Rachel Maddow presented a simple campaign message that presents a clear contrast to Republicans who operate on a different planet than most of the nation.
Maddow said:
Even in the press, these are the adjacent headlines from yesterday’s Washington Post. The Biden administration canceled $1.2 billion in student loans. Right next to Trump and his allies who plan militarized mass deportations to concentration camps. This is the choice. Relief from high student loans or using the military to lock up millions of people in huge new camps. Adjacent headlines from the Washington Post: Both parties, at the same time in the general election campaign, are thinking about what they want to do to present to the American people what their idea of governing is.
And I don’t know which of these two parties the American people are more in the mood for, but it seems pretty clear to me, at least, that the best contrast Democrats can draw for voters this year is perhaps just the simplest one. Normal, popular and practical results of President Biden and the Democrats. Against burning it all, radicalism is shouted at the top of their lungs by Republicans under Donald Trump and you can’t understand what they’re talking about half the time because they talk in their code.
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Video:
Rachel #Maddow “The best contrast Democrats can draw for voters this year is precisely the simplest one. Normal, popular and practical results of President Biden and the Democrats. Against burning everything, radicalism is shouted at the top of their lungs by the Republicans/” pic.twitter.com/J1QP6CQU1w
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) February 27, 2024
The reason Republicans are at a disadvantage in the 2024 general election is that they have no real campaign message. They have messages that work great on their older voters that involve fear. By the way, scaring older Republican voters is the whole point of Trump’s party constantly insisting and touting a “border crisis.” It’s a crisis so urgent that Republicans are unwilling to do anything until after the election.
If you’re a voter who doesn’t consume hours of Fox News every day and hangs on to every word Trump publishes on Truth Social, there’s a good chance that a lot of what Republicans and Trump talk about doesn’t make sense.
Democrats have a much simpler message: They support democracy, women’s freedom to make their own health care decisions, they support couples undergoing IVF, and they have done many things to make lives better.
Simple messages work best with large groups of voters, and Democrats have a message that, if delivered correctly and often, could lead to victory in November.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a member of the White House press pool and a congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a bachelor’s degree in political science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and professional memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Political Science Association