And yet, Trump’s pick for Wyoming governor is the latest endorsee to lose primary
That’s why companies and celebrities employ public relations firms: to attract media attention.
It’s up to the one wanting attention to ATTRACT attention and GENERATE interest. AND (which applies with the ACA) to counter wrong information being spouted by opponents.
It’s not the job of the media to cover what I want covered. It’s MY job to attract coverage of my event, product, policy, point of view. This is what Democrats suck at.
What will probably happen is in the years after Trump dies, all his crimes will come out. Once he doesn’t have the power to punish anyone, then people will start coming forward to destroy his cult, just like what happened after Stalin died. Republican politicians will no longer benefit from his cult when he is dead, so then there will be efforts to undermine the cult and its stranglehold on GOP voters.
Of course his supporters will say they had no idea, even though people have been yelling this at them for years and years. And eventually he will be remembered as a powerful leader just like Stalin is now revered in Russia rather than seen as the evil fuckup he was.
I assume it means believing in the policies and promises of Trumpism in the abstract but opposing the erratic way Trump has governed in practice.
It’s not so hard to believe that at least 4% of the MAGA faithful have reacted that way.
I assume something different. I bet there is a percentage that don’t think he’s been batshit evil enough. Talks tough, but doesn’t shoot protesters in the street. Stuff like that.
I share your sentiment but like a hydra, until the Republican party is deader than dead it will just keep coming back. Even if the Dems take both houses and the presidency, righting the apple cart the Pubs have not only upset this time around, but taken the wheels off, come 2032 the Pubs will blame the mess left over on them or bitch it wasn’t done fast enough.
Let a Republican President clean up all the crap the elephant left behind this time around and explain how he – inevitably he – vetoed all those bills that would fix things and his Republican buddies wouldn’t help override them.
And rightfully so. The ENTIRETY of her platform, as presented by her when I saw her speak in June, was “I’m endorsed by Trump.”
People really get stuck on the “taxes fucking suck” mindset, and I think that hurts everyone. And as long as it’s government bodies that collect and levy taxes, and government that spends tax revenue, whoever is “taxing” people at the moment is going to be a bum.
Taxes do suck when you pay into a system that gives nothing back. Taxes double suck when you know they are going to outrageous shit like bombing schools and paying ICE to shoot citizens and for-profit prisons and all this stuff.
I think some politicians need to get out there and un-tangle taxes, and stop using the word “free” for public services. People don’t think about the roads in front of their houses as “free” - they know they’re tax funded. We should also have the same mindset that Medicare-for-all would not be free, it would be tax funded. And that “free” childcare wouldn’t be free it would be tax funded. And explain WHY it should be tax funded and how it benefits us all. And how just like your city’s roads, it’s going to be cheaper if we all pitch in a little bit and have one manager to have one plan to pave all roads instead of all of us paying separately and being our own project managers.
Is that socialism? Yeah maybe but we’re already doing a ton of socialized shit. Roads, schools, fire departments, libraries, health insurance, car insurance. Only some of it the pooled money goes 100% to the cost of the service, and some of it has some of the pooled money going towards greed.
Anyway, I guess this is neither here nor there. It’s just been on my mind a lot lately, as people in Ohio try to abolish property tax, as if it was the government stealing from them. And when I see what Mamdani is able to do with taxes in NYC - putting that money directly into improving the lives and circumstances of people that pay them.
The messaging around taxes and “free” and “socialism” needs to calm down, and more explanation given, or we’re never going to get anywhere. And I agree it’s going to be 2-year swings each way until everyone understands.
Absolutely. The tariff garbage that is going to lead to increased inflation for the next 5 years will be blamed on Democrats. The shift in trade away from the USA is going to be blamed on Democrats. The Iran war will be blamed on Democrats. The massive increase in debt incurred over Trump’s term(s) will be blamed on Democrats.
I don’t find it useful to blame the Democrats when the whole billionaire-owned media landscape is tilted against them. Yes, it’s a problem that Democrats’ messages do not get the publicity they should, but the fault is not with the Democrats. It’s with the media landscape and the public who find it acceptable.
I don’t find it useful to introduce the concept of “blame” into this discussion at all. Blame is a dead-end street.
If “the whole billionaire-owned media landscape is tilted against” the Democrats, then they need to find other ways of getting their message out. These days that is not only doable, but routine-- information reaches people through MANY channels besides the Mainstream Media. Social media and pounding the pavement-- that’s where it’s at for the foreseeable future, like it or not.
To wit:
The Left Notches Another Win With This Secret Weapon: Old-Fashioned Organizing
State Representative Angie Nixon scored a stunning upset on Tuesday in Florida’s Democratic Senate primary. Her victory will test the strength of a democratic socialist in a red state.
Angie Nixon Notches Another Win for the Left Through Old-Fashioned Organizing - The New York Times
Four days before Tuesday’s Democratic Senate primary, State Representative Angie Nixon did what she has always done in Florida: Organize activists.
The group of volunteers for her underdog Senate campaign sat inside a union office in suburban Broward County, a liberal stronghold in the increasingly Republican-leaning state. It was a small group, maybe a dozen people.
But don’t worry, Ms. Nixon’s political director, Rachel Gilmer, reassured them: “This tiny room is part of many, many tiny rooms” across the state, she said, with more volunteers also ready to knock on Democratic voters’ doors.
