Advice For Future Candidates

This article, ‘Dems’ Messaging Nerds Urged Party Not to Talk About Trump’s Military Takeover’, was recently published in Rolling Stone. I hope the Democratic Party takes heed:

“Are Trump’s military campaigns in blue cities a “distraction,” or what matters? Donald Trump is waging a fascist takeover of the United States, siccing the Justice Department on his political enemies while deploying federal troops to “liberate” Washington, D.C., where crime has been steadily declining. Democratic politicians are responding the only way they know how: by heeding the advice of the wonks who helped get them into this situation in the first place — and whose advice is to avoid discussing what Trump is doing.

Blue Rose Research, the firm led by Democratic establishment darling David Shor, produced a memo earlier this month digging into the effectiveness of various messages related to Trump’s takeover of Washington, D.C. The firm advised that messaging around Trump’s “rising authoritarianism” was “highly unconvincing,” while messages that say Trump wants to “distract” from his damaging tariffs or horrifying Medicaid cuts were more effective. Meanwhile,
Republican messaging about how Trump is clamping down on gang violence tested through the roof.”

And we’re seeing this being rolled out by the likes of Hakeem Jefferies, Nancy Pelosi, et al, calling them distractions while neglecting to say what’s “Distraction from what?”. Apparently they’re expecting the interviewer to ask that question, the type of follow-up that rarely, if ever, happens.

Here’s more:

“While Blue Rose Research isn’t a household name, the firm has enormous sway in the Democratic Party and with the liberal pundit class. Vox has described Blue Rose’s leader, Shor, as perhaps “the most influential data scientist in the Democratic Party.” After the election, New York Times liberal columnist and podcaster Ezra Klein invited Shor to explain why Trump won, characterizing him as “a very skilled interpreter of data” who “has gotten a lot of things right before other people did.” 

Klein helpfully noted that Shor “works with campaigns and progressive groups, so he has a perspective from the inside,” without explaining the full significance of Shor and Blue Rose’s work to try to elect Kamala Harris, which failed spectacularly. “

Read the rest here…

Whoever the nominee, he/she should tell the DC Establishment consultants to take a flying leap.  For decades they have been a lavishly paid cancer, hobbling campaigns with their DC Establishment oriented “wisdom”.

Perfect example:  Governor Tim Walz was making good progress labeling Trump & the Republican Party as “Weird”, which they most definitely are.  Some DC Establishment campaign consultant told him to stop and unfortunately he did. I also feel he could have stomped J Divan Vance in the VP debate by using Joe Biden’s VP mockingly debate performance against Paul Ryan.

Bottom line:  Whoever the candidate turns out to be… just be yourself! Not a proxy for your consultant!