I have doubts that no one is available to hire that's media savvy. I don’t care what Hakeem wears but the only time I see him he's asking for money. I'm old but until they I need some inspiration and whether or not you wear a tie isn't it. We call the Republicans spineless but Dems need to take off the gloves before it's too late
Do you really think that doubling down on transgender advocacy is going to improve election outcomes? I'd be interested in seeing the statistics, but I get the sense that this component of the identity politics albatross was a major driver in the outcome of the election. No matter where your sympathies lie, the conservative backlash to perceived promotion of transgenderism as a national priority may have been a bigger liability than the failure to take a stronger position on controlling the border, or honestly acknowledge the limitations and abuses of our broken immigration system. Not sure those are two hills we want to die on (again).
It wasn't the Democrats doubling down on transgender but the MAGAites who are still doing so on Fox shows including The Five, Jesse Waters, and Greg Gutfeld . They made the election all about that and yet didn't support legislation to solve immigration issues to beef up border patrol and technology.
Trans, DEI, "Defund the Police," and "Queers for Gaza" were self-inflicted wounds that allowed MAGA to pick at those wounds and make it an issue.
When you lose two elections to a convicted felon, sex offender, and narcissistic sociopath who bankrupted 6 businesses, you are selling what people aren't buying.
The Republican Party has a message, it's ugly and shameful, but it's a message. The problem with the Democratic Party is that the only message they have is, "we're better than the Republicans." You can't engineer a viral moment without a message, and being Republican Lite has never worked and never will. The Democrats need to embrace the Progressive policies of Bernie and AOC if they want viral moments on social platforms. They will offend their big donors, but that will actually be a plus.
I don't see Newsom getting anywhere with a Presidential run, California is just poison for a lot of the country (not for me I live there!). Seth Myers's brother's take on him pretty much sums it up.
As for Tim Walz,he did more than just play it safe, he completely nerfed his "Republicans are weird" offensive playbook by leaving the debate stage as best buddies with J.D. Vance. That fumble was all on him. 🏈
Great to see some focus on the Dems that's not all hypercritical, all the time. But man they really need to get rid of Schumer and the rest of the Old Guard asap! 🧛🏻♂️👴🏻👵🏻🧛🏻♀️
"They’re not fluent in social media, and they don’t particularly care or understand what it takes to be—and it shows." I think it is because they still believe in telling the truth, and haven't learned the fine art of bullshit and just saying what the audience WANTS to hear. I know that they need to figure it out. I say follow Sarah Longwell's idea, find out what REALLY irks them, then talk about it in plain language! Yell if necessary, be loud, and BE REAL!! Also need to find the right outlet/podcast to do it on!
Authenticity means being yourself and saying what you think. Surely one reason this is hard for Dems is that if they disagree on issues - trans in women's sports for one - they know they'll be beat up by their own side. The "progressive" Dems are too often mean girls, and that's hugely destructive for the liberal democracy cause. I'm glad Newsom and others are speaking up for women athletes. (I write as the senior editor of the International Encyclopedia of Women & Sports, someone who has worked with and published many women athlete experts who are, to a woman, diehard feminists. And quite a few are gay. https://strongerwomen.substack.com/p/governor-gavin-newsoms-big-idea.)
If the men in Congress cannot handle the polite discourse of AOL and Jazmine Crockett well hush my mouth. I will get you a fainting couch and a cool drink so that you may recover. The real 'mean girls' are Boebert and Greene.
Again, trans in women sports was blown up by MAGA like eating cats a dogs and presented as ubiquitous when in fact it was extremely rare! But people believe what they are fed if they are gullible and don't bother to fact check.
As to the old guard, Bernie Sanders is old but an excellent example of what needs to be done to fight against what is happening to our country while focusing on this issue is stupid when our country is on fire. Too many of the comments seem to laud the lies of Trump and MAGA as the way to go because it worked. Well, yes, it worked to give us an administration filled with complicit arsonists content to slash and burn our government and Constitution into oblivion!
Kremlin's main vulnerabilities. March 25. 'Putin needs victory, and he needs it Fast' - The trends of recent months regarding the state of affairs at the frontline and the situation within Russia itself suggest that Putin would benefit from initiating peace talks as soon as possible. However... Read full article on my Substack page and share
Perhaps the reason they have the appearance of inauthenticity (especially the older/longer serving democratic politicians) is because they are at heart inauthentic people - they have been making the ole head fake towards progressives and liberals for decades, without actually believing in progressive or liberal ideas.
