Messaging Matters

Glimmer of hope as Democrats overperform in special elections

Written on April 3, 2025 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging

Elon Musk, a big loser on Tuesday

Tuesday was a good day for the Democratic Party. Their candidates either won, or at least exceeded expectations and overcame Republican obstacles, in various special elections around the country.

In Wisconsin, an important battleground state which Donald Trump won by less than one point in 2024, Democratic state Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford won her election, despite Elon Musk pouring millions into the race for the Republican candidate. Musk even publicly handed out $1 million dollar checks to two voters to show off his investment in the race. The result was thus a blow to Musk, to Trump (who had also endorsed the Republican candidate), and to the idea that money alone can win elections.

In Florida, Democratic candidates did better than expected in two U.S. House special elections. In the 6th District, which the Republican won by 33 percent last November, Democratic candidate Josh Weil narrowed that gap by more than half, to 14 points. Likewise, in Florida’s 1st Congressional District, which the Republican candidate (incumbent Matt Gaetz) won by 32 percent in 2024, Democratic candidate Gay Valimont lost to her Republican rival by 14.6 points. Given that Florida has millions of seniors and that Trump and the Republicans are planning dangerous cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, these and other Florida Congressional districts may become even more competitive for Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections.

While outright victories would have been delightful in these Florida Congressional races, that was never expected in such deeply Republican districts. Nevertheless, it’s likely that Republicans are running scared for 2026. How do we know? One good indicator is that, last week, Trump had to withdraw the nomination of Elise Stefanik for U.N. Ambassador and send her back to her New York seat in the U.S. House, out of fear of losing the razor-thin Republican House majority in 2026 or before.

Photo by Paul (Becker1999), used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/BkIGTv

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Tags: 2026 elections, Democrats, Donald Trump, elections, Elise Stefanik, Elon Musk, Florida, Medicaid, Medicare, Republicans, Social Security, Susan Crawford, U.S. House, UN, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Supreme Court

Chuck Schumer shows he’s not up to the Senate Minority Leader job

Written on March 21, 2025 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer

As many people know, last Friday, 10 U.S. Senate Democrats, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, voted with Republicans to end their filibuster of the temporary Republican spending bill (“Continuing Resolution” or “CR”) to fund the federal government for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2025. This action advanced the bill to a Senate vote. Once that happened, the result was preordained: Republicans, with 53 Senators, had more than enough votes to pass the CR by simple majority vote.

As background, Republicans hold the majority in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House, and have been in the House majority since January 2023. It is their responsibility to come up with the votes to pass spending bills to keep the federal government open. They have repeatedly failed at their job. For example, last fall, the House failed to pass a government spending bill. Typically, the Republicans then come begging to the Democrats to provide the votes to pass such bills, or at least temporary CRs, to avoid a government shutdown. In return for their votes, it is natural for Democrats to ask for and get something in return, such as provisions to maintain certain programs or funding levels that Democrats favor, or the non-inclusion of certain objectionable Republican provisions.

This time, however, Schumer and nine other Democratic Senators caved to the Republicans, getting nothing. In voting to end the filibuster, then voting for the CR itself, they went against every Democratic U.S. House member except one, and against more than two-thirds of their fellow Democratic Senators. According to Common Dreams:

The bill proposes $13 billion in cuts to non-military spending and imposes no constraints on the Trump administration or unelected billionaire Elon Musk as they eviscerate federal agencies and unlawfully withhold spending authorized by Congress.

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Tags: 2024 elections, budget, Chuck Schumer, cloture, continuing resolution, CR, Democrats, Donald Trump, education, Elon Musk, filibuster, government shutdown, Republicans, Russia, Social Security, U.S. House, U.S. Senate

The best line of attack for Democrats against Trump

Written on March 7, 2025 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents

The way to hand Donald Trump a defeat

There are so many areas where Donald Trump and the Republicans are failing, breaking the law, possibly committing treason, or just plain crazy. These include, for example, kowtowing to Russia and ditching our friend Ukraine, voicing plans to take over Greenland for its minerals, pardoning the January 6 terrorists, trying to take over the independent U.S. Postal Service, and much more.

However, following some of these areas closely can require specialized knowledge of various fields, such as international relations or federal government operations. But there is one area of Trump failure that is so simple, anyone can understand it. Moreover, this one area affects all of us:

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Tags: avian flu, bird flu, Canada, COVID, Democrats, Donald Trump, economy, eggs, GDP, Greenland, inflation, January 6, NOAA, President Joe Biden, Republicans, Russia, stock market, tariffs, Ukraine

Are you ready for a 2026 Democratic campaign theme?

