All about that messaging
Yesterday morning I pointed out that “oh no these House Republicans are going to destroy everything, we’re doomed” is precisely the wrong kind of messaging. It tells the public not to bother even fighting, and it tells the public not to bother voting for Democrats because the Republicans are going to magically get their way anyway. I also pointed out that the Democratic Party is in fact nailing it on messaging. Some folks have pointed out that I didn’t include any specific examples of that good messaging. Fair enough.
Here’s a great example of effective messaging tweeted yesterday by House Democrat Ritchie Torres: “As of the New Year, Social Security recipients will receive the largest boost in four decades—an 8.7% increase. House Democrats are on guard as House Republicans set out to defund the social safety net, including Social Security. We won’t let them.”
Why is this messaging so on point? All in the span of a tweet, it hits on three essential points: 1) When the Democrats controlled the House they did good things that helped the American public. 2) Now that Republicans control the House they’re trying to harm the public. 3) Democrats have no intention of letting Republicans get away with it.
Moreover, this is the same messaging that we’re seeing from House Democrats pretty much across the board. Sure, they’re each saying it in their own way, and each playing up what they think is important. But what they all have in common is that they’re playing up their party’s achievements, they’re hitting the Republicans for trying to do evil things, and they’re vowing to fight back against it.
The highly effective messaging we’re seeing from House Democrats is worlds apart from the “House Republicans are going to cut Social Security and Medicare no matter what, we’re all doomed” messaging that we so often see from so many outrage addicts and self serving pundits on our side. That kind of messaging just tells activists to give up fighting, and tells voters to give up on the Democrats. Meanwhile in the actual political arena, the Democrats are nailing it on messaging – and they need your help to make sure their messaging is heard over top of the doomsday types. Be sure to retweet, share, and amplify House Democrats’ messaging whenever you see it and agree with it. It’s part of how we fight and win these battles.
