our promising leaders came up short (eg Hakeem Jeffries, for instance, in my estimation). We need to look for new leaders among the younger people who while inexperienced in comparison, show great promise. Like Ben Wikler, Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost and others. I found today's column by Thom Hartmann, writing similar to your post today about the broad historical context of what Dems have done vs repubs, interesting. https://hartmannreport.com/p/americas-future-hangs-on-a-democratic-237?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=bvshj&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
He ends with an endorsement of Ben Wikler. I sure like Ben - not sure he's the only one who can turn this around, but maybe backing him is a start, tho it's probably too early yet not having a chance to know/assess all who are in the running. The last thing I want to say in this long post is that I somewhat cringe when I see Dems acting like our task now is to put what I see as "bandaids" on all the damage trump is and will continue to do (and I don't think we've seen anything yet about the extent). Doing that clearly plays into maga's hand and distracts us from a longer, more comprehensive view of what we stand for, can accomplish and how to do it - -in other words, forward looking, strategic and proactive rather than just defensive. Somehow, we're going to have to balance how much time and energy we spend on blunting the worst of trump's effects, and on the other hand realizing that doesn't get us where we need to be. In a certain way (though I don't want to advocate abandoning completely those who will be hurt) we have to let go of the idea of how many we can help - now - and at what cost, as opposed to letting some of what trump will do play out in a way that helps folks recognize how dangerous and destructive he is. It will be a very difficult and precarious path to navigate, and may add to things getting worse before they get better. But, they're going to anyway. . . and if we can't succeed, what is our future then. I appreciate so much you're continued and frank inquiry into where we go next, as individuals and part of this wonderful and effective community. Thanks, Simon.
It seems like increasingly, "we" and "they" get our news from totally different sources. How does truth get to everyone when sources blatantly lie or stretch the truth so that it is no longer recognizable, and sources with truth are not read by so many people?
As much as I appreciate everything Joe Biden has done, the White House and the Democratic Party failed to communicate any of the successes. I can name them because I am on this site—but if you ask a lot of folks, they have no idea.
1 - Broadcast Media and Cable News is dead. No one cares; I haven't watched TV in years. I'm one of MILLIONS who doesn't turn on their TV other than video games and (sorry) Law & Order.
2 - No one takes credit. SIGN YOUR NAME! Trump gets how to market, no matter his many, many, many failures. "DEMS DID THAT" should be on every single win that came out, not "Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan." Make the Republicans show up to praise the money coming from the Joseph Biden Infrastructure Plan, for example.
3 - On DEMS DID THAT, that's where you tell the truth. 50 Million Jobs? DEMS DID THAT. Crime down? DEMS DID THAT. Insulin is $35? DEMS DID THAT!
If you don't take credit for your successes, then someone else will! That's what Republicans do—take credit for Democratic successes and then sh*t all over the place.
4 - Don't let Team Both Sides ever win. Peter Baker and Jonathan Chait are wringing their hands over Hunter Biden's pardon? Who the f*ck cares? Biden should have woken up earlier, shook off the fear of being seen as "too political" against a bad-faith GOP, and do things and then TAKE CREDIT.
Biden should have done for America what he just did for Hunter: calling out the DARVO tactics and projection of the fascist Republican Party. Instead, we got four years of Joe calling Mitch McConnell his "friend" and "honorable," etc. (And I think Walz should have never been "nice" to Vance, either.) You can't claim someone's fascist and then sit down to break bread with them, unless you're doing it as they sign their surrender.
Biden's rhetoric used in making this pardon should have been coming out of the White House and every Democrat for the past 4 years. Republicans are going to use BAD FAITH attacks no matter what, so you might as well call it out and make it clear. Blame Congress for doing the wrong thing; call Manchin and Sinema losers and frauds, etc. I love Joe, but it should have been constant, continuous announcements and social media and fireside chats.
Teddy Roosevelt referred to his presidency as a "bully pulpit," meaning a superb platform for influence (not bully as we use it today, but rather meaning superb or wonderful). Go out, be loud, and shout from that pulpit to the American people. Don't expect the keyboard warriors to be there, especially with the capture of Fox News, Xitter, etc. You may not win everyone, but everyone would have said "OH SNAP, JOE BIDEN and KAMALA HARRIS and DEMS ARE FIGHTING FOR ME."
