“We can build a better system”

As we have stated here before, Republicans have spent decades building a media machine reaching into nearly every corner of American life. Fox “News” is only the start. Sinclair Broadcast Group owns local television stations that reach nearly four in ten American households with its conservative-biased programming. Add Newsmax, OAN, the Daily Wire, the Tucker Carlson Network, AM talk radio, newspapers such as the Washington Post (owned by Jeff Bezos), the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post (both controlled by News Corp. i.e. the family of Rupert Murdoch), and even CBS News now in right wing hands, and you get Uber drivers reciting right wing talking points to captive customers. Many non-conservatives therefore get exposed to this Republican ecosphere as well, as the massive reach of GOP talking points means they become the actual discussion topics for many issues.

Democrats have no comparable media structure. As a result, conservative outlets can seize upon a topic and hammer it far longer than any Democratic effort could sustain. The tactic often follows a simple pattern: Republicans take an isolated incident, strip it of context, and use their media machine to present it as proof of a nationwide crisis, often using their invented false narratives such as “Scary Brown People”.

Will facts get through to them?

Just in time for Thanksgiving 2025, the ACLU and Everytown for Gun Safety have released their dinner table talking points, for those fair-minded folks (i.e. Democrats) to use against their bull-headed relatives (i.e. Republicans) when the conversation, like the food, heats up.

First up is ACLU, which states that its goal this Thanksgiving is “countering misinformation”. To that end, it has sent around a “Holiday Conversation Guide“. The guide talks about Donald Trump‘s threats to free speech, including to TV hosts such as Jimmy Kimmel, and to student protesters. It also mentions Trump’s deployment of federal enforcement agents and military troops around the country. Then the ACLU’s guide provides some tips, such as “Emphasize the facts and shared values”. For example:

Protests against the Trump administration’s abuses and policies have been overwhelmingly peaceful. The First Amendment protects the right to organize and protest peacefully, and law enforcement can’t break up a gathering simply because a few people have broken the law.

Republican bill should include this name

Right now, the Republicans in Congress are moving a budget bill forward, passing it in the U.S. House by one vote and sending it to the Senate. Republicans convened their House Rules Committee at 1 a.m. on Wednesday to consider the bill, and they passed it in the middle of the night. Given that Congress typically works only four days a week and takes umpteen paid vacations, you know this is a lousy bill when Republicans have to hide their actions in the dark.

Among other things, the bill would drastically cut Medicaid, supplemental nutrition, and renewable energy programs. According to Republican plans, the savings from such cuts would not be used to reduce America’s government debt, but rather to give the money to wealthy individuals and corporations as giant tax cuts. The result, according to CBS News, could add trillions to our deficit.

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: