The Two Words That Should Guide Anyone Who Wants to Beat Trump and MAGA

Plus more thoughts on Iran, Israel and possible U.S. intervention

It is important to understand how badly off base most of the discussion within the Democratic Party about Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party is.

(Note: In the members only part of this post, down beneath the paywall, there’s another analysis concerning Iran and the US and the current situation. So, if that’s of interest to you and you’re a member…keep scrolling…)

First, let’s begin with the absolutely undeniable fact that Donald Trump is not only a menace but he and his administration are by far the greatest threat the U.S. faces, doing more damage than all our enemies could do, and that it will take generations to undo that damage…if indeed, it is possible to do it.

Discussing the situation among Democrats is important because this is true. It is not, as some suggest a distraction.

So, Buckle Up…

Some very well-intentioned Americans who want to defeat Trump and MAGA and restore democracy in this country are very vocal that Dems should not criticize one another. They are especially sensitive when that criticism is directed at their icons or party leaders.

I have a word of advice for them. Get over it.

Yes, it is important to knit together as many votes as possible to defeat Republicans at every level in every election from now until this bunch is out. But that means being brutally honest with ourselves now. Where have we made mistakes? Who has made those mistakes and why? Where have we been successful? What issues will drive elections at every level? What do we do when they try to take away our fundamental rights?

We may even have to decide sooner than we want to what we do when working inside the system won’t achieve our goals and we need to start coloring outside the lines, being more bold, being more daring, Having a greater sense of urgency.

I was speaking with a smart analyst of how opposition parties work successfully the other day and we were trying to boil the message down to its simplest terms so everyone can understand it and share it and check their actions against it.

It needed to be straightforward. We need to resist the Dem impulse to produce white papers and lengthy manifestos. As I have written here before, former White House Communications Director Don Baer said to me long ago that one of the problems with our party is that we tend to come up with a hundred reasons to do something but never just one.

Complexity doesn’t communicate well. Theory and academic language don’t communicate well. Do you like Timothy Snyder and Ruth Ben Ghiat or do you think everyone needs to read Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States?” Great. You should. Reading them produces great benefits. But quoting them as if you were trying to make points in a college debating society won’t help with the work we have to do. Nor will using terms like “stochastic terrorism” or holding your finger to your temple like the Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz” and expounding about the Dunning-Kruger effect.

We also need to know when the old ideas and slogans we promoted proudly have past their sell-by date. Same with the the old grey heads that sold those ideas. That doesn’t mean to throw out the babies (or grandpas and grandmas) with the bathwater. We need to be selective. There are elements of New Deal thinking that are right and would energize crowds of every age cohort today. There are Biden Era notions (I see you “Build Back Better” that have served their purpose and ought not to be revived.)

How do we sort through them?

Well, of course, we could just turn to me and I will tell you. But that seems an unlikely path for the party and the country. Although I’m available if you need me.

No, we need to find a core precept or two or, if you’d rather, our own sorting hat that’ll help us know what to focus on and what to discard (and who to focus on and who to move to a supporting role).

As I observed in my conversation about how to effectively be the opposition and then to win back power…as I have in other recent conversations about how to successful organize the resistance…in the end I come down to a two-word phrase that is as useful a tool for figuring out what should come next as I can think of.

What works?