Turning off Facebook

In the very first Messaging Matters post, nearly nine years ago, we wrote: “Republicans have placed a ‘matrix’ over this country” with the help of “news media [that] are largely controlled by giant corporations,” as well as an organized Republican “messaging machine.” Based on recent revelations, it turns out that Facebook is part of this Republican machine too. As a result, we’re unplugging from the Facebook matrix.

Climate change, one issue that gets less focus in favor of immigration

If you follow major news stories for the past few months or longer, you might think the biggest issue of our time is illegal immigration, and specifically Donald Trump‘s desired border wall. After all, Trump and the Republicans created the phony “caravan” issue before the 2018 midterm elections. Then, in December, Trump shut down the federal government over his inability to convince Congress, and the American people, to approve his wall. The shutdown was so disruptive that it forced the news media and the voters to spend more time focusing on the wall and immigration. After the Trump Shutdown hurt Trump and the Republicans in the polls, and amidst the threat of a second Trump Shutdown, Trump caved to the Democrats regarding funding for border “fencing.” However, Trump then declared a fake “National Emergency” as a ploy to circumvent Congressional approval and steal money from other taxpayer funds, such as disaster relief, to try to fund his wall.

Trump/Russia, one area where Republicans are on the defensive

Republicans know the importance of going on offense. For years, we’ve heard Republicans, from Donald Trump to Fox News talking heads to your right wing Uncle Charlie at the dinner table, begin conversations by asking loaded political attack questions against the Democrats. The topics of these questions range from immigration (“what about that caravan that’s coming to invade us?”) to the Obamas (“a terrorist fist jab?”) to the Republicans’ favorite target, Hillary Clinton (“did she use a private email server to cover up Benghazi?”) and more. As the Republicans know, when you hit your opponent with these attack questions, you frame the issue and put them on the defensive to explain why they, their party or their politicians aren’t so bad. At that point, as Willard Mitt Romney and others have stated, “if you’re explaining, you’re losing.”

But now the tables have turned. Trump/Russia and other criminal investigations are closing around Donald Trump and his family, leading to lots of deflection, excuses and explanations by Trump and the Republicans. Donald Trump’s own Twitter feed is an excellent gauge of his worry level, and right now, Trump is doing lots of desperate explaining. This is a great time for Democrats to go on offense, and ask their Republican friends the questions that will put Republicans on defense for a change. Here are some questions that you can use as conversation starters with the Republicans in your life: