Hasan better pack it up now; the Rogan of the Center-Left™ has arrived! I think you're spot on here about what this project will likely achieve, i.e., just another echo chamber for Democrats to continue to delude themselves while drifting farther away from working class issues.
I would absolutely love to see Adolph Reed Jr. (or Touré Reed) on an episode of Doomscroll. I think a discussion about his experience with the failure of creating an American Labor Party could dovetail nicely with Briahna Joy Gray's ideas about building the Green Party. Anyway, love the work you're doing!
“Rather than adjusting their dysfunctional and unpopular policies, Democrats have chosen to broadcast their ideas more loudly than ever.”
The Democratic Party will always be trapped in an oubliette of their own design because the policies they claim to want, purely for the sake of branding, are in direct conflict with the demands of their donors and capitalist allies. Republicans have no such problem because they want the same policies as their patrons and they know how to indulge the collective Id of their voters (who demand nothing material but the humiliation of liberals). The Democrats’ eyes are locked on yesterday’s game. They thought they could have it all: the money, the prestige, the endless cocktail party, and the cultural cachet of progressivism. Now, everyone can plainly see that they believe in nothing. You can’t reform an anachronism, you have to replace it.
Great read. Very clarifying. I think this essay really captures how the Democratic party is constantly behind-the-ball in terms of its messaging. They seem to favor a CYA strategy at all costs: campaigns designed so as to be defensible in retrospect – never proactive or ambitious. I imagine it boils down to something like this: read studies of media that defined last election cycle, change media strategy in light of said studies, deploy new strategy in a media environment that has significantly changed since said studies were conducted, lose again, read new studies and repeat.
At the same time, and more importantly, the party doesn't want to accept that its policies are not addressing those bread and butter issues, probably because they're constantly compromising between private interests (i.e. campaign donors) and public ones (i.e. voters). However, I do wonder if there is a double standard at play in terms of how we analyze the Republican strategy against the democrats?
Republicans seem to be flying by the seat of their pants, failing upwards via Bannon's "flood the zone" strategy, which results in lots of mixed messaging in addition to a lot of attention. But even a more consistent campaign message like "Make America Great Again" means a lot of things to a lot of different people. So in terms of messaging, the Republican party isn't exactly an inspiration. At the same time, their policies, especially those outlined in project 2025, are incredibly unpopular.
So when we say policies are important, and that messaging about said policies is important, I wonder what real world examples we're talking about? Perhaps there is a more generous way of characterizing the Trump campaign's messaging and its policies. Maybe there are lessons to be learned there beyond "attention = good". But I wonder what a more concrete strategy looks like that takes both policy and messaging into account. In the meantime, I am worried that a working class that feels abandoned by Trump administration policy will once again retreat to slightly improved democratic messaging strategies that merely signal the same milquetoast policies...
Nicely put, I just never understood the influencer long game. Like AOC or someone feels like they have to talk about makeup to be relatable and because she's into it and she's on camera so god damn much anyway. Fine. Maybe she barely talks about makeup at all, but that obviously becomes the most boosted content of hers because she's kind of hot. She has to know this. And maybe it helps her popularity a bit but it's also very easy for a hypothetical hotter, more relatable Republican to do the same thing better. This type of sideshow only works if you're the most provocative and Republicans have shown a far greater willingness to do that. So the only way to beat them is with commitment to good policy or by being more racist than them.
Liberals: We will offer you nothing
Conservatives: We will offer you nothing but we hate trans people & you can say the word retarded
2026 midterms and 2028 election looking bleak
Hasan better pack it up now; the Rogan of the Center-Left™ has arrived! I think you're spot on here about what this project will likely achieve, i.e., just another echo chamber for Democrats to continue to delude themselves while drifting farther away from working class issues.
I would absolutely love to see Adolph Reed Jr. (or Touré Reed) on an episode of Doomscroll. I think a discussion about his experience with the failure of creating an American Labor Party could dovetail nicely with Briahna Joy Gray's ideas about building the Green Party. Anyway, love the work you're doing!
“Rather than adjusting their dysfunctional and unpopular policies, Democrats have chosen to broadcast their ideas more loudly than ever.”
The Democratic Party will always be trapped in an oubliette of their own design because the policies they claim to want, purely for the sake of branding, are in direct conflict with the demands of their donors and capitalist allies. Republicans have no such problem because they want the same policies as their patrons and they know how to indulge the collective Id of their voters (who demand nothing material but the humiliation of liberals). The Democrats’ eyes are locked on yesterday’s game. They thought they could have it all: the money, the prestige, the endless cocktail party, and the cultural cachet of progressivism. Now, everyone can plainly see that they believe in nothing. You can’t reform an anachronism, you have to replace it.
Great read. Very clarifying. I think this essay really captures how the Democratic party is constantly behind-the-ball in terms of its messaging. They seem to favor a CYA strategy at all costs: campaigns designed so as to be defensible in retrospect – never proactive or ambitious. I imagine it boils down to something like this: read studies of media that defined last election cycle, change media strategy in light of said studies, deploy new strategy in a media environment that has significantly changed since said studies were conducted, lose again, read new studies and repeat.
At the same time, and more importantly, the party doesn't want to accept that its policies are not addressing those bread and butter issues, probably because they're constantly compromising between private interests (i.e. campaign donors) and public ones (i.e. voters). However, I do wonder if there is a double standard at play in terms of how we analyze the Republican strategy against the democrats?
Republicans seem to be flying by the seat of their pants, failing upwards via Bannon's "flood the zone" strategy, which results in lots of mixed messaging in addition to a lot of attention. But even a more consistent campaign message like "Make America Great Again" means a lot of things to a lot of different people. So in terms of messaging, the Republican party isn't exactly an inspiration. At the same time, their policies, especially those outlined in project 2025, are incredibly unpopular.
So when we say policies are important, and that messaging about said policies is important, I wonder what real world examples we're talking about? Perhaps there is a more generous way of characterizing the Trump campaign's messaging and its policies. Maybe there are lessons to be learned there beyond "attention = good". But I wonder what a more concrete strategy looks like that takes both policy and messaging into account. In the meantime, I am worried that a working class that feels abandoned by Trump administration policy will once again retreat to slightly improved democratic messaging strategies that merely signal the same milquetoast policies...
Anyway, that's enough from me.
Hope to see an interview with Adolph Reed soon!
Yeah, this feels eerily correct. My only beef is that I'm not looking forward to watching this disaster play out
Nicely put, I just never understood the influencer long game. Like AOC or someone feels like they have to talk about makeup to be relatable and because she's into it and she's on camera so god damn much anyway. Fine. Maybe she barely talks about makeup at all, but that obviously becomes the most boosted content of hers because she's kind of hot. She has to know this. And maybe it helps her popularity a bit but it's also very easy for a hypothetical hotter, more relatable Republican to do the same thing better. This type of sideshow only works if you're the most provocative and Republicans have shown a far greater willingness to do that. So the only way to beat them is with commitment to good policy or by being more racist than them.