Another Republican narrative: Teachers Bad

Choose your favorite target of Republicans

We like to identify Republican narratives here, so that voters can see the Matrix that Republicans try to place over policy debates, in order to slant those discussions in their favor and even win them before they begin. Publicly identifying such GOP narratives (“Government Bad/Corporations Good,” “Scary Brown People,” “Oil Good/Clean Energy Bad,” etc.) thus takes much of their power away, as folks can point out that a Republican on Fox “News” or elsewhere is simply running the GOP playbook, rather than responding to their biased frame. With that in mind, here’s another Republican narrative we have heard a lot lately:

“Teachers Bad”

For example, here are two situations, both in the context of the COVID pandemic, where Republicans raised the “Teachers Bad” narrative:

The Republicans’ California contradiction

California, target of Republican Culture War bashing

In the Republicans’ 24/7 Culture War seen and heard on Fox “News’ and other right wing media, one of their oft-repeated narratives is “California is Bad.” Maybe that is because California has long been on the forefront of many types of change, including cultural and social mores, media influence, political advancement, and business and technological innovation, all of which are antithetical to conservatism. Or maybe it’s because California is a solidly blue state containing more than one-fifth of the electoral votes needed to win the presidency, and has consistently given those electoral votes to the Democrats since 1992, as well as having Democrats in all statewide offices in recent years.

Not surprisingly, therefore, we are now seeing the Republicans run their “California Bad” narrative regarding the COVID pandemic. In particular, there are stories citing negative Republican reaction to California’s recent three-week Regional Stay at Home Order from the California Department of Public Health. The Order prohibits gatherings between different households, requires residents to work from home unless conducting “critical” activities (a long list including healthcare, food service, financial services, transportation, etc.), limits retail store capacity to 20 percent, and contains other restrictions. The reason for California’s Stay at Home Order was that, due to the nationwide explosion of Coronavirus cases that has also affected California, hospital ICU bed availability has fallen below the 15 percent threshold previously deemed an acceptable minimum. Some Republicans even call the California COVID order “Gestapo tactics.” Likewise, South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Monday, claiming that South Dakota is doing better than Illinois, New York and New Jersey in terms of COVID cases. We say that California and other (mostly blue) state governments are acting out of necessity because too many people have behaved carelessly on their own, and Donald Trump has been asleep at the switch.

Push back on right wing narratives with your own

COVID precautions are one area of competing political narratives

Republicans, with the help of Fox “News” and the Trump administration, are very good at creating and repeating political narratives. Here are a few that you will hear, in one form or another, over and over again:

–Government Bad/Corporations Good

–California and New York Bad

–Unions Bad (except Police unions)

–Scary Brown People (subsets include Blacks = “Thugs,” Hispanics = “Illegals,” Muslims = “Terrorists”)

–Oil Good/Clean Energy Bad

–“You’re on your own”

Moreover, Republicans love to be the aggressors and bring up these narratives all the time, whether at the dinner table, the supermarket aisle or elsewhere. So what to do when Republicans voice their Fox right wing narratives? Well, Republicans shouldn’t have all the fun. We should respond to their right wing narratives with our own narratives.

Time for the media to withdraw from covering Trump tantrums

The time for Donald Trump to hurt the world is quickly coming to an end

Donald Trump has been a media figure since the 1970s. Those who grew up in the New York metropolitan area during that time, or the 1980s, may remember widespread tabloid coverage of Trump and his marriages and business deals, for example, in the New York Post and the Daily News. Trump is a master media manipulator and seems to thrive on such attention.

Unfortunately, however, the mainstream media’s fascination with covering Donald Trump in a superficial, tabloid fashion have continued through all four years of Trump in the White House. Even worse, now that Trump has decisively lost the presidential election to Joe Biden, the media insist on continuing to cover Trump’s every utterance, tweet, golf round and tantrum. It’s enough already. Trump is a lame duck with just 51 days left in office, his power is waning every minute, and it’s time for the media to do what most Americans are already doing: move on from Donald Trump.

