Falling out of the sky
Donald Trump has only been in power for a week and a half, and he’s already giving us so much material to use against him, it’s difficult to know where to start. I suggest we keep two main things in mind when crafting our messaging against him: relevance and simplicity. Why? They work.
This is an era of hashtags and keywords. Whatever story is biggest in the news each day, it starts trending and becomes an even bigger story. When there’s a prevailing story, it’s very difficult to get anyone interested in anything else that day. So instead of trying to make today about climate change, for instance, when it’s about the plane crash, play into it. Make it all about the plane crash. And spell out why it’s Trump’s fault, and/or why Trump is blowing his response.
This is also the era of short attention spans. People out there – especially those in the middle who profess not to like politics – can’t even be bothered to read an entire tweet, let alone a soliloquy. So keep your messaging short and simple and use it to drill home just one idea: “Trump fired everyone in charge of airplane safety, and a week later planes started crashing into each other.”
That’s it. That’s the messaging. Don’t get bogged down disputing Trump’s false claims. Just blame him, in short and repeatable sentences. Yes, Trump’s attempt at blaming the plane crash on DEI is racist and abominable. But if you repeat what he said just so you can refute it, you’re unwittingly amplifying his narrative in the process. All the people in the middle are going to hear is him talking about DEI and you talking about DEI, and they’ll come away thinking the plane crash was indeed about DEI – which is a win for Trump.
Don’t give Trump what he wants. Don’t repeat his false claims just to refute them. Skip over that and go straight to spelling out why the situation of the day is his fault and/or how he’s failing in his response to the situation of the day. Keep it honest, relevant, short, and simple. Trump fired the people in charge of airplane safety, and now airplanes are already falling out of the sky. That’s an oversimplification, but it’s an honest one, and it’s the kind of messaging that can actually turn people in the middle against this guy – which is the whole reason we’re doing this.