Also, the fact that some people are clutching their pearls over "violations of norms" — get over yourselves. Norms are deader than the dodo now; they died in 2016.
Democrats need to get over the idea that if you play nice, the other team will play nice too. That has NEVER been the case other than maybe in the Era of Good Feelings. That was a Very Long Time Ago. Build your case up (DEMS DID THAT) and tear down the Republicans (TRUMP HATES AMERICA).
I agree with assertive, constant, fierce messaging. But I also do not think - and don't support leaders who behave as if - the ends justify the means. I do not want leaders who become the monsters we are fighting. But I do want heroism, I do want leaders who make the hard decisions, I do want warriors in the best sense. I think we should take on what has been so successful for the U.S. military: deterrence through strength.
Simon, I'd be interested in advice from you or the broader community about how best to register our views on the candidates for heading up the DNC. I feel strongly we need an out-of-the-box, visionary thinker if we are to have a shot at reversing some of the trends we saw in this election. If we are not formally among the national, state or local party voting membership how do we go about identifying these folks and influencing them?
It is the members of the 2024-2028 DNC that will vote for their DNC Chair on Feb 1. You can contact the DNC members from your state to let them know your preferred candidate. Find their names from your State Party website or Chair. There are about 450 DNC members including:
* State-Elected (200 members). Allocated by population with a minimum of two from each state, the District of Columbia, the territories and Democrats Abroad. State processes vary, but most are elected by the state's Democratic Committee, at the State Party Convention or Democratic Primary.
* State Chairs and Vice-Chairs
* Current and former Democratic Presidents, Vice Presidents
Anthony I am taking this post down for while I am open to constructive criticism I am not open to people telling me what to do. Feel free to repost using more constructive language. Thank you.
dude - you have some points in here that I agree with but starting with a lecture about wordiness to Simon is lame AF and the entire post is just as condescending as the sort of stuff you seem to hate from Dems
Frank, it appears that you believe your job here is to repeat Republican talking points against Democrats inside our community. It needs to end or I am going to suspend your posting privileges. This is my second warning. Thank you.
It won't "tarnish his legacy" when people realize the facts changed, so Joe Biden changed. Hunter would no longer be dealing with principled, professional prosecutors, but with Trump bootlickers eager to please their revenge-seeking big boss. Good Dad Joe protected his remaining son from Trump's tomahawk, Bondi. Frank and Simon, wouldn't you do the same in such a situation?
It absolutely was the right thing to do and I’m so sick of Dems and their circular firing squad (as well as the press) while they all give a pass to the monster who pardons REAL criminals, gives them positions of power in his cabinet, and sets about burning down the Constitution, the country, and its citizens. I’m all for Biden taking every power of immunity granted to him by the loathsome SC to do all in his power to protect that which he took an oath to protect, while he has time.
I don't think anyone should pay any attention to the Hunter Biden pardon. In a few weeks when chaos ensues, hardly anyone will remember it. It is irrelevant.
Biden did some very good things in office, some political failures, but either way it is time to move on. No one should be talking about this, in my view. It's just pointless to dwell on it.
They don’t need any excuses to weaponize the justice dept. They intended to do that all along. Biden had every right to protect his son from such targeted hatred and abuse of justice.
Simon, your presentation should be packaged in a variety of ways to reach a variety of demographic groups - a documentary, a podcast series, a graphic novel, a bunch of TikToks. I have no idea who could do this, but I sure wish Ken Burns would do the documentary!
Still waiting to hear about recourse for the breech of national security using psy ops to disrupt the election.
Including the impact of the bomb threats against polling sites in reliably Blue precincts with large minority populations. I have yet to see a numeric estimate of this impact, which received shockingly little coverage on Election Night or afterwards!
Yes! I thought Maddow at least would be reporting on this. It feels like we are sleepwalking to, and over, the ledge.
Tom Bonier on Bluesky shared some post-election data from GA and one of the many factors discussed was the impact of the bomb threats. They were found to be insignificant.
And in Spanish. There needs to be Spanish language Hopium, MeidasTouch, Pod Save America, or whatever we are working with.
Ciudanos hablan Anglais.
Bienvenidos a Miami. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt-W2YEU0lc
Yes!!!
To be clear, by “presentation” I mean, “With Dems . . .”
Thanks, Simon, for your continued optimism and for sharing data to back it up. One question: I understand several Harris campaign staffers, including David Plouffe, JOD and Stephanie Cutter appeared on the Pod Save America podcast to give their takes on the campaign and its results. Any chance we could get one or more on a Hopium gathering to discuss the same topics and ask questions? Thanks.
simon: agreed 1000%. have never understood how the dems could not promote themselves with all the good that we do! never got the message across. never got the credit. all the new roads, bridges, terminals to be built we will not get credit for. social security, medicare, ACA, medicaid. the lower cost to drugs. no one ever got it. because if they did, surely they would vote to save it. 45M people are on ACA with no back up plan. can they not hear??? can they not see?? there is a massive brain washing going on. now they are focused on tarriffs. after the election?? are the mass of voters seriously uneducated?? uninformed?? joe biden did so much for us and he never to any credit. it's a shame really. maybe the younger dems can turn this around. maybe they know how to use a media megaphone. it's like alice in wonderland or upside down world. with the best economy in the world and all the other good things, no one knew. how sad is that? is it us or them??? good question.
FOUR SUGGESTIONS FOR OUR MESSAGING
Simon wrote: "We have to have a long and deep conversation about why we were unable to tell the story of the Biden-Harris Presidency more effectively over the entirety of their four year term"
Tragically, the Biden Administration failed to loudly tell this story. By the time "we" and the Harris Campaign were trying to do so, after 3.5 years of Republican disinformation and mainstream media neglect, we were facing a very steep challenge. In essence, Kamala Harris and her supporters (us) were essentially being asked to present a counter-narrative!
This, in my opinion, was a fatal flaw in President Biden’s approach to his presidency. Yes, we can blame the media and the right-wing ecosphere of Fox et al, but the Biden Administration needed to communicate far, far better!
EDIT: Below, I have four concrete suggestions for OUR MESSAGING GOING FORWARD.
KEY BIDEN vs TRUMP METRICS
Imho, at the end of President Biden’s term, it will be an advantage to loudly and visibly publicize and spread some key metrics, including:
– Price of gas
– Price of eggs
– Cost of childcare
– Cost of Insulin and other key meds
– Inflation vs average wages
– Unemployment rate
– Worker participation rate
– Stock markets
– National debt
– Budget deficit
The moment and of these or other key metrics become worse under Trump than they were when Biden left office, we need to push the news media to underscore that – and show the comparisons.
That's a good suggestion. We have to push back at every turn.
"we need to push the news media to underscore that " uh, yeah!! how do we do that????? "the media" has been a massive part of this problem. And don't forget that WAPO refused to endorse Harris....
The news media is a challenge but not insurmountable.
The real people that need convincing or to learn this information for the first time are not on any of the main stream media. Remember that since 2016 Trump has made them the enemy the liers, etc
100% agree. Again, keep the presentation plain and simple so that ANYONE can understand it. Graphs and charts. Short and digestible prose. As mentioned above, TikToks, pods, TV spots during ballgames, billboards, radio, etc.
This needs to start NOW. As an example take Simon’s favorite bar graph and add employment stats from the Clinton presidency through the present. We need to make sure these messages reach every type of audience on a regular basis.
Simon’s favorite bar graph would be potent and devastating the moment unemployment under Trump shoots up.
Love graphs and charts. So apparently does pres Clinton! 🩷
A great idea. Not just the static cost, but the trend lines. Biden is bringing the cost down. Steadily. And the it will stop going down. Hmmm
INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS – BIDEN vs TRUMP
Also, we need to emphasize a list of Biden infrastucture projects, the benefits of these projects, and the number of jobs these create. (Is there such a list?)
For contrast, there should be a comparable list of infrastructure projects launched under Trump.
Moreover, the moment Trump defunds or shuts down a Biden infrastructure project, Democrats need to protest, loudly announce the cost and the discarded benefits of doing so, and confront Republican politicians to force them to express a viewpoint. By pushing these narratives in the national news media – but even more so in local and regional newspapers and media – we can extract a heavy
The White House's Invest in America site shows where the projects are and allows you to look up what is going on in each state -- https://www.whitehouse.gov/invest/
I just looked up Maryland and it opens a PDF listing the projects as of October 2024.
