Five Things Democrats Should Be Saying Right Now
Don’t let republicans control the narrative.
Democrats are missing significant opportunities to connect with voters in this all-important election year. If you scan the news and websites of Democratic leaders like Hakeem Jeffries, you find that Democrats typically address issues like abortion rights, prescription drug prices, student loans, and foreign policy.
Speaking to those topics is necessary, to be sure. However, there are other impactful and crucial messages Democrats need to get across in this key period of the nation’s history.
1. Elections are safe. Period.
First, courts threw out any claims of fraud in 2020 and 2021. Then Trump’s own consultant found that the election was not stolen and there was no evidence of significant fraud. In addition, elections have been made even safer since 2000 by Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike. For example, Pennsylvania recently instituted an Elections Threat Task Force. Arizona has issued additional guidance on preventing voter issues. Numerous other states have followed.
Losers like Kari Lake in Arizona are now criticizing voting in advance of elections. This is only to give them a false excuse for elections they might lose, and to prepare the populous for election challenges.
2. Global heating is destroying the country bit by bit. Only Democrats will do something about it.
Climate doesn’t just impact Democrats, it impacts all of us. Last year there were a record 28 weather events that cost our country over $92 billion. These events were in every corner of our country, from the cataclysmic firestorm in Hawaii to massive flooding in Florida to the destructive July storms in the Midwest, South, and Northeast. As a result, we are all paying for this, not only through the direct cost of recovery but because our insurance rates are skyrocketing.
Only Democrats will do anything about it. Republicans have gone in the wrong direction and have introduced measures in the House to kill climate legislation even before it reaches the floor; they want every drop of fossil fuels extracted from the earth and burned for profit. In the meantime, Democrats passed the IRA, the most comprehensive climate bill in history. They will do more with a Democratic House and Senate. We need investments in climate action. The cost of doing nothing is much greater than the cost of letting the earth burn.
3. The only reason Trump is constantly on trial is because he commits so many crimes.
Republicans complain that Democrats are targeting Trump. Nothing could be further from the truth. The people that are deciding his fate are juries of Trump’s peers. Jurors are questioned extensively before being empaneled, to ferret out prejudices or biases they might have. Trump is not a victim. In fact, he has victimized others with his crimes.
4. Any violence after the 2024 elections will be addressed with requisite force.
In 2021, the president stood aside while a violent mob supporting him assaulted officers, defaced the Capitol, chanted “Hang Mike Pence” and stole from the offices of congresspeople. Rioters were allowed to leave the site of their crimes of their own free will, and were only apprehended after the fact. No such takeover or violence will be permitted and perpetrators will be arrested on the spot.
5. Republicans are weak on crime.
Trump and other Republicans are calling the January 6 rioters “hostages” and have repeatedly promised to pardon them. Do you want these criminals released? They have been convicted or pleaded guilty to serious crimes like assaulting officers, destruction of government property, theft, impeding congressional proceedings, seditious conspiracy, civil disorder, entering the Capitol with dangerous weapons, and violent entry. By the way, crime is down significantly under Biden.
Honorable mentions for messaging
— Trump is a failure at everything he does. Remember Trump steaks? Trump University? Failing to build a wall or get Mexico to pay for it?
— Republicans failed to pass immigration reform. They would not even allow a bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill to be voted on in the House even though it would have passed.
— The economy is on a roll under Biden. Unemployment is down, GDP is up, wage growth has outpaced inflation, gas prices are back down again, and the stock market has reached the highest level in history under Biden.
— We need to look into whether Russia is engaging in election interference right now.
— People who worked directly with Trump believe he is incompetent. People like Mark Milley, Trump’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Elaine Chao, his Secretary of Transportation, Rex Tillerson, his Secretary of State, Betsy DeVos, his Secretary of Education — and many more — have documented Trump’s incompetence and poor character. They all have vowed not to vote for him.
