It’s a truism that Democrats suck at messaging so I’m not gonna belabor the point. Nevertheless, we have a real problem squandering openings for various reasons like “comity,”“propriety,”“not taking the low road,”“appealing to high-mindness,” and “not sinking to their level.
Look where that’s gotten us.
The truth is that simple, visceral messages work. I mean, FFS, look at how people supposedly on our own team used them against Biden, harping on how he was “clearly suffering from dementia” even though it was really his stutter and his aging facial appearance.
But turn those attacks against Trump? That’s always been a bridge too far. “Weird” worked but it got dropped for a return to complex process messaging.
This was a fundamentally bad decision based on a misunderstanding of human nature. We respond not to long, logical explications of policy, but to simple tribal signifiers.
I fully believe stinky Trump was a good line of attack, but was shut down because it was juvenile. It absolutely was. I mean look how it made them respond: they started wearing diapers. They made a spectacle of themselves trying to push back. And that tied into the weird narrative.
We’re as close to total rhetorical war with fascism as we can possibly get, and far more close t actual war than anyone should be comfortable with. The trick now is to keep them knocked back on their heels so they are reacting, not acting.
The President Musk meme has made inroads. It drew blood. We need to keep it going, to open cracks in that weak coalition. To that end I propose we start calling Trump the First Laddy. Not Lady because we don’t need to be misogynistic or homophobic. First Laddy is close enough for even fools to make the connection. And Trump is weak to teasing slights, especially ones that challenge his masculinity and ability to be taken seriously.
Hammer this home, because we are in the midst of Coup 2: Elontric Boogaloo. Open cracks, wedge them apart until Musk and Trump turn on each other.