Most of these people are simple corporate drones with some left leaning tendancies - of course they can't go on a free wheeling 2 hour podcast to talk about thier true views, because thier true views are that they do not actually like the American people - that is why, in my not at all humble opinion, they test the crap out of all thier statements. Because if they said what they really believed, even less people would vote for them.
Which is what would happen.
It was always this about the democratic party which sickened me - they don't (with very few exceptions) and never had had the strength of thier stated convictions. They are weak, and terrified that it would show if they spoke for more than three minutes at a time - and it would.
Great first issue!! One thing I'd love to see you cover is why democrats abandoned the South and whether or not they can reclaim some seats. I'm also in Tennessee, but in a rural area south of Nashville. When I moved here 20 years ago there were a lot of democrats, including my rep Lincoln Davis. He was great, a solid Blue Dog Democrat. Anytime I contacted him, he'd write back himself. The Tea Party wave defeated him. My current rep won't reply to me except with canned form emails. After the 2010 election it seemed to me like Democrats sort of wrote off the state. People where I live will be greatly harmed by Trump's plans but I doubt Democrats will come here to try to persuade voters. Why not? They could win over voters with a solid message.
Recall VDH applauding Trump's uncouth authenticity years ago. Not exactly wild about Hanson to begin with and soon realized that this can translate to genuine boorishness. I felt this evaluation had merit. Still do.
Yesterday on the morning talk shows, I listened closely. Democrats made statements that began with, "I think . . . or I believe . . .:n that is wussy. Republicans made action statements with derisive digs at democrats that were subtly embedded in their direct statements. Democrats try to sound like adults while Republicans know their audience is not adult. Democrats try to be nice and offer compromise which Republicans eat for lunch with a zero-sum game.
Here is a direct statement, Democrats are spineless-- Republicans are soulless.
I respectfully request that Congress consent to an annual open-book audit.
I have doubts that no one is available to hire that's media savvy. I don’t care what Hakeem wears but the only time I see him he's asking for money. I'm old but until they I need some inspiration and whether or not you wear a tie isn't it. We call the Republicans spineless but Dems need to take off the gloves before it's too late
Many Dems blame Kamala's and Hillary's loss on "misogyny."
But they don't explain how women like Kristi Noem, Lauren Boebert, and Majorie Taylor Greene get elected in MAGA country.
It's not the media, it's the message.
DEI, "Defund the Police", "Queers for Gaza", and Trans issues are not what voters are interested in.
Learn from Bud Light's mistake with Dylan Mulvaney. Just don't go there. Remember that Blacks and immigrants are much more culturally conservative.
Do you really think that doubling down on transgender advocacy is going to improve election outcomes? I'd be interested in seeing the statistics, but I get the sense that this component of the identity politics albatross was a major driver in the outcome of the election. No matter where your sympathies lie, the conservative backlash to perceived promotion of transgenderism as a national priority may have been a bigger liability than the failure to take a stronger position on controlling the border, or honestly acknowledge the limitations and abuses of our broken immigration system. Not sure those are two hills we want to die on (again).
It wasn't the Democrats doubling down on transgender but the MAGAites who are still doing so on Fox shows including The Five, Jesse Waters, and Greg Gutfeld . They made the election all about that and yet didn't support legislation to solve immigration issues to beef up border patrol and technology.
Trans, DEI, "Defund the Police," and "Queers for Gaza" were self-inflicted wounds that allowed MAGA to pick at those wounds and make it an issue.
When you lose two elections to a convicted felon, sex offender, and narcissistic sociopath who bankrupted 6 businesses, you are selling what people aren't buying.
The Republican Party has a message, it's ugly and shameful, but it's a message. The problem with the Democratic Party is that the only message they have is, "we're better than the Republicans." You can't engineer a viral moment without a message, and being Republican Lite has never worked and never will. The Democrats need to embrace the Progressive policies of Bernie and AOC if they want viral moments on social platforms. They will offend their big donors, but that will actually be a plus.
I don't see Newsom getting anywhere with a Presidential run, California is just poison for a lot of the country (not for me I live there!). Seth Myers's brother's take on him pretty much sums it up.