…
A three-term state lawmaker and mother of five, she joined the Democratic Socialists of America in June, though the group has not endorsed her candidacy. Even before then, she was known as a progressive firebrand and thorn in the side of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican. This year, she staged a sit-in at the governor’s office in the State Capitol to protest a Republican gerrymander of the state’s congressional map. She was eventually arrested and removed from the office. She also interrupted a State House vote on the map by protesting with a bullhorn.
The incident drew a reprimand from state lawmakers — but also some attention to her Senate candidacy. She chronicled much of her campaign online, as she drove herself from one event to another in a van. At one point, she shared video as she figured out how to change a flat tire.
…
By the time the rally began, late into the night at a downtown Fort Lauderdale wine bar packed with hundreds of mostly young people, including social media influencers, Ms. Nixon was losing her voice.
“Throughout this country’s 250 years, every time we have been faced with oppression, we have matched it with resistance,” she told the crowd, urging them to spend the last few days of the campaign mobilizing. “We have nothing to lose.”
My bold.
While I don’t disagree with @ThelmaLou, I worry that the tactics mentioned are going to leave out the younger demographic.
Speaking from my admittedly little exposure, the teens I know (mostly college or pre-college) are very used to getting their news via the internet, social media, or other online sources. And Xitter is still hyper-dominant there, which has shown evidence of direct manipulation by at least one of those billionaires, although not always successfully.
Obama made good use of social media during his campaigns, but as the situation has changed, not all Democrats have been as successful in creating image or interest online.
Trump, for his many flaws, isn’t boring. Often stupid, often terrifying, but rarely boring. And those who ape him are the same way. Sure, it can be like watching the Springer show, or a car wreck, but I bet Trump and his ilk are getting a lot more shares that simultaneously normalize his BS, and keep people coming back for more.
For those who treat governance as Reality TV they expect to have little-to-no control of, which, to be honest, is true for most younger folk - they know things are bad (or at least the ones I know do), but they don’t have houses (and likely won’t be able to), enough money to influence anyone, or much hope of doing so.
So, IMHO Democrats need to look to the present and future, along with the past to make sure their message is not only getting out to the current voters, but to make sure the younger voters (who already may well lean (D) on social issues) are engaged and ready to vote as soon as they are ready.
Back to the OP, this is something Trump’s team is already -good- at. Sure, his numbers are dropping, but he’s been his usual evil goo when it comes to convincing the youth of (R) that the THEM is stealing their futures, and making it harder for them to have their “rightful” place as young, white Christian people.
This is a war for the future of America, and we may win this battle, but if we ignore the upcoming ones due to good news in polling right now, we’re going to be hit good and hard in the future.
Just to clarify: are you saying that use of social media will leave out the younger demographic? I’m thinking that’s the best, possibly the only way to reach them. Explain, please.
I’m very sorry for being unclear - my point is that some of the older tactics, like going door-to-door, or small, intimate community events (which was a part of Ms. Dixon’s quoted efforts) may be leaving out the next generation.
We need to have a “lot of small rooms”, but we can’t neglect that a large and increasing number of them need to be online, and are less likely to be reflected in polling numbers now and increasingly forward.
So yeah, 100% Democrats/Liberals/Progressives need to up their game and engagement via social media and other online sources especially for the future. And that is why I am glad to see the current polling, but that I don’t think polling fully reflects our post-factual voting body, much less that of the future.
(Edited to rework the first paragraph to try to avoid another misunderstanding.)
Oh, okay. Yeah, the Dems need to throw EVERYTHING at this. Small rooms, door to door, all available social media, walks, town halls, PLUS old-fashioned interviews on MSNBC, NPR, even newspapers, sad though they’ve become.
Let’s face it, the Republicans are all over every media outlet, cramming their lies down our throats and up our noses. Dems need to do the same with truth and factual reporting. The Big Bad Media Billionaires don’t control every conduit into everyone’s TV, phone, computer, tablet or brain (and those are all the same thing, aren’t they?).
Narrator: “But protesters were being shot in the street.”
Wait until you find out who owns all the major social media outlets.
Trump hit 30% approval with a credible pollster. This may not be his average yet (though I distrust a lot of aggregators that are motivated to put a thumb on the scale) but by all indications, we seem to be on track for Watergate margins in the midterms.
Nate Silver classifies polls into three types: LV (Likely voters), RV (Registered voters), A (Adults). It was frustrating to see that Trump scored best in the LV polls: Trumpists have many faults but are likely to vote! 
But even LVs are turning against Trump in the latest polls: 40/56, 40/59, 44/55.
Don’t expect Trump’s approval to fall much below 40%. Reporters cast their nets far and wide to find ONE Trumpist in Arizona who won’t be voting for Trump a 4th time. Hard-core Magats have fallen from 38% of the population to 37.99% – Whippee!
What I see are interviews like
I think it comes down to these people admire him for being able to get away with rape and stealing from people. They wish THEY could do the same.
His handlers get away with it, while his supporters are left with the mess just like the rest of us decent people are. Some, unfortunately few, of his supporters see this. That anyone supports this mess shows how completely dysfunctional those people are.
And we will have to clean it up, and will get blamed for the mess that he leaves behind.
Well, we will deserve it. This country is collectively dumber and more backwards than I expected.