You can also see the amount public and private investment and stores about various projects.
Thank you! Obviously that site data needs to be exported and republished elsewhere, before noon on 20 January. (The same goes for other key White House information from the Biden Administration.)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lesliekatz/2024/10/23/inside-the-race-to-capture-government-websites-before-they-vanish-forever/
Thank you for sharing this as a free article! Susan, given that this thread is at least three days old and less likely to be seen now, I have taken the liberty of posting this in today’s Hopium, with credit to you.
Need to be sure we have access to that data after this month.
https://www.archives.gov/presidential-records/support-to-the-white-house/presidential-transitions
BIDEN & HARRIS – CONTINUE TO TAKE CREDIT!
Suggestion: Modeled after the Harris Campaign’s excellent Rapid Response social media posts, the Biden & Harris Team should launch social media accounts as well as to distribute press releases. They should continue to take credit – AND counteract the lies when Trump inevitable tries to steal credit for stuff he never did.
Going forward, Democrats should have this as a key part of their media campaigns!
It's time to move on from Biden. Give the administration credit for what they were able to do but there is plenty of criticism also that's been aimed at them and rightfully so. Give Democratic party credit, drop the Biden name. IMHO, I can't stand him because we'd likely NOT be in this position if he'd been the one term president he said he'd be. Done with the DNC leadership also. They've been playing softball and 1990 politics.
Sorry but it's time to move on.
SHADOW CABINET
Other Hopium members have suggested Democrats adopt a time-honored European tradition: the Shadow Cabinet!
This means Democrats choose highly-articulate, well-informed, media-savvy spokespersons for a variety of policy areas. These people need to hold regular press conferences where they present the Democratic positions, our own policy proposals, point out Trumpian disinformation and lies. They need to be available to news networks, newspaper journalists and podcasters.
An absolute requirement is that they are able to speak clearly in a language common voters can understand.
This is an excellent suggestion, after all Trump NEVER left the airwaves after losing to Biden. He trolled Biden’s whole term in office, hosted foreign leaders at Mar-a-Lago, and was general a nuisance to Biden. He never stopped acting like he was in power and was enabled by the media. This is definitely needed now to keep democracy on the front burner.
"enabled by the media" - this is the refrain of the last 8 years.
Shadow cabinet of media savvy. I love it. Can’t we call it something more true to our values? Truth cabinet. Candor cabinet. And kets get mayor Pete taking the lead!!!
I quite like Truth Cabinet! (A huge swathe of American voters don’t know what a two-syllable word such as "candor" means, and they’re unlikely to look it up in the dictionary.)
I like this idea! We need to be front and center in the information sphere. Most Americans would be very surprised at what Biden
and his administration have accomplished for us. True, the corporate media has a great deal to answer for but they won’t
Another good suggestion.
With apologies to Jesse Jackson I believe our mission is to Keep Hope Alive.
Hi everyone, I want to recommend this piece of analysis to anyone who's not seen it--
I just recently saw a New Yorker piece that was filed soon after the election, about the "ambience of information." It's really struck a chord with me as I've tried to think about our messaging/comms issues as opposed to how Trump/MAGA have communicated for the past two years or so. As in everything else, the two sides are so incommensurate, and attempts to think about it just felt impossibly apples to oranges to me, only much worse. Basically the piece argues that the info people (many) voted based on came to them largely through vague channels, whereby ideas/claims were dumped into the info ecosphere and became viral--sure, even Dems RT'd these things, to mock them or express outrage, but that just also sent these crazy claims on their way too. (Not blaming us, just a side note.) Basically this crap floats around in the ether enough so it seems like conventional wisdom or common knowledge. No idea at this point how to launch our own "crap" like so, because we're not about crap, but still the problem bears recognizing. Here's the article by Nathan Heller: https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/republican-victory-and-the-ambience-of-information
Psy ops attacks the amygdala. https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/specialty-careers/special-ops/psychological-operations#:~:text=PSYOP%20Soldiers%20support%20Army%20missions,individuals%2C%20groups%2C%20and%20governments.
Marian, thank you for sharing!
