Media Watch | Messaging Matters

Trump’s treasonous troubles

Written on August 2, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Donald Trump on the campaign trail in March of this year.

Donald Trump is not having a good week. Trump managed to cast himself as both unpatriotic and treasonous within the space of a few days. First, Trump invited Russia to commit cyber espionage against the U.S. in order to influence the upcoming presidential election in Trump’s favor, which many have called possibly treasonous or at least a violation of the Logan Act. Then Trump attacked the Gold Star family of Captain Humayun Khan, a U.S. soldier of Muslim faith who was killed in Iraq in 2004 while protecting his troops. Not surprisingly, Hillary Clinton‘s lead against Donald Trump is now growing.

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Tags: 2016 Elections, Crimea, debates, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Ghazala Khan, Hillary Clinton, Humayun Khan, John McCain, Khizr Khan, NFL, Presidential debates, Republican Party, Russia, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin

Democrats take patriotism back from the Republicans

Written on July 29, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama at the 2016 Democratic National Convention

Beginning in 1980 and throughout his presidency, Ronald Reagan appropriated the idea of patriotism and America and planted it firmly with the Republican Party. This week, however, at their national convention and with a big boost from Donald Trump, the Democratic Party and their presidential nominee Hillary Clinton took patriotism back.

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Tags: 2016 Elections, Democratic National Convention, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama, Republican National Convention, Republican Party, Ronald Reagan, Tim Kaine, Vice President Joe Biden

Raucous unity at the Democratic National Convention

Written on July 26, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Media Watch

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at recent unity event in New Hampshire

The diverse, outspoken and sometimes raucous Democratic Party was on full display on Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania yesterday. This is the party whose unity is likened to “herding cats.” On the other hand, the outbursts from some delegates at the convention hardly spelled doom and gloom, as some chattering heads on the cable TV news networks intimated. Rather, if you caught the unfiltered convention proceedings via live stream or C-SPAN, you saw a political party reach a noisy state of unity, as only the Democrats can do.

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Tags: Al Franken, Bernie Sanders, climate change, Democratic National Convention, Democratic Party, Democratic primaries, DNC, Donald Trump, Elijah Cummings, Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Republican National Convention, Republican Party, Russia, Sarah Silverman, Supreme Court

Welcome to the Trump Republican National Convention train wreck

Written on July 21, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Fox "News" Watch, Media Watch, Messaging Maxims, Republican Messaging

Ill-fated Trump/Pence “TP” logo.

On Monday, several of Donald Trump‘s campaign staffers were involved in a minor car accident in New York City. That was nothing compared to the train wreck that is the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland, Ohio, and the events of the previous days. Here are some of the many things that have gone wrong for the Trump campaign and the Republican Party in just the past week:

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Tags: 2016 Elections, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Melania Trump, Meredith McIver, Michelle Obama, Mike Pence, NATO, Republican National Convention, Republican Party, RNC, Saddam Hussein, Scott Baio, Ted Cruz, The Art of the Deal, Tony Schwartz

Hillary Clinton snoozes to victory

Written on July 6, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Hillary Clinton campaign truck.

The above headline is exactly what the mainstream media have been trying to avoid for a year and a half. If you’ve ever watched a one-sided sports event, you’ll know the reason why: viewers will tune out, and that’s bad for business. So what we all need to remember is that the mainstream media’s goal during this entire election season is to create more drama, which leads to higher ratings, and money for themselves. This business incentive can be seen in the coverage of Hillary Clinton‘s use of a private email server as Secretary of State, which the FBI just cleared as not a criminal offense.

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Tags: 2016 Elections, Benghazi, Bernie Sanders, Democratic primaries, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton

Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders take a beating at Politicon 2016

Written on June 26, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson delivers keynote address at Politicon 2016.

The second Politicon began yesterday in Pasadena, California and continues today. Politicon is billed as “an unconventional political convention” which brings together the most diverse array of political and entertainment figures this side of the White House Correspondents Dinner, including comedians Larry Wilmore and Lizz Winstead; U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer of California; political consultants James Carville and Paul Begala; conservative media figures Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck; Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson; former Mexican President Vicente Fox and many more. Perhaps the mere fact that this diverse group was featured at Politicon makes them all “establishment” in a way. If so, that might explain why, at yesterday’s event, criticism of presidential candidates Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders was widespread.

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Tags: Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Politicon

Democratic revolution in U.S. House

Written on June 23, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Good Government, Media Watch

U.S. House Democrats stage anti-gun violence sit-in on House floor

Yesterday, the type of “political revolution” that Bernie Sanders called for but did not deliver during the 2016 Democratic Party primaries was launched instead by the Democrats in the House of Representatives. In a stunning, unprecedented move, Democratic Representatives protested the Republican majority and the National Rifle Association by staging a “sit-in” on the House floor after the Republicans refused to vote on gun violence legislation in the wake of the June 12 Orlando, Florida nightclub shootings in which 49 people were killed by a man using a semi-automatic assault-type rifle and a semi-automatic pistol.

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Tags: Congress, Democratic Party, gun control, guns, House of Representatives, John Lewis, Republican Party

The Democrats’ day of unity

Written on June 10, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Media Watch

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at 2008 Orlando, Florida rally

President Barack Obama formally endorsed Hillary Clinton for President of the United States via video on Thursday. The video was released after Obama met with Bernie Sanders at the White House, at Sanders’ request. Obama’s endorsement of Clinton was part of a dramatic series of events orchestrated to celebrate and build upon Clinton’s clinching of the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, and to showcase a newfound unity in the Democratic Party in support of Clinton.

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Tags: 2016 Democratic primaries, 2016 Elections, Bernie Sanders, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley, President Barack Obama

The secret weapon in this year’s elections

Written on May 13, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Media Watch

Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump 2016

There’s a not-so-secret weapon looming in the likely 2016 presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Want to guess what it is? Here are a few hints: it’s very powerful, it exists in large numbers, and one of the presidential candidates is one. What’s the secret weapon?

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Tags: 2016 Elections, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Republican Party, voters, women

The Bernie Sanders tax fiasco

Written on April 14, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch

Presumably a pro-tax protester, 2010

Why hasn’t Bernie Sanders released his tax returns for prior years? That’s the question an increasing number of people are asking. First, Sanders answered, “My wife does our tax returns. We have been a little busy lately.” Then, Sanders falsely claimed that “Of course, we have released them in the past.” On Monday, Bernie’s wife Jane gave an interview with Mark Halperin of Bloomberg TV‘s “With All Due Respect” that was beyond embarrassing on the Sanders’ taxes issue. Jane Sanders said, in response to various questions by Halperin: “I have to go back and find them,” “We haven’t been home for a month,” “When they’re due, I would expect them to come out,” “They’ve [the Clintons] been in office all these years, they have done it,” etc. In reaction to all of these delays and excuses by the Sanders, folks are starting to say the following things:

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Tags: 2016 Elections, Bernie Sanders, Democratic Party, Democratic primaries, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, taxes

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