As for Tim Walz,he did more than just play it safe, he completely nerfed his "Republicans are weird" offensive playbook by leaving the debate stage as best buddies with J.D. Vance. That fumble was all on him. 🏈
Great to see some focus on the Dems that's not all hypercritical, all the time. But man they really need to get rid of Schumer and the rest of the Old Guard asap! 🧛🏻♂️👴🏻👵🏻🧛🏻♀️
Great piece, Lauren. Welcome ot The Bulwark. I think you are going to fir right in.
"They’re not fluent in social media, and they don’t particularly care or understand what it takes to be—and it shows." I think it is because they still believe in telling the truth, and haven't learned the fine art of bullshit and just saying what the audience WANTS to hear. I know that they need to figure it out. I say follow Sarah Longwell's idea, find out what REALLY irks them, then talk about it in plain language! Yell if necessary, be loud, and BE REAL!! Also need to find the right outlet/podcast to do it on!
Authenticity means being yourself and saying what you think. Surely one reason this is hard for Dems is that if they disagree on issues - trans in women's sports for one - they know they'll be beat up by their own side. The "progressive" Dems are too often mean girls, and that's hugely destructive for the liberal democracy cause. I'm glad Newsom and others are speaking up for women athletes. (I write as the senior editor of the International Encyclopedia of Women & Sports, someone who has worked with and published many women athlete experts who are, to a woman, diehard feminists. And quite a few are gay. https://strongerwomen.substack.com/p/governor-gavin-newsoms-big-idea.)
If the men in Congress cannot handle the polite discourse of AOL and Jazmine Crockett well hush my mouth. I will get you a fainting couch and a cool drink so that you may recover. The real 'mean girls' are Boebert and Greene.
Again, trans in women sports was blown up by MAGA like eating cats a dogs and presented as ubiquitous when in fact it was extremely rare! But people believe what they are fed if they are gullible and don't bother to fact check.
As to the old guard, Bernie Sanders is old but an excellent example of what needs to be done to fight against what is happening to our country while focusing on this issue is stupid when our country is on fire. Too many of the comments seem to laud the lies of Trump and MAGA as the way to go because it worked. Well, yes, it worked to give us an administration filled with complicit arsonists content to slash and burn our government and Constitution into oblivion!
Kremlin's main vulnerabilities. March 25. 'Putin needs victory, and he needs it Fast' - The trends of recent months regarding the state of affairs at the frontline and the situation within Russia itself suggest that Putin would benefit from initiating peace talks as soon as possible. However... Read full article on my Substack page and share
https://substack.com/home/post/p-158800832
Perhaps the reason they have the appearance of inauthenticity (especially the older/longer serving democratic politicians) is because they are at heart inauthentic people - they have been making the ole head fake towards progressives and liberals for decades, without actually believing in progressive or liberal ideas.
Most of these people are simple corporate drones with some left leaning tendancies - of course they can't go on a free wheeling 2 hour podcast to talk about thier true views, because thier true views are that they do not actually like the American people - that is why, in my not at all humble opinion, they test the crap out of all thier statements. Because if they said what they really believed, even less people would vote for them.
Which is what would happen.
It was always this about the democratic party which sickened me - they don't (with very few exceptions) and never had had the strength of thier stated convictions. They are weak, and terrified that it would show if they spoke for more than three minutes at a time - and it would.
Great work Lauren! Look forward to more
Great first issue!! One thing I'd love to see you cover is why democrats abandoned the South and whether or not they can reclaim some seats. I'm also in Tennessee, but in a rural area south of Nashville. When I moved here 20 years ago there were a lot of democrats, including my rep Lincoln Davis. He was great, a solid Blue Dog Democrat. Anytime I contacted him, he'd write back himself. The Tea Party wave defeated him. My current rep won't reply to me except with canned form emails. After the 2010 election it seemed to me like Democrats sort of wrote off the state. People where I live will be greatly harmed by Trump's plans but I doubt Democrats will come here to try to persuade voters. Why not? They could win over voters with a solid message.
Recall VDH applauding Trump's uncouth authenticity years ago. Not exactly wild about Hanson to begin with and soon realized that this can translate to genuine boorishness. I felt this evaluation had merit. Still do.
Yesterday on the morning talk shows, I listened closely. Democrats made statements that began with, "I think . . . or I believe . . .:n that is wussy. Republicans made action statements with derisive digs at democrats that were subtly embedded in their direct statements. Democrats try to sound like adults while Republicans know their audience is not adult. Democrats try to be nice and offer compromise which Republicans eat for lunch with a zero-sum game.
Here is a direct statement, Democrats are spineless-- Republicans are soulless.