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The Republicans’ War on America

Written on January 10, 2022 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging

Republican attack on U.S. Capitol

In his February 2021 annual letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett, considered to be the most successful investor of all time, wrote:

Our unwavering conclusion: Never bet against America.

However, looking back at 2021, the Republican Party certainly failed to heed Mr. Buffett’s advice. The Republicans bet against America when they disbelieved and then tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. They bet against America when they incited, supported and funded a terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol that was designed to stop the certification of Electoral Votes for then President-elect Joe Biden. They bet against America when they fought, and continue to fight, against sensible COVID protections such as masks, vaccinations, school accommodations, and social distancing. And they bet against America when they side with one of our most dangerous global opponents, Russia, to hurt American democracy.

Surely, the Republicans’ War on America presents some stark campaign fodder for the 2022 elections.

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Tags: 2020 Elections, 2022 elections, climate, Democrats, Donald Trump, economy, infrastructure, January 6, jobs, President Joe Biden, Republicans, Russia, stock market, U.S. Capitol, unemployment, Warren Buffett

Messaging Maxim #9: Call out the Straw Man

Written on November 26, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Messaging Maxims, Republican Messaging

Thanksgiving dinner with a side of Straw Man?

If your Thanksgiving dinner included any lively political discussion, chances are someone brought up a Straw Man argument. This is a type of logical fallacy whereby:

someone takes another person’s argument or point, distorts it or exaggerates it in some kind of extreme way, and then attacks the extreme distortion, as if that is really the claim the first person is making.

In the political arena, Republicans often use the Straw Man against Democratic proposals by making false, overbroad generalizations about the proposals, and then going after the fictional scenario they just concocted. For example, President Joe Biden and Congressional Democrats have proposed, in the Build Back Better legislation that was recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, to raise income taxes only on households with over $400,000 annual income. Indeed, many Americans would see lower taxes under the Democratic proposal. But you are hearing Republicans say instead that President Biden and the Democrats want to raise taxes on “middle class Americans.” A similar Republican Straw Man from the past is the PolitiFact Lie of the Year 2010 that President Barack Obama‘s Affordable Care Act was “a government takeover of healthcare,” when in fact the law left our private healthcare and health insurance systems in place. Note that such Straw Man arguments often feed existing political narratives, such as the Republican narratives that Democrats favor “Big Government” and “higher taxes.”

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Tags: 2016 Elections, Affordable Care Act, Bowzer, Build Back Better, Congress, Democrats, Donald Trump, healthcare, Jon Bauman, President Barack Obama, President Joe Biden, Republicans, Russia, straw man, taxes, Thanksgiving, Twitter, U.S. House

Democrats create achievements, Republicans create acrimony

Written on May 6, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Republican Messaging

Democrats getting things done while Republicans do each other in

Right now, there is a massive split between what is going on in the Democratic Party versus the Republican Party.

The Democrats, led by President Joe Biden, have had a tremendous 100 days. First and foremost, Biden has succeeded in getting over 200 million COVID vaccinations into Americans’ arms (double his original stated goal), and taking steps to beat the pandemic using real science and competence. Next, Biden pushed through and signed the American Rescue Plan, including stimulus checks for millions of Americans, all while rejoining the Paris Agreement on climate change and undoing many of Trump’s damaging executive orders. Biden is now being compared to progressive activist President Franklin Roosevelt, who also had a very successful first 100 days (as well as being re-elected president three more times).

Meanwhile, as if to quash another Republican myth, the U.S. stock market has had the best performance during a president’s first 100 days since the beginning of John F. Kennedy‘s presidency in 1961. Biden’s popularity is substantially high (and way higher than Trump’s), especially given our polarized politics today. Biden and Congressional Democrats have also continued on offense with a positive policy agenda that includes rebuilding America’s infrastructure, creating jobs, battling climate change, support for American families, and more. While they may not get all of it passed in its current proposed form (after all, Washington is about compromise and the art of the possible), they are poised to pass a great deal more.

After Trump exit, Biden and Democrats rejoin world community

Written on February 24, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents

Russia, where we can expect a big change between Trump and Biden

Of all of Donald Trump‘s boneheaded and dangerous moves, some of the worst involved America’s place in the world. Specifically, Trump cozied up to our adversaries such as Russia, he withdrew from crucial international agreements such as the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Iran Nuclear Agreement, and he alienated our longtime allies such as our fellow NATO nations. Now, President Joe Biden and the Democrats who control both houses of Congress have begun the difficult work of repairing America’s tarnished image and restoring some safety to the world.

