The best thing I did this cycle was listen to focus groups of swing voters, especially people who voted for Trump then Biden. In 2024, normal people don't like ANY politicians. They think politicians are all liars, speaking in fancy speech but saying nothing. The absolute worst insult they can make is that tha…
The best thing I did this cycle was listen to focus groups of swing voters, especially people who voted for Trump then Biden. In 2024, normal people don't like ANY politicians. They think politicians are all liars, speaking in fancy speech but saying nothing. The absolute worst insult they can make is that that person "sounds like a typical politician." The best compliment is that someone is not a typical politician.
Biden has been a politican for more than 50 years. His approval now is lower than Trump's ever was. For 3 years, Biden has declined to the point that he can't communicate at all. And even when inflation came down and unemployment stayed low, he couldn't speak coherently about what was good about the economy and what still needed to be done, and the actual prices that were high. Harris's "opportunity economy" didn't address this well enough.
On immigration, Democrats have been terrified to say anything at all for years. They speak only about Dreamers, the magical less than 1% of immigrants who were 2 years old when their parents crossed the border and who are perfect in every way. Neglecting the very real harmful situation we saw in 2021-2023 in Texas and across the country. Silence, occasionally interspersed with politician speak.
In lieu of any meaningful communication, the baseline argument was easy to make:
1. Biden's economy sucks
2. Biden failed on the border
The trans stuff is nasty, and I don't know if it is effective at all.
Communication is leadership.
The best thing I did this cycle was listen to focus groups of swing voters, especially people who voted for Trump then Biden. In 2024, normal people don't like ANY politicians. They think politicians are all liars, speaking in fancy speech but saying nothing. The absolute worst insult they can make is that that person "sounds like a typical politician." The best compliment is that someone is not a typical politician.
Biden has been a politican for more than 50 years. His approval now is lower than Trump's ever was. For 3 years, Biden has declined to the point that he can't communicate at all. And even when inflation came down and unemployment stayed low, he couldn't speak coherently about what was good about the economy and what still needed to be done, and the actual prices that were high. Harris's "opportunity economy" didn't address this well enough.
On immigration, Democrats have been terrified to say anything at all for years. They speak only about Dreamers, the magical less than 1% of immigrants who were 2 years old when their parents crossed the border and who are perfect in every way. Neglecting the very real harmful situation we saw in 2021-2023 in Texas and across the country. Silence, occasionally interspersed with politician speak.
In lieu of any meaningful communication, the baseline argument was easy to make:
1. Biden's economy sucks
2. Biden failed on the border
The trans stuff is nasty, and I don't know if it is effective at all.