Read on Twitter
Been thinking a lot about this thread, as well as the comments @AOC has made about Dem's tactics and messaging.
https://twitter.com/nkjemisin/status/1325545838500843524?s=20
I'm no political strategist but I do "brand stuff" as my job & need to get some things out of my head so I can prepare for battles to come.
https://twitter.com/nkjemisin/status/1325545838500843524?s=20
I'm no political strategist but I do "brand stuff" as my job & need to get some things out of my head so I can prepare for battles to come.
@nkjemisin makes the point that Dems need to work on their storytelling. I agree 100%. He compares messaging, positioning and storytelling to food. Salty snacks are tasty but not nourishing. At their core, they're empty. And dangerous.
Republicans serve up salty snacks that elicit an immediate and visceral response in their target. "Immigrants are coming to take your job", "Leftists are destroying your city", "They want to turn America into a socialist country like Venezuela".
There's a saying that it takes 5 positive interactions to cancel out 1 negative. The same may be true for campaign messaging. It's easier to tell someone they need to protect what they have, rather than build for the future. The salty snacks are much easy to package and deliver.
For their audience, "Libs want to take your guns" is easier to digest than a proposal on commons sense gun reform & how it can positively impact society & people's lives. "They'll socialize healthcare" goes down easier than "we want to expand coverage & here's a policy proposal".
This time we got lucky. Trump made the case for us. His racism & cruelty was so abhorrent that it elicited that visceral response. We reacted & turned out in droves. Next time we won't be as lucky. They'll come with a candidate that is much slicker & on face value, less dangerous
So what to do? It's no surprise to note that leaders like @AOC in the Bronx and @NebraskaMegan in Omaha are the blueprint. They get local. We all need to get local. None of this is a new idea. The roadmap exists. We just need the collective will to execute.
Going back to the food metaphor... when you walk into any McDonalds in the world, you'll see a Big Mac, fries and a Coke. Probably some other familiar stuff. That's how you know it's a McDonalds. But in Tokyo, you'll get a Tsukimi Burger. In Germany, you'll get a McCurrywurst.
Dems need to take the same approach. Have their national checklist of things constituents care about. Healthcare, the economy etc. But go town-to-town, neighborhood-to-neighborhood, door-to-door with a message that resonates at a local level. Bottom up, not top down.
But it's not a case of looking at the tactics Republicans use and coming up with our version of that. We need to be smarter. Building trust connections for the long term, not just the next electoral cycle. Build relationships. Actually give a shit.
We need candidates & operatives that can tell those stories in an authentic way and meet them where they are. That have lived and worked alongside their potential constituents and understand their struggles and motivations. That look like them, sound like them. Who *are* them.
We need to show them who and what they're voting for. Not an abstract vision of the future sometime down the road. Something concrete and relatable. Delivered without any bullshit. It's not about appealing to white Trump voters. It needs to be centered around and driven by BIPoC.
Everyone else needs to give them they resources and support that they need and get out of their way. The good news, these people have been doing this regardless of how the DNC thinks about it. But we need to dramatically expand their impact.
We need to give them the resources and the support that they need and then get out of the way. We can't start this at the beginning of the next election cycle. It needs to start now. It's painstaking work and it takes a lot of time and effort. We'd better get cracking.
Again. No expert here. But it helps me to write my thoughts down in order to process so it's not particularly well articulated but figured I might share. Would love your thoughts too.
