Tag Archive: Democrats

What happens after Trump’s impeachment?

Trump impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., speaks at trial of Donald Trump in U.S. Senate

Last May, when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was still reticent to impeach Donald Trump, she explained that Trump was “self-impeaching.” What Pelosi likely meant was that Trump was digging his own political grave, hurting his chances for reelection in 2020. Pelosi’s prediction seems to be coming true now, as the latest polls indicate that the top six Trump challengers for the general election — Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Michael Bloomberg, Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigiegall beat Trump in head to head match-ups. This latest good news for Democrats comes as Trump has been impeached (“for life,” as Nancy Pelosi brilliantly said), and is now undergoing a trial for removal in the U.S. Senate.

Climate Reality Project sends out “Climate 101 fact sheet”

Climate change protest in Australia

The Climate Reality Project has taken a step forward in messaging about climate change, by releasing a “Climate 101 fact sheet.” This short publication is more of a talking points tip sheet, and is thus very useful for anyone who is concerned about climate change and who encounters the typical right wing talking points against climate change, that originate with fossil fuel companies.

On impeachment and governing, Democrats show they can walk and chew gum

Impeachment message in timely Christmas colors

By now, many people realize that the impeachment of Donald Trump involves a public relations war. On one side, we have Trump and the Republicans claiming that the Democrats are “obsessed with impeaching” Trump, to the exclusion of all else. So what have the Democrats done effectively to counter that charge? Quite a bit, as it turns out.

First, House Democrats unveiled their Articles of Impeachment against Trump while simultaneously announcing that they had reached an agreement with Trump on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on trade. This is a reminder by Democrats (and they are sure to remind us further) that, not only can they govern and impeach Trump at the same time, they have passed nearly 400 bills, all of which are sitting idly on Mitch McConnell‘s U.S. Senate desk.

Kamala Harris quits presidential race: what went wrong?

U.S. Senator Kamala Harris

Yesterday, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris abandoned her efforts to win the Democratic Party presidential nomination for 2020. In an email to supporters, Harris wrote:

I’m not a billionaire. I can’t fund my own campaign. And as the campaign has gone on, it’s become harder and harder to raise the money we need to compete.

On paper at least, the highly accomplished Harris should have been one of the favorites to win the Democratic nomination, and, for a time, she was in the top tier, polling at 15 percent. So what went wrong?

DCCC releases 2019 Thanksgiving dinner talking points

Thanksgiving dinner table, before the political food fight

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has released a humorous, menu-style set of talking points for Democrats to respond to that Republican blowhard who seems to spout off at everyone’s Thanksgiving dinner. The talking points, which can be found in this .pdf, are entitled “Know Your Stuffing.” Each subject has a cute Thanksgiving dinner theme, complete with food graphics, and is designed as a response to a Republican rant, since they always seem to be the ones who bring up these political subjects at the holiday table. For example, there is “Aunt Mary’s ‘There Was No Quid-Pie-Quo,'” described as “a crust so flaky, it falls apart the moment you present it with evidence.” Responses to this talking point are listed under “What to Bring,” and include:

  1. Multiple members of the Trump administration have testified before Congress there was a quid pro quo agreement with Ukraine.
  2. Trump himself—in a memo he released—admitted he withheld aid from Ukraine until they dug up dirt on his political opponents.

Both of these responses even include footnotes to reputable sources for this information.

No surprise as mainstream media fall short in Trump impeachment coverage

Protesters share their opinion on Donald Trump impeachment

While many mainstream media outlets have aired the Donald Trump impeachment hearings that began in the U.S. House on Wednesday, the commentary by some of the media afterward was cringeworthy. Special mention goes to NBC News and Reuters, who faulted the hearings for not being scintillating enough. According to NBC News:

Reuters followed up with “Consequential, but dull: Trump impeachment hearings begin without a bang.” Sadly, this is the kind of circus coverage that we have come to expect from our news media.

After election defeats, will Republicans finally abandon Trump?

Virginia Beach voting sticker

Yesterday, Republicans suffered stunning election losses in Kentucky and Virginia. In Kentucky, Democratic state Attorney General Andy Beshear defeated incumbent Republican Governor Matt Bevin to become the new Governor-elect (Bevin thus far has refused to concede the election). Bevin’s defeat is a major embarrassment for Donald Trump, who, on Monday night, held a rally in Kentucky’s second-largest city, Lexington, and pleaded with the audience to prevent a Democratic win in the state, saying, “You can’t let that happen to me!”

In Virginia, Democrats won the majority in the State House of Delegates and the State Senate, to go along with their Democratic Governor. This marks the first time in 26 years that Virginia has had a unified Democratic state government, which may well be a continuation of the “Blue Wave” that swept Democrats into the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections. One of the issues for Virginia voters yesterday was gun violence, after 12 people were killed in a mass shooting in Virginia Beach last May. Republican lawmakers in Virginia, as well as nationally, have dragged their feet on or even blocked taking common-sense steps proposed by Democrats to reduce gun violence. The voters may have signaled that they have had enough.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg testifies before House of Representatives

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee yesterday. The title of the hearing was: An Examination of Facebook and its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors. As we recently indicated, Messaging Matters has pulled the plug and stopped using Facebook, due to a combination of Facebook’s data mining business model, its history of user data breaches, and its pro-Republican bent. The rest of America is not likely to take much comfort after what was heard yesterday.

Democratic debate exposes everything that’s wrong with TV

Sign of unity outside 2019 Democratic debate

Are you reading or hearing about the “fireworks” or “clashes” at last night’s Democratic presidential debate aired on CNN? If so, that’s part of the problem. This year, the televised Democratic debates have shown more about the failure of the TV debate format than about the success or substance of the candidates.

First, CNN (along with the New York Times, which co-sponsored the debate) brought together the 12 qualifying candidates on one stage, on one night, instead of splitting the event into two debates with six candidates each. Right off the bat, this caused the candidates to be given inadequate time to answer most questions, and to be cut off just when getting to the substance of most of their answers.

Unplugging from Republican-leaning Facebook

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.