The Language of Politics | Messaging Matters

The Breitbarting of America

Written on December 2, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Fox "News" Watch, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Trump/Breitbart propagandist Stephen Bannon

Donald Trump‘s unofficial electoral win, as well as the elevation of Stephen Bannon to Trump campaign CEO and then future White House counsel, demonstrates how Andrew Breitbart‘s style of propaganda and fake news has triumphed. The mainstream media helped the Breitbart model win, cheering every step of the way. All of this is dangerous for the country.

Before his death in 2012 from a heart attack at age 43, Andrew Breitbart launched Breitbart.com, Breitbart.tv and other related sites, which furthered right wing narratives such as “Scary Brown People” and “Corporations Good, Government Bad.” During President Barack Obama‘s administration, Breitbart helped to push anti-Obama and anti-Democratic Party stories, many of which were at least partially fake or based on doctored videos (i.e., propaganda), but which got picked up by the major news media and became the news, with marvelous results for the GOP. Among the best-known stories flogged by Breitbart were:

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Tags: 2016 election, Alex Jones, Andrew Breitbart, Anthony Weiner, Antonin Scalia, Arianna Huffington, climate change, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Huffington Post, Infowars, Megyn Kelly, President Barack Obama, Shirley Sherrod, Supreme Court

Donald Trump’s shaky start

Written on November 18, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Republican Messaging

Anti-Trump protest in New York City, Nov. 12, 2016

Donald Trump was able to get away with pretty much anything while campaigning for president, from admissions of sexually predatory behavior to numerous false statements. Now that he’s the president-elect, however, Trump is discovering that preparing to govern is something very different from campaigning. Trump has already gotten into a bunch of sticky or questionable situations just days after the election:

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Tags: Breitbart, Bridgegate, Chris Christie, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Ivanka Trump, Japan, Mike Flynn, Mike Pence, President Barack Obama, Russia, Steve Bannon

The Republicans’ basic electoral problem

Written on November 7, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Media Watch

2012 electoral map

From the beginning of this election cycle, we have focused on cold hard math, because that’s how you know who is winning and who is likely to prevail. In a presidential election, the cold hard math is the state count of electoral votes. With just one day left before the 2016 elections, and after all the controversies, conspiracies and insults, plus widespread early voting, most of the electoral vote models show Hillary Clinton winning decisively over Donald Trump. These models include the Los Angeles Times with a whopping 352 electoral votes for Clinton, Real Clear Politics with 301 EVs for Clinton when “toss-up” states are assigned, and virtually every other scientific prediction showing Clinton well ahead even before assigning the toss-ups.

The oft-neglected fact about this election is that, since electoral votes are based on state population, the Republicans have a basic electoral problem: they are more popular in states with fewer people and thus fewer electoral votes. In essence, the GOP had a steep uphill climb before this campaign even began.

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Tags: 2016 Elections, battleground states, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Electoral College, electoral votes, Florida, Hillary Clinton, Ohio, Republican Party, swing state, toss-up states

Donald Trump’s dangerous endgame

Written on October 17, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Fox "News" Watch, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Anti-Trump protesters in Dallas, Texas

Not long ago, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders had a well-organized, unifying end to their Democratic Party primary battle. Both sides acted like adults, sat down and negotiated over the party platform and the Democratic National Convention. The result was a hugely successful convention and a more unified Democratic Party, after which Clinton took the general election lead from Donald Trump. As new revelations about Trump’s sexually predatory behavior pile up, Clinton’s lead has extended to the point where nearly no one, including Republicans, says that Trump can win. The question now becomes, how will Trump lose, and what will he do afterward? Unfortunately, the signs thus far point to an ugly and dangerous electoral withdrawal from Donald Trump.

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Tags: 2016 Democratic primaries, 2016 Elections, Bernie Sanders, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Republican Party, Trump TV

The Republican Party, lost in the wilderness

Written on October 12, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Republican Messaging

Donald Trump behind Hillary Clinton at 2nd presidential debate.

Elections are about math, and, with about 27 days to go before the 2016 elections, the math is not looking good for Republicans. Donald Trump is not only losing the presidential election, he may be taking down the GOP with him, including its majority in the U.S. Senate, and even jeopardizing the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. Trump is now engaged in a bloody battle with leading Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, the highest-ranking Republican in America, as well as GOP stalwarts such as John McCain. Panic is setting in among some Republican office holders and donors alike, and Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are exploiting this GOP Civil War. Where did things go so wrong?

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Tags: 2016 Elections, Autopsy Report, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, GOP Civil War, Hillary Clinton, House, Reince Priebus, Republican Party, RNC, Senate

The Hillary Clinton/Donald Trump fantasy love fest

Written on October 4, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Republican Messaging

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump at their first presidential debate

The 2016 presidential campaign has been relentlessly negative. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and their campaign teams, surrogates and supporters, have been bashing each other with zeal. That may be electoral politics as usual, but it doesn’t bode well for governing the country, or having Americans united on important issues around the world, once the election is over. Accordingly, here is an admittedly fantasy scenario of how Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump could come together at their next debate over one simple question, without sacrificing their principles:

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Tags: 2016 Elections, 2016 presidential debates, 9/11, Donald Trump, gun violence, healthcare, Hillary Clinton, terrorism

Hillary Clinton beats Donald Trump in the debate and the expectations game

Written on September 27, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

“If you could vote for anyone” Clinton vs. Trump

In their first presidential debate last night, expectations were set unfairly high for Hillary Clinton and unfairly low for Donald Trump. Surprisingly, however, Clinton exceeded and Trump fell short of such expectations. In terms of substance, style and presidential temperament, the contrast between the two candidates was stark, and Clinton walked away with a decisive win.

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Tags: 2016 Elections, 2016 presidential debates, 2016 Republican primaries, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton

The presidential election now turns on bigotry

Written on September 23, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Republican Messaging

“Will Trade Racists For Refugees” jacket, Santa Cruz, CA, July 2016

Last Friday, Donald Trump made a stunning announcement, wrapped in a live infomercial for him and his new hotel, that he believes President Barack Obama was born in the U.S. This was a complete flip-flop for Trump, who began his presidential campaign on the “birther” conspiracy, falsely questioning President Obama’s birthplace and his birth certificate. When did Trump change his mind? Did he always believe that Obama is a full-blooded American and just lie all along to attract right wing extremists, including white supremacists? Trump didn’t stick around to answer these and other questions from the press.

Trump’s birther announcement comes at a time when America is being racked by police killings of unarmed black citizens. Yesterday, Tulsa, Oklahoma white police officer Betty Shelby was charged with first degree manslaughter for killing a black man, Terence Crutcher, who was waiting for help after his car had become disabled. In Charlotte, North Carolina, police killed Keith Lamont Scott who was waiting for his son to leave school for the day. Protesters have taken to the streets in Charlotte, as they have done in Ferguson, Missouri and many other locations after previous police killings of black Americans. It doesn’t help that, even though the Charlotte police killing of Keith Lamont Scott was caught on one or more police videos, the police are refusing to release the video.

These events and others are overshadowing the 2016 presidential election, largely turning it into a referendum on bigotry in America.

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Tags: 2016 Elections, Betty Shelby, birtherism, Charlotte, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Keith Lamont Scott, Terence Crutcher, Tulsa

Avoiding Donald Trump’s pigsty

Written on September 12, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Republican Messaging

Message to Clinton voters about Donald Trump

Playwright George Bernard Shaw is quoted as saying:

I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.

That’s good advice for Hillary Clinton. When she climbs into the mud with Donald Trump and his supporters, she gets dirty, and they seem to like it. For example, at a New York City fundraiser on Friday, Clinton said:

You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it.

There’s plenty of evidence that a portion of Trump’s supporters really are deplorable. However, the problem with these remarks (which Clinton has since walked back a bit), isn’t their truth, it’s that Clinton shouldn’t be the one making them.

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Tags: 2016 Elections, 2016 Republican primaries, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz

U.S. political media on life support after NBC Matt Lauer forum

Written on September 9, 2016 by Messaging Matters in Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Media Watch

NBC’s Matt Lauer with former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders

Wednesday night’s NBC News “Commander-in-Chief Forum” has been roundly criticized. In particular, moderator Matt Lauer is taking the heat for his biased, amateurish performance. However, the NBC forum is just one of many examples of the U.S. Beltway media tipping the scales against Hillary Clinton and for Donald Trump in this election, and failing to do their job. One Twitter user even started the hashtag “#LaueringTheBar” to describe this trend. With the first presidential debate just days away, time is quickly running out to cure the problem.