Dems: Stop talking about Trump
His Party is the problem.
This is a quick follow-up to my last post.
Jennifer Rubin's newsletter this morning makes some good points. Donald Trump is nervous about how the American public will react to the rising consumer costs resulting from his tariffs.
She also, ever so slightly, starts to recognize how Democrats (and pro-democracy independents) should talk about this fiasco to gain support. Here’s what she says:
If Trump wants to conceal the consumer tax he is levying on Americans, voters might direct their outrage not only at Trump but at the spineless Republican lawmakers who refuse to reclaim the power to lay tariffs.
I think she’s being too passive. What “voters might” do is determined by political campaigns and messaging, and Democrats should use the tools at hand to ensure voters punish Republicans.
Not Trump. Republicans.
Part of the reason the Democratic Party is on its heels is that for decades, the Republican Party has tied everything said or done by one Democrat to the entire Party. Any criticism of an individual includes the phrase “and the Democrats.”
“Ilhan Omar and the Democrats…”
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Democrats…”
“Socialist Bernie Sanders and the Democrats…”
It’s time to turn the tables.
From now on, Democrats and anti-authoritarians should say “and the Republicans” every time they mention anything political, even when they aren’t connected.
“Donald Trump and the Republicans are raising prices.”
“Elon Musk and the Republicans want access to your private information.”
“Pete Hegseth and the Republicans are creating chaos at DOD, violating security protocols, and placing our armed forces at risk.”
Likewise, every stupid thing Donald Trump does should be a stupid thing Republicans do.
Stop saying “Trump’s tariffs” and start saying “Republicans’ tariffs.”
It’s not Trump’s economy, it’s the Republican economy.
We’re experiencing a Republican trade war.
You get the picture.
The point is that the Republican Party is allowing all of the damage, so the Party should be taking all of the heat.
Trump is becoming increasingly unpopular, and we can’t afford to let the Republicans who allowed this lunatic to have any power distance themselves.
We have to constantly remind voters that Trump is the symptom. The Republican Party is the disease.
Couldn't agree more. Wish more people read this and posted things like it. The vast majority of Republicans are complicit. Some may be terrified in some way or another. But this - maybe sans Trump - is what the Republicans have been looking to do for forty plus years. Reagan, Newt, Rush, RW media, McConnell, the NRA, the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist: minority takeover, changing voting rules, Citizens United, bastardization of the second amendment, an oligarchy class in charge, amending education and vouchers. Christian nationalism. 40 years of voter suppression, and supply-side economics destroying the middle class, killing unions, starting with local power and moving outward. All led by RW media disinformation brainwashing the masses.