Written on February 7, 2025 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents

2024 Democratic get out the vote effort

It’s no secret that Donald Trump and his administration are going around wrecking the government, as well as many of our protections, from environmental to labor to financial to health, and more. It’s going to be a bad four years not just for Democrats, but for most Republicans, Independents and everyone else. But at least the 2026 midterm elections present a big opportunity for Democrats to take back power, especially in the razor-close U.S. House of Representatives, and thwart some of the very bad things the Republicans are trying to do legislatively.

We already talked about how Democrats can and must unify to win the 2026 midterms. The other thing the Democratic Party will need is an effective, unifying theme on which to campaign. While it’s still very early, some obvious patterns are forming that will lend themselves to such a theme.

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Tags: 2026 elections, COVID, Daily Kos, Democrats, Donald Trump, environment, GOP, healthcare, House of Representatives, inflation, labor, Markos Moulitsas, Muslim, recession, Republicans, unemployment

The one thing Democrats can do to win the next election

Written on January 30, 2025 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents

We could have had Kamala Harris as president

When a political party gets defeated in an election, losing not just the White House but Congress as well, it’s natural to do plenty of analyzing and soul-searching about what went wrong, and how to improve it for next time. Thus, in the wake of the Democratic Party’s losses in the 2024 elections (presidency, House and Senate), there have been plenty of articles, online postings and discussions about who or what should be blamed for the results, with options ranging from the “strong anti-incumbent wave” to President Joe Biden to “identity politics,” and much more. Chances are that most Democrats will never agree on one main reason why they lost the election. However, there is one step that all Democratic voters can take to increase the odds of winning the next election:

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Tags: 2024 elections, Democrats, Donald Trump, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Jared Kushner, Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden, Republicans

Don’t be shocked or awed by the next four years

Written on January 23, 2025 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Republican Messaging

How not to feel

During Donald Trump‘s last White House term, many people woke up each day to some new outrage (e.g., the “family separation policy” that threw kids in cages), and lived in a state of perpetual shock. This time around, not surprisingly, Trump began his first few days in the White House with a number of orders and actions that are similarly hurtful to America. These include, for example:

–Illegally redefining the Constitution’s definition of birthright citizenship to try to declare many natural-born Americans non-citizens;

—Ordering thousands of military troops to the Southern border;

—Falsely classifying many career U.S. government employees as “political” hires, making them easier to fire, and possibly replace with Republican party apparatchiks;

–Withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement;

–Eliminating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs and positions in the federal government;

–Granting pardons and commutations to hundreds of people convicted or prosecuted in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol; and much more.

We know there will be many more such hurtful actions and attempts over the next four years. But we can also decide not to live in a state of shock and awe this time around. One man in the White House, for example, should not change the way we love our friends and family. Nor should it change our vision of what we want for ourselves, our loved ones, and our country.

We can also continue to work toward our goals over the next four years. We can regroup and get ourselves on a more positive, effective political path going forward. That might include, for example, less time focusing on Trump, even when it is to criticize and mock him, since that was not successful in the 2024 elections, and more time concentrating on what we want, and how to get there. And perhaps most importantly, we can regularly pull the plug on increasingly biased “news” reports about what is happening in the White House. Let’s make the next four years about us, not him.

Photo by Alan Levine, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/zWVcp0

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Tags: 2024 Election, border, Capitol, climate change, Constitution, Democrats, Donald Trump, immigration, insurrection, January 6, military, Paris Accords, Republicans, White House, World Health Organization

President Biden warns of “oligarchy.” Will Americans care?

Written on January 17, 2025 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Media Watch

President Joe Biden

On Wednesday night, President Joe Biden delivered his farewell address from the White House Oval Office. Biden touted his accomplishments as President, including rescuing the country from the deadly COVID pandemic and deep recession inherited from Donald Trump, turning the economy around, creating a record number of jobs, strengthening NATO, and, lowering prescription drug prices for millions of seniors. Biden also cited his experience of 50 years of public service to this country. Along those lines, Biden was able to announce that, through his administration’s hard work, Israel and Hamas are reaching a cease-fire agreement that includes the release of hostages.

However, President Biden warned Americans about “the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra wealthy people.” He called this concentration of wealth, power and influence “an oligarchy,” and stated that such oligarchy “threatens our entire democracy.” Biden pointed to the tech field in particular, stating that he feared “the rise of a tech industrial complex that can pose real dangers for our country as well,” especially when it comes to how Americans receive their information:

Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power. The free press is crumbling…. Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit. We must hold the social platforms accountable to protect our children, our families, and our very democracy from the abuse of power. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is the most consequential technology of our time…. Nothing offers more profound possibilities and risk for our economy, and our security, for society…. But unless safeguards are in place, AI could spawn new threats to our rights, to our way of life, to our privacy….

