Democrats actually deserve the name Donald Trump has given them, “Dumocrats” even though Dumbocrats would be more appropriate. What else can you say about a party that waits until an election year to release a half assed, incomplete, yes white-washed analysis of the 2024 election? Or that believe it or not, still shows Kamala Harris as perhaps the top contender for the 2028 Presidential race? Or that does absolutely nothing other than endlessly solicit funds, crying every minute that they are being outspent by the big, bad Republican war chest when really all of their funds need to be directed at a few key races. If all of that wasn’t bad enough, can anyone tell me what Democrats stand for? 90% of their rhetoric now for the several years is we’re not Donald Trump. Great. What are you and what are you going to do for the American People? The DNC is a complete disaster so I’m stepping in here with a few suggestions on campaign strategy before it’s too late.
Step One. The Republicans ARE Donald Trump. Almost everyone in the party who has ever opposed him has been purged. Tie all Republicans to him with rhetorical manacles if necessary. You don’t even need to develop campaign ads, Trump has given them to you. Put together a montage of “Trump is out of touch with real Americans” as voiced by none other than Donald Trump. “I don’t think about the cost of living one bit”. “I love inflation”. “We don’t have any money for Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid”. “The ballroom will be paid for by private donations, but btw I need a billion dollars for security”. “We’ve obliterated Iran’s nuclear program”. “We can’t let Iran develop a nuclear bomb and they are so close to it right now”. ” We’ll stop having forever wars”. Do I really have to list all of them? Show all of the stupid, insensitive, out of touch statements he has made, and then superimpose the respective Republican candidates ads on them- all of them say “such and such stands strong with President Trump”. How hard could that be?
Step Two. Trump is an authoritarian that has set back womens, civil, voting, LGBTQ, minority, First Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment and any other kind of rights more than any one in US History. Democrats must control the Senate to stop that. Alito and Thomas are both senior justices in less than ideal health. If one of them has to resign, you must control the Senate or else those rights will be lost forever. That is where the campaign focus and funding needs to go. Yes, winning back the house would be nice, but no one is legislating anything, and neither will a Democratic House. Almost everything that has passed in the last 10 years has been driven by partisan led reconciliation votes. Trump will veto anything the House comes up with. The Senate is where you can truly make life miserable for Trump, whether it is on cabinet or Supreme Court appointments, war declarations, treaty approvals or whatever. Focus!
Step Three. Social Security benefits will be curtailed by some large percentage (18-20%) starting in 2033 according to the Trustees report. Now Medicare Part A is saying the same thing. What have Trump and the Republicans done about that? Not ONE damn thing. Give tax breaks to the rich, Corporate America, Crypto investors, everything possible to make the rich even richer than they are while your benefits are going to get the AXE. They are already hinting at it. Oh and don’t forget, we need to spend an added 400 billion dollars on Defense, even though we haven’t been able to defeat Iran, while our military is led by a brylcreem slicked back Fox News nobody that thinks he’s the God of War. Finally, just for good measure, while we have no plan for Social Security or Medicare, we have billions of $ to waste on vanity projects; i.e., ballrooms, Arc de Trump, Promenades, Reflecting Pools, Trumps face on passports and currency, $250 bills no one asked for, etc. Money for Trump and nothing for you. A political commercial of “Vanity is a terrible thing to waste your tax dollars on; did you vote for these?” just screams for airplay.
Trump has absolutely destroyed the EPA. They have done nothing to control forever chemicals in water, have eliminated almost any form of air pollution control so Americans are breathing increasingly dangerous air, are trying to revitalize ROUNDUP despite substantial evidence of its risks, waived environmental review around mining or fossil fuel projects, continue to pursue those projects on tribal lands, National Forests or Parks and offshore regardless of adverse environmental impacts and of all things are funding coal plants! If you want your children and grandchildren to inherit a toxic mess, just continue down this road. Sure, believe Corporate America will look out for you- like they did at Love Canal or Cancer Alleys in W. Virginia and Louisiana.
Step Four. Americans are struggling to afford the basics. Whole generations are giving up on the American Dream because they can’t afford to buy a new house, a new car, have kids or send those kids to college. What do the Republicans say? Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Affordability is a real issue, but without an actual plan to do something about it, it’s just a word. Food, Electricity, Gasoline, Diesel, Insurance of any kind are all up tremendously over the last year or several years and more important than inflation is that high costs created by the pandemic have never come down. The problem is that these are complex issues that don’t lend themselves to simple answers. Look at the array of “worst offenders” on affordability and develop a clear easy to communicate plan for how to address them. If you don’t have a plan, don’t talk about it. Electricity is the easiest one. Solar is cheaper than any other source of electricity and even the Red States know it because they are adding solar capacity faster than anything else. Stop sucking up capacity for data centers. Come out and say that. Health care is a winner. We pay too much for it, and no one has sympathy for Big Pharma, Pharmacy Benefit managers, Giant Hospital Corporations or Insurance Companies. Obamacare premiums already went up because of Trump, soon rural hospitals will start to close as well. It’s all their fault. Food is way too expensive because we are killing the American farmer, and they are growing the wrong things anyways. Plus the things we can’t grow like coffee or bananas have tariffs on them, even though we will NEVER have a domestic industry for either one. Tariifs on fertilizer are a no brainer.
Step Five. Stop the circular firing squad crap between progressives and mainstream Democrats. There is only one objective, and that is to defeat Republicans and you need not only ALL Democrats but the vast majority of Independents to do that. Plus you need to appeal to the Hispanic demographic which will increasingly determine winners and losers. Tailor your communications to what works regionally; if you’re in New York or California maybe progressivism is fine, but it has no chance in the South or Midwest. Stop arguing with one another, there isn’t a right or wrong, what is right is to speak for as many Americans as possible without getting into idiotic purity tests on things like transgender sports.
Step Six. Trump is the worst shit-poster of all time. He says disgusting things that only the most juvenile or hateful cross sections of America can relate to, and when he’s not doing that he’s posting delusions of grandeur or heresy (Rambo, Superman, The Pope, Jesus Christ, etc). Don’t spend all your time talking about it, just put together commercials with montages of his greatest hits; one re most disgusting personal attacks, a second with his most delusional views of his own physique/power and finally the third one of all the times he’s fallen asleep, struggled with walking, situational awareness or medal ceremonies and title the collection- Republicans call this leadership. Is this what America stands for?