Posted on 08/24/2017 2:04:39 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Democratic National Committee could be leading the resistance against Trump, but it can't get out of its own way.
In theory, the Democrats should be in a great position. Donald Trump has a 35 percent approval rating. The president's disdain for his Republican in the House and the Senate is making it difficult for him to pass major legislation and causing a rift within the GOP. There are more Democratic candidates preparing to run for House seats than any time in recent memory. And though Democrats have lost some high-profile special elections in 2017, they've done well in lesser known races.
But the Democratic National Committee, the body supposed to be in charge of the party, has been struggling ever since Tom Perez took the chairmanship in a contentious election against Keith Ellison. In those six months, the DNC has had some of its worst fundraising months, and in the words of the Washington Post, it's "hemorrhaging money." While the Republican National Committee raised $75.4 million in the first half of 2017, the DNC has raked in a measly $38.2 million.
There's much debate about why exactly the DNC is unable to bring in that sweet resistance doughthe ideological rift between the Bernie bros and Hillary gals within the party no doubt plays a role, as does the fact that a great deal of fundraising is happening in outside PACs*. But another likely reason the DNC has brought in $12 million less in small-dollar donations than its Republican counterpart in 2017 is because of its bizarre fundraising strategies.
One problem facing millions of Americans right nowa problem highlighted by prominent Democrats like Elizabeth Warrenis being buried under debt. So how does the DNC reach out to them? One method guaranteed not to work is to send out a donation plea disguised as a collection letter:
(TWEET-AT-LINK)
Beyond fundraising, the DNC's way of communicating with voters is off, as evidenced by a recent email they sent out criticizing Trump for his failure "to deliver his signature promise to build a border wall and have Mexico pay for it." How out-of-touch do you have to be to think the primary issue with Trump's border wall is that it's unrealistic, not that it's a ridiculously stupid and deeply bigoted idea?
(TWEET-AT-LINK)
Not all Democrats have these problems. During the primaries, Bernie Sanders ran an immensely successful small-dollar fundraising campaign, receiving nearly 7 million donations that averaged $27 each. In a recent essay for Politico, Michael Whitney, who served as Sanders's digital fundraising manager, explained what made Sanders's strategy so effective: "What we found to be most powerful wasn't just hiring the right people or using the right technology. What mattered more was figuring out an empowering message of hope and reaching people with it."
Filling the mailboxes of your potential donors with a fake bill from a collection agency is not "an empowering message of hope." Neither is deriding Trump for not building his racist wall. While we're at it, it doesn't help the DNC's image when stories are written about how the party won't impose "litmus tests" for anti-abortion candidates, or when victorious Democratic campaigns give more credit to grassroots groups than the national committees.
Moving forward, the DNC would likely benefit from taking a note from Sanders's book and present the Democratic base with a clear message it can get behind, and a minimal contribution. As he demonstrated in the primaries, lots of small donations add up. It's the "clear message" the Democrats are struggling with. Simply being anti-Trump is not enough. If the Democrats want to at least match the GOP's fundraising power, they have to stand for something. That's the hard part.
One problem facing millions of Americans right nowa problem highlighted by prominent Democrats like Elizabeth Warrenis being buried under debt. So how does the DNC reach out to them? One method guaranteed not to work is to send out a donation plea disguised as a collection letter:
As stupid as the GOPe is, the DNC still wins the award for weapons grade stupid.
Give the GOPe time. They can be just as stupid.
People know what the Democrats stand for
The belief that all whites are racist.
The belief that a person’s sexual orientation is more important than anything else.
The belief if you have worked hard, saved your money, owned property, you did it by stealing from the poor and it is their job to tax you until everyone is at the same level of poverty.
The belief that the answer to any problem is higher taxes and more regulations.
The belief that abortions should not only be allowed in some case mandatory.
The belief that in any dispute, the government is always correct.
The belief that no matter what their position was yesterday, if they change their minds today, you are wrong for opposing their new view and defending the old view.
The belief that open borders is good.
The belief that everyone has the right of free speech, except those that disagree with them, in which case it is okay to use violence to shut them up.
The belief they can spend their way out of debt.
So what they are saying, they need to go back to lying about their beliefs so the mushy middle will vote for them again.
The problem might be in the way the Democrats are framing the question. Trump’s alleged 35% ‘approval rating’, while suggestive, may just be an artifact of the relentless pounding he takes in the Media on a daily basis. We have seen presidential numbers worse than that and somehow those presidents got re-elected. So maybe the numbers don’t mean what everybody thinks they mean.
Secondly, there always was a problem implicit in a Trump Presidency — that the Republican congress might just disregard his agenda and follow their own priorities. That’s not a knock on Trump, but more a reflection of the divide between the professional political class and the populist.
Please please DNC be a big part of “The Resistance”! Anything or anyone that identifies with the “Resistance or it identifies with them will get steam rolled in the next elections.
“We have seen presidential numbers worse than that and somehow those presidents got re-elected. So maybe the numbers dont mean what everybody thinks they mean.
Secondly, there always was a problem implicit in a Trump Presidency that the Republican congress might just disregard his agenda and follow their own priorities. Thats not a knock on Trump, but more a reflection of the divide between the professional political class and the populist.”
Well reasoned and concisely stated.
Divine providence?
One big problem that the Dems face, is that their base has deeper factional issues than the Repubs do. Hispanics and blacks fight each other. The non-Whites don’t like the white leftists. Many are secretly repulsed by the gays.
The only thing keeping the peace is the prospect of grant money, and Trump is shutting off the federal funding sources, bit by bit.
Isn’t Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at eight percent?
Don’t worry Dhimmicrats. The GOP will seek to help you destroy America!
Oh, the wicked web they’ve weaved, because they’ve practiced to deceive.
After the latest negative ad against Kelli Ward it might be but the latest we have from Kentucky it is 18%.
At least when the Dems are in power they don’t legislate according to the GOP platform.
The GOP is already worse than the DNC. The ‘uniparty’ term all too often fits.
Ditch McConnell
How out of touch do you have to be to think the opposite?
Charming how liberals can't keep profanity out of a headline. 'Profanity is the effort of a feeble brain to express itself forcibly.' - Spencer W. Kimball.
You do what you do best, I guess.
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