President Donald Trump has applauded the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show over comments he made about the man accused of murdering Charlie Kirk.
And this is why Democrats fail on messaging. They don’t think they will win so they don’t even try.
Let’s say every Democrat congressperson is calling for impeachment, all the time. What this does is make Trump constantly be contextualized as impeachable. At first the GOP will have the messaging upper hand, and probably celebrate it as making it easier to undermine the concept of impeachment.
But as Trump continues to pull further into fascist territory, the public will still have to at least think, “huh is this impeachable?”. The left also will feel emboldened if there are some representatives actually representing us, sane people who remember that subtle historical aberration we call [checks notes] World War II. It’s an Overton window anchor that may eventually tear the hull out of Trump’s fascist yacht as it tries to pull us away from shore.
The GOP used and uses this technique all the time, repeating in their lies and wedge issues, because propaganda works. It’s be nice if it was used for truth and good and not just lies and evil.
And sure, it may not work. But it’s something. It’s a reminder that is invaluable to the large section of goldfish brain public who can’t remember fascism isn’t normal. And the GOP understands something Democrats don’t, which is you miss all the swings you don’t take - if it doesn’t work, just try again. Instead, Democratic leaders are so confident they’ll fail it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
And this is why Democrats fail on messaging. They don’t think they will win so they don’t even try.
Let’s say every Democrat congressperson is calling for impeachment, all the time. What this does is make Trump constantly be contextualized as impeachable. At first the GOP will have the messaging upper hand, and probably celebrate it as making it easier to undermine the concept of impeachment.
But as Trump continues to pull further into fascist territory, the public will still have to at least think, “huh is this impeachable?”. The left also will feel emboldened if there are some representatives actually representing us, sane people who remember that subtle historical aberration we call [checks notes] World War II. It’s an Overton window anchor that may eventually tear the hull out of Trump’s fascist yacht as it tries to pull us away from shore.
The GOP used and uses this technique all the time, repeating in their lies and wedge issues, because propaganda works. It’s be nice if it was used for truth and good and not just lies and evil.
And sure, it may not work. But it’s something. It’s a reminder that is invaluable to the large section of goldfish brain public who can’t remember fascism isn’t normal. And the GOP understands something Democrats don’t, which is you miss all the swings you don’t take - if it doesn’t work, just try again. Instead, Democratic leaders are so confident they’ll fail it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.