President Biden talks about global warming and climate change in California fires

Written on January 11, 2025 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Good Government

Conditions in Southern California now

President Joe Biden, joined by administration officials, gave briefings on Thursday and Friday to go over the federal government’s response to the devastating fires affecting Southern California, specifically the Los Angeles area. During both briefings, Biden mentioned “global warming” and
“climate change” as major underlying causes of the fires. For example, on Thursday, Biden stated:

There is, in case you haven’t noticed, there is global warming. It does change weather patterns.

Later in the briefing, Biden said:

All has changed in the weather. Climate change is real, fundamentally altering around the world, not just here but around the world, what’s going on. And we’ve got to adjust to it, we got to adjust to it. And we can. It’s within our power to do it. But we’ve got to acknowledge it to begin with, just acknowledge that there’s a change taking place, that we’re not going to be able to legislate away. It’s real. There is global warming.

On Friday, Biden used similar language, driving home the point that climate change, specifically global warming, is creating conditions that lead to weather disasters like the California fires.

In this case, the weather that President Biden and other officials taking part in these briefings (including California Governor Gavin Newsom) were talking about includes:

–Unprecedented high winds, up to 100 miles per hour in some locations;

–No rain in Southern California this month and very little in the preceding few months, even though it is supposed to be the rainiest part of the year;

–Humidity as low as single digits.

President Biden also suggested during his Friday briefing that America needs to “build back better,” meaning rebuilding destroyed infrastructure in a safer way to avoid further devastation from future weather-related disasters. One example Biden gave was to bury power lines underground. However, such preventive steps are very expensive. It remains to be seen whether the incoming Republican administration and Congressional majorities would agree to spend the money for such prevention, in blue California no less, especially given that they don’t believe in climate change in the first place.

Photo by Lorie Shaull, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/gxyTCC

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Tags: California, climate change, fires, Gavin Newsom, global warming, Los Angeles, President Joe Biden, weather

Republican politics are just easier

Written on December 7, 2024 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

The Republicans’ easier-to-use megaphone

In the many differing analyses of the 2024 elections undertaken both by political professionals and amateurs, there appears to be one area of agreement: the Republicans cleaned the Democrats’ clock when it came to communication. There are numerous reasons for this messaging imbalance, and we have discussed them in the past. They include, as a prime example, the Republicans’ vast media machine consisting of Fox “News,” the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, popular podcasts such as the Joe Rogan Experience, social media platforms such as Twitter (now known as X), terrestrial radio networks like Sinclair, etc.

However, one communications advantage the Republicans have that doesn’t often get discussed is that the Republicans’ job is just easier than that of the Democrats. After the jump, we present some reasons why that is the case:

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Tags: 2024 elections, CNN, culture war, debate, Democrats, Donald Trump, immigration, Kamala Harris, LGBTQ, President Joe Biden, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Republicans, trans

The great Republican translator machine

Written on November 27, 2024 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Fox "News" Watch, Good Government, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

We’ve got your Republican Translator right here

We have been talking since Day One about the Republican Party’s vast messaging machine, which encompasses everything from Fox “News” to the Wall Street Journal, NewsMax, and more. Before and during the 2024 elections, we learned that this great propaganda apparatus also includes online platform Twitter (now X), popular podcasts like the Joe Rogan Experience, and sadly, once-respected newspapers like the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, now owned by billionaires such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. When Republican politicians including Donald Trump speak, they often merely parrot what the Republican Messaging Machine wants them to say, and vice versa.

Now, however, Democrats can point to a machine of our own. Here at Messaging Matters, we have developed the Great Republican Translator Machine. Whenever a Republican talks, we run what they say through the machine, and out comes the truth of what they really mean. Let’s try some examples:

“We believe in freedom” = “We believe in the heavy hand of government”

“Egg prices are too high” = “I’m a racist”

“I’ve never heard of ___” = “I’m heavily involved with ____”

“We’re okay with the rape allegations against Pete Hegseth” = “Those allegations are a feature, not a bug”

“Those immigrants/trans people/blacks/etc. are causing all the problems in this country” = “Look at that shiny object over there while we pick your pockets and harm your health”

“We want judges who will interpret the Constitution” = “We want activist judges who will legislate from the bench”

“Government should be run like a business” = “Let’s remove important health, safety and environmental regulations on Big Business”

“We’re pro-life” = “Kids killed in school shootings and women dead from untreated miscarriages are fine with us”

“Party of smaller government” = “We want government to invade your bedrooms, your bathrooms and your wombs”

“Rule of Law” = “Republicans are above the law”

“Party of family values” = “Elect a serial liar/cheater/philanderer/felon/rapist”

Do you have any other Republican statements that need translating? Please send them in your comments, and we will add them to the list.

Photo by Jim Linwood, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/CaDwHd

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Tags: 2024 elections, abortion, business, Democrats, Elon Musk, GOP, government, guns, Jeff Bezos, Los Angeles Times, Pete Hegseth, racism, Republicans, Rupert Murdoch, Supreme Court, Twitter, Washington Post