Thanksgiving political discussion Democratic translator

Hopefully your Thanksgiving dinner won’t be like this

An ongoing theme here at Messaging Matters is that a good number of Democrats and Republicans either want to, or have to, continue having relationships with each other. This includes, for example, friends and loved ones. However, perhaps nowhere do political differences become more heated, awkward or unpleasant than at the Thanksgiving table. If crazy Uncle Charlie starts spouting his Fox “News” talking points, and you simply respond with talking points from your favorite liberal website, no one is going to achieve understanding or get along. Moreover, this Thanksgiving, with Joe Biden‘s defeat of Donald Trump in the presidential election fresh on everyone’s mind, threatens to be one of the most contentious of them all. Accordingly, rather than simply passing along argumentative talking points, we have created a Democratic Translator that will let Democrats state their positions in a non-confrontational, plausibly deniable way, so that not just fruits but relationships are preserved for Thanksgiving. For example:

Republicans who concede that Joe Biden won the election

Joe and Jill Biden, soon to be taking the inauguration walk as President and First Lady

Last week, we mentioned four life hacks to help Joe Biden into the White House. Two of the four suggestions were to mention world leaders and business leaders, respectively, who had recognized the results of our presidential election. This brings to mind another, growing list: Republicans who have admitted the reality, or at least the apparent reality, that Biden has defeated Donald Trump. Of course, it’s pathetic that we have to play such mind tricks just to confer legitimacy on Biden’s decisive election victory over Trump. However, as someone once said, “it is what it is.” Therefore, if any Republicans complain to you that the election was somehow “rigged,” the results were somehow “fake,” or that Trump really won, perhaps the best thing to do is merely to show them this growing list:

Four life hacks to help Joe Biden into the White House

Democratic voters celebrating victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

Right now, America is suffering a kind of dual political reality. One the one hand, Joe Biden has won the 2020 presidential election and is now considered the President-elect. On the other hand, Donald Trump and many leading Republicans are denying Biden’s victory, instead supporting Trump’s frivolous court challenges to the results in a number of states. In the meantime, Trump has instructed his Executive Branch officials not to cooperate with President-elect Biden’s transition team, which is dangerous for U.S. national security and our health, given the worsening COVID pandemic. Therefore, we have a strong interest in resolving this latest Trump-created Constitutional crisis quickly, and letting Biden get his team in place to receive briefing and other crucial information. Here are four ways, from a messaging perspective, that we can help President-elect Biden become President Biden smoothly, thoroughly and on time:

What to say to Republican Trump supporters who lost the election

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, who has called for national unity

Now that Joe Biden is the President-elect of the United States, Republican supporters of Donald Trump, along with their candidate, are suffering the various stages of grief. It’s tempting for Democrats, after years of disgraceful treatment from many Republican voters, simply to tell Republicans, “I really don’t care, do u?” However, there are several reasons why some Democrats will want to take a less belligerent approach toward Republicans. For example:

–Some Democrats have Republican friends and/or family members, and want to repair and maintain their relationships.
–Some Democrats, perhaps taking the lead from Joe Biden, believe it’s in the best interest of the country to at least try to reach out to Republicans and create some national unity going forward, given the ongoing COVID pandemic and other big challenges we face.
–Some Democrats uphold the party value of empathy, and just cannot be jerks toward the Republicans, even though they would surely suffer Republican incivility if the tables were turned.

For these Democrats, therefore, the question becomes, what to say to Republicans that strikes the right balance between “shove it” and sacrificing their own principles? Here are some ideas:

Five things the Democrats need to do after the election

Simple concept that GOP now opposes

While the 2020 presidential election and various other election races are still being fought, there are already some lessons to be learned. In particular, based on the Republicans’ behavior thus far, Democrats need to do some things differently to match and defeat their opponents going forward. Assuming that Joe Biden, currently well ahead in both electoral and popular votes, defeats Donald Trump for the presidency and/or Democrats at least tie the Republicans for control of the U.S. Senate, here are five things the Democrats should do as soon as they take power:

Perfect metaphor: Trump leaves supporters stranded in the cold

How Trump treats his supporters

On Tuesday night, just one week before Election Day, Donald Trump‘s campaign stranded hundreds of supporters in freezing temperatures after a rally in Omaha, Nebraska. The supporters, many of whom were elderly, were required to park approximately three miles away, and take buses to the rally. However, when Trump was finished speaking and took off on Air Force One at approximately 9 p.m., the buses to take the attendees back to their parking lots did not arrive. “By nearly 10:30 p.m.,” the freezing attendees were still waiting in lines for buses. Between the rally itself and the queuing for buses, at least 30 people required medical attention, and seven had to be taken to nearby hospitals.

Trump’s stranding of supporters in the cold is the perfect metaphor for what he and the Republicans have done to most Americans for many years: left us figuratively out in the cold to fend for ourselves, whether it’s COVID, Hurricane Katrina, the Great Recession or other crises, with the negative economic and healthcare consequences that flow from such Republican bungling. This week, for example, as Trump’s inaction on the Coronavirus has led to new record-setting increases in cases and deaths across the country, the stock market is tumbling as a result.