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Tags: Air Force One, Alexei Navalny, Barack Obama, climate change, Democrats, Donald Trump, Ed Markey, Iran, Joe Biden, Khashoggi, Kim Jong Un, MBS, NATO, North Korea, nuclear agreement, Paris Agreement, Republicans, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen

Biden inauguration: America gets a reboot

Written on January 19, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents

One thing we’ll have less of in the Biden Oval Office

With a new year and the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris tomorrow, many Americans are looking forward to getting a fresh start. In modern terms, we can call it a “reboot” for America. Here are some areas where we will get a much-needed reboot with President Biden:

COVID — we hardly need to recount the Trump administration’s failures to address the COVID pandemic. Those failures continue today, with vaccine distribution woefully inadequate, and Trump officials predictably lying to cover their negligence (or worse). However, Joe Biden and his team have a plan to hit the ground running, from better vaccine distribution to a nationwide mask mandate. There can be little doubt that Biden will improve the Coronavirus situation.

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Tags: Charlottesville, climate change, Coronavirus, COVID, COVID-19, Donald Trump, inauguration, infrastructure, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Paris Agreement, racism, Russia, White House

The Great Republican Distraction is underway

Written on September 2, 2020 by Messaging Matters in Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Americans continue to die of COVID while Republicans distract

Anyone who tunes into the news or follows political discussions in the media today might think that the overarching issue in America is something to do with protests, riots, “thugs” and “law and order.” If so, then give credit to Donald Trump and leading Republicans for trying to create one of the greatest distractions in U.S. history, in order to avoid a historic election defeat just two months from now. If Trump has one skill, it is media manipulation and distraction. He knows that, rather than the mainstream American news media doing their jobs and investigating and reporting on the biggest stories which, in their professional editorial judgment, affect most people’s lives, Republicans can get the media to chase distracting Culture War shiny objects that then become the focus of most discussions, to the Republicans’ advantage.

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Tags: 2020 Elections, Afghanistan, Black Lives Matter, Coronavirus, COVID, COVID-19, culture war, Donald Trump, Facebook, Kenosha, recession, Republicans, Russia, social media, Taliban, Twitter, Unemploymenet, Wisconsin

Trump cuts and runs from self-proclaimed “wartime”status

Written on July 10, 2020 by Messaging Matters in Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Republican Messaging

Winston Churchill, wartime leader and Trump opposite

Back in March, Donald Trump told reporters that, when it comes to his role regarding the Coronavirus (a/k/a COVID-19 or COVID):

I view it as, in a sense, a wartime president. I mean, that’s what we’re fighting.

Since then, however, Trump has acted quite the opposite of “a wartime president.” Instead, Trump has cut and run from COVID at every turn. Trump has failed to unite the country and take bold national steps to combat the virus. On the contrary, Trump has been as divisive as any president in U.S. history, whipping up a race war, teargassing peaceful protesters, and focusing on cultural shiny objects such as Bibles and Confederate statues. Moreover, in the face of further attacks on America by Russia, Trump has stood down and done nothing. This failure to unite and protect our nation is not only fatal in terms of lives, it is proving politically fatal to Trump and those Republicans who follow him.

Mike Bloomberg is being a better Democrat now than Bernie Sanders

Written on March 22, 2020 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging

Michael Bloomberg riding the New York City subway

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Friday that he will give $18 million to the Democratic National Committee for the party’s battleground state elections in November. While this is not everything that Bloomberg spoke about when he first ran for president last November, i.e., that if he dropped out of the presidential race, he would form a super PAC and make his campaign field workers available to help the democrats and defeat Donald Trump, the $18 million is still a very generous donation that should help a lot. Indeed, right now, it can be said that Bloomberg is being a better Democrat than Bernie Sanders. Let’s compare:

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Tags: 2020 Democratic primaries, 2020 Elections, Bernie Sanders, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg, Russia, Tulsi Gabbard, Vladimir Putin

Bernie Sanders finally starts to get vetted

Written on February 28, 2020 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging

Repeat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders

This week, the public vetting process finally began for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Last Sunday, in a CBS 60 Minutes interview, for example, Sanders was asked about past support for the communist or socialist regimes in the Soviet Union, Nicaragua and Cuba. Sanders replied that, as to Fidel Castro‘s oppressive dictatorship in Cuba:

… but you know, you got — it’s unfair to simply say “everything is bad.” You know, when Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program, is that a bad thing?

Sanders’ comments did not sit well with many Americans around the country. Sanders’ remarks caused an especially negative reaction in Florida, located only 90 miles from Cuba, and where many voters are refugees from Castro’s brutal crackdowns. Florida is America’s third most populous state, with 29 electoral votes, and is crucial to a possible Democratic victory in the 2020 presidential election.

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

Written on December 11, 2019 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Republican Messaging

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.

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Tags: 2020 Elections, Canada, Congress, Democrats, Donald Trump, impeachment, Mexico, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, Republicans, Russia, trade agreement, U.S. House, U.S. Senate, Ukraine, USMCA

Tag Archive: Russia