A disciplined People vs. Plutocrats frame will be important, I think. The answer to ‘how to combat Trump taking credit’ is probably the same as ‘how to combat Trump/GOP lies’ in general. Could come up with a million ideas, but instinctively it feels important that some media outlets (MeidasTouch) and online information hubs (Bluesky) that don’t tolerate lies/abuse/sane-washing are emerging and thriving. If people continue to choose and create value within those networks, it takes power away from misinformation networks.
I donated to Abigail Spanberger. It's time to get back on that horse again.
This Atlantic article brings up a good point about how people (they give the example of white women who were fixated on the cheap gas and eggs talking point) were determined to vote for trump, and were impenetrable to any contrary evidence. I’m thinking this is a trump phenomenon. Will be interesting to see if people are willing to suspend cognitive dissonance for any other Republican. Archive link: https://archive.is/R4vA8
I’m thinking we could get a wonderful TV ad series with the “With Dems, things get better” stats.
Sort of like, This is your brain on drugs, etc.
agree but don't just put on tv-- not as many people watch traditional tv anymore. Needs to go on all premium tv (where ads are allowed) and blitzed all over every single social media outlet, You Tube, etc. These are the places where most Americans "reside" in their information silos.
I completely agree we desperately need MUCH better messaging. It's something that's both puzzled and angered me for a long time about Dems - too passive and timid, too "make nice", too humble, too . . . what? It's not as if we don't have creative people on our side. We have to understand - and quickly - why we can't communicate better and very broadly, not just amongst those of us who read Substacks etc. We don't have anyone(s) anywhere close to being able to dominate (or even just keep up) the news and discourse the way trump does. And, as far as I can tell, this deficiency is continuing to play out now, at yet another critical moment, the transition. It's horrible and could cost us our democracy. Like you, I wish I contribute more to the discussion about answers. The place that's easiest for me is the idea that it's essential to promote independent, truthful media and try to hasten the demise of legacy media. It can't and won't be fixed if owned by billionaires. Independent media will only succeed with critical mass, so encouraging the switch in every way possible should be high on our list. As to folks who can communicate better, we have to face that some of our promising leaders came up short (eg Hakeem Jeffries, for instance, in my estimation). We need to look for new leaders among the younger people who while inexperienced in comparison, show great promise. Like Ben Wikler, Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost and others. I found today's column by Thom Hartmann, writing similar to your post today about the broad historical context of what Dems have done vs repubs, interesting. https://hartmannreport.com/p/americas-future-hangs-on-a-democratic-237?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=bvshj&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
He ends with an endorsement of Ben Wikler. I sure like Ben - not sure he's the only one who can turn this around, but maybe backing him is a start, tho it's probably too early yet not having a chance to know/assess all who are in the running. The last thing I want to say in this long post is that I somewhat cringe when I see Dems acting like our task now is to put what I see as "bandaids" on all the damage trump is and will continue to do (and I don't think we've seen anything yet about the extent). Doing that clearly plays into maga's hand and distracts us from a longer, more comprehensive view of what we stand for, can accomplish and how to do it - -in other words, forward looking, strategic and proactive rather than just defensive. Somehow, we're going to have to balance how much time and energy we spend on blunting the worst of trump's effects, and on the other hand realizing that doesn't get us where we need to be. In a certain way (though I don't want to advocate abandoning completely those who will be hurt) we have to let go of the idea of how many we can help - now - and at what cost, as opposed to letting some of what trump will do play out in a way that helps folks recognize how dangerous and destructive he is. It will be a very difficult and precarious path to navigate, and may add to things getting worse before they get better. But, they're going to anyway. . . and if we can't succeed, what is our future then. I appreciate so much you're continued and frank inquiry into where we go next, as individuals and part of this wonderful and effective community. Thanks, Simon.
It seems like increasingly, "we" and "they" get our news from totally different sources. How does truth get to everyone when sources blatantly lie or stretch the truth so that it is no longer recognizable, and sources with truth are not read by so many people?
Simon (and all our friends here at Hopium):
ArticStones had this right (https://open.substack.com/pub/simonwdc/p/learning-how-to-tell-our-story-more?r=nqsj5&utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=79752610).
As much as I appreciate everything Joe Biden has done, the White House and the Democratic Party failed to communicate any of the successes. I can name them because I am on this site—but if you ask a lot of folks, they have no idea.
1 - Broadcast Media and Cable News is dead. No one cares; I haven't watched TV in years. I'm one of MILLIONS who doesn't turn on their TV other than video games and (sorry) Law & Order.
2 - No one takes credit. SIGN YOUR NAME! Trump gets how to market, no matter his many, many, many failures. "DEMS DID THAT" should be on every single win that came out, not "Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan." Make the Republicans show up to praise the money coming from the Joseph Biden Infrastructure Plan, for example.
3 - On DEMS DID THAT, that's where you tell the truth. 50 Million Jobs? DEMS DID THAT. Crime down? DEMS DID THAT. Insulin is $35? DEMS DID THAT!
If you don't take credit for your successes, then someone else will! That's what Republicans do—take credit for Democratic successes and then sh*t all over the place.
4 - Don't let Team Both Sides ever win. Peter Baker and Jonathan Chait are wringing their hands over Hunter Biden's pardon? Who the f*ck cares? Biden should have woken up earlier, shook off the fear of being seen as "too political" against a bad-faith GOP, and do things and then TAKE CREDIT.
Biden should have done for America what he just did for Hunter: calling out the DARVO tactics and projection of the fascist Republican Party. Instead, we got four years of Joe calling Mitch McConnell his "friend" and "honorable," etc. (And I think Walz should have never been "nice" to Vance, either.) You can't claim someone's fascist and then sit down to break bread with them, unless you're doing it as they sign their surrender.
Biden's rhetoric used in making this pardon should have been coming out of the White House and every Democrat for the past 4 years. Republicans are going to use BAD FAITH attacks no matter what, so you might as well call it out and make it clear. Blame Congress for doing the wrong thing; call Manchin and Sinema losers and frauds, etc. I love Joe, but it should have been constant, continuous announcements and social media and fireside chats.
Teddy Roosevelt referred to his presidency as a "bully pulpit," meaning a superb platform for influence (not bully as we use it today, but rather meaning superb or wonderful). Go out, be loud, and shout from that pulpit to the American people. Don't expect the keyboard warriors to be there, especially with the capture of Fox News, Xitter, etc. You may not win everyone, but everyone would have said "OH SNAP, JOE BIDEN and KAMALA HARRIS and DEMS ARE FIGHTING FOR ME."
Also, the fact that some people are clutching their pearls over "violations of norms" — get over yourselves. Norms are deader than the dodo now; they died in 2016.
Democrats need to get over the idea that if you play nice, the other team will play nice too. That has NEVER been the case other than maybe in the Era of Good Feelings. That was a Very Long Time Ago. Build your case up (DEMS DID THAT) and tear down the Republicans (TRUMP HATES AMERICA).
Stop playing nice. Like I am fond of saying “go for the jugular”
Michelle Obama famously said: "When they go low, we go high."
My interpretation: "When they go for the gut punch, we go for the jugular!"
“They go low we go high” only results in us getting kneecapped
I agree with assertive, constant, fierce messaging. But I also do not think - and don't support leaders who behave as if - the ends justify the means. I do not want leaders who become the monsters we are fighting. But I do want heroism, I do want leaders who make the hard decisions, I do want warriors in the best sense. I think we should take on what has been so successful for the U.S. military: deterrence through strength.
Simon, I'd be interested in advice from you or the broader community about how best to register our views on the candidates for heading up the DNC. I feel strongly we need an out-of-the-box, visionary thinker if we are to have a shot at reversing some of the trends we saw in this election. If we are not formally among the national, state or local party voting membership how do we go about identifying these folks and influencing them?
It is the members of the 2024-2028 DNC that will vote for their DNC Chair on Feb 1. You can contact the DNC members from your state to let them know your preferred candidate. Find their names from your State Party website or Chair. There are about 450 DNC members including:
* State-Elected (200 members). Allocated by population with a minimum of two from each state, the District of Columbia, the territories and Democrats Abroad. State processes vary, but most are elected by the state's Democratic Committee, at the State Party Convention or Democratic Primary.
* State Chairs and Vice-Chairs
* Current and former Democratic Presidents, Vice Presidents
For example, CA DNC state-elected for 2024-2028 https://cadem.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/DNC-Member-2024-2028-Results.pdf