The Democratic Debility-Poor Salesmanship:
It Wasn’t Biden’s POLICIES That Hurt Democrats. It Was the Party’s Milquetoast Brand, Which is Being Tested Right Now with Trump
Feel free to check the past Biden Era archives and follow the editions to come in the Trump Era on Substack, Medium, and LinkedIn (First Come, First Serve!).
Some advice for Democrats: fight this battle, even if you have to go low into the gutters. Time to abandon the “When they go low, we go high” moniker. It’s too outdated now in our politics. It is time to be combative, like a feisty FDR or an intimidating LBJ.
And subscribe to The Latino Vote Podcast starring Chuck Rocha and Mike Madrid.
Let’s also do a lightning round recap of what has happened recently:
The Trump Tariffs & Trade Wars with Canada, China, and Mexico will impact a number of common goods that American consumers buy
Russia celebrates Trump’s “rapidly changing” America foreign policy outlook, which is “largely coincide[ing]” with Russia’s own viewpoint on Ukraine and the West. It all goes to the old saying: if your enemies like what you are doing, then don’t do it. Unless you’re Donald Trump, and you are in league with the enemies of your own country.
Elon Musk recently referred to the 90-year long Social Security program as a “Ponzi Scheme”
House Republicans are ceasing in-person town halls at the behest of DC leadership in response to federal layoffs complaints
Bernie Sanders calls out the Dinner with Schmucks “Play Dead” strategy of Democrats since the 1990s on Meet the Press
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich outlines why the Democratic Party’s “move to the center” since 1968 has not panned out well at all electorally
A new report shows Medicaid cuts would disproportionately hit children, mothers, and rural recipients. Specifically, roughly a quarter of rural residents under 65 rely on Medicaid. These are programs which disproportionally help red areas that voted for Trump
Pete Hegseth shuts down offensive cybersecurity operations against Russia
Trump is considering sanctions relief for confiscated Russian oligarchic wealth and property while pausing all military aid to Ukraine. Whose side is he on again?
The DOGE crew has now fired the tech team that built the free tax-filing site for the federal government
HUD wants to privatize the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage services
Scott Bessent wants the US Postal Service to run the Census count for 2030
Just as a reminder, there are currently 13 billionaires in Trump’s Cabinet
Trump’s New Economic Plan: “Blame Biden.” Way to lower the price of groceries, Don!
Joe Biden had accomplished a lot as President. Among them: redirecting the Democratic Party further away from the corporate special interests which dominated the party of Clinton and led Democrats to lose the working class in dramatic fashion to Donald Trump.
What Biden was doing was on-point—at least to a considerable extent. There were obviously areas for improvement in specific areas. But overall, he tried very hard to change the direction of the Party. And he listened to people like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who offered a number of able congressional partners to help pass Biden’s agenda through Capitol Hill.
Biden’s policy moves were for the better. It was the lack of messaging that became the issue.
Americans agree with the Democratic Party on policies, especially economics. The party brand itself however was, and still is, problematic with voters.
I can see why. We are a bicoastal party, more intrigued many times in courting Silicon Valley and Wall Street than bringing our people on-the-ground into the Heartland. Such decisionmaking gives voters the impression that Democrats are the party of the elites. That is not where the base of the party is, and many of these disillusioned Democrats are right to say they deserve better.
But I think there is more to the messaging. Republicans authentically stick to a script and stay on point over and over again regardless of public opinion. They mainstream sayings like “waste, fraud, and abuse,” or “the government is the problem” as effective marketers and salesmen, which do click with voters. They talk about “draining the swamp” and “reigning in Big Government” and “being tough-on-crime” and “tough-on-immigration.” Even railing on “DEI” and “woke.” They hit on people’s feelings about being “ripped off,” and knowing their “pain,” and their needing of a “voice.”
Democrats? They offer the impression of professors lecturing voters with statistics and data. Giving stats and other information is not bad in itself, but it is not enough for emotion-filled politics. Furthermore, our dependency on such defenses often gives the perception Democrats arrogantly look down on and condescend to the working class (when, these voters feel, the Democratic Party can’t be bothered to talk to the working-class at all).
In all, voters think that we are forcing people to think the way we do when the story is much more complicated.
Ironically, it was this same issue that plagued George H. W. Bush in which Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, of all people (he did grow up poor in Hope, Arkansas), was able to relate to the economic pain of people during the mild 1990s national recession. He won because of that relatability. Even as his presidential agenda only doubled down on conservative economic policy doctrine.
Democrats need to be better messengers and sellers of their brand. They do not need to turn the clock back towards the priorities of the corporate and donor classes. Trump was a rejection of the neoliberal order/status quo. He was a rejection of the “you’re on your own” politics of economic corporate conservatism. He was a rejection of both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton alike, whether it be on NAFTA and free trade or a whole host of other related issues.
Those policies are, and have to be, a distant relic of the past.
On the other hand, the message can be a lot better. It’s simple. “Fairness” can be the very word that defines the Democratic Party from the days of FDR to LBJ, to the recent times of the Biden Presidency.
Democrats stand for things like a “Fair Shot” for the working class. For a “Working Families Agenda.” For the “Dignity of Work” and “Real Competition.” They stand for “Fair Trade,” for a “Living Wage”, for “Healthcare, & Education, & Housing, & Food as Human Rights.” Beyond these mere slogans, Democrats have done this recently in their policies from Build Back Better (wait for the Biden Nostalgia folks; it may be coming sooner than you think).
“Fairness, Justice, Equality, & Opportunity” is a part of the party’s DNA. So is “Freedom.” Short, Simple, and Sweet (the three Ss).
Finally, consider this: Democrats’ messaging problem is part of a cultural relatability problem. Democrats won college graduates and affluent, well-educated voters. But they lost the sensibilities of the working class electorate, and thus the working class itself.
Maybe the working class is not anti-LGBTQ, or anti-minority, or anti-immigrant. But maybe it is also true they are not keen on the feeling of being taken for granted over these groups. They do not want to feel that Democrats somehow do more for people in these minority communities than they do for the industrial factory worker and small businessman, the rural farmer and logger, or the fisherman, the police officer, and the firefighter.
For Democrats, the truth is the party represents everyone, because everyone is impacted by the economic issues that plague our country. And the party represents—or should represent—us with popular policies that we have every reason to stand for. Because everyone has skin in the game.
Everyone has the right to a foundation off of which to create their own American Dream. Everyone has the right to the bare minimum they need to improve their lives, build small businesses, and create wealth and power for their communities.
Especially with a policy agenda emulated off of Biden’s Build Back Better Agenda, and the larger policy vision of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren (I’ve offered some templates here too), Democrats can show how their government policies can impact everyone for the better.
Contrary to Reagan’s old saying, government is not the problem. The type of government that Reagan and Clinton created is the problem.
And not to mention how the War on Crime & Drugs was a failure in stopping crime and drugs compared to our proposed reforms. Just another example of the place we are in thanks to this problem 45 years in the making.
To summarize the messaging challenge in one very short paragraph: Republican autocrats stand for the oligarchic class. Democrats stand for the working class. Democrats need to make it clearer who they stand for. And, when they do, the Republican betrayals will speak for themselves.
Another excellent post, Mike!