Donate for media that supports Democrats with any gusto at all?
May 18, 2020 10:11 AM Subscribe
I'd like to give money to organizations that create media that assertively encourages people to elect Democrats (or to vote against Republicans). Are there any viable ones?
I think I may have to go through all five Kübler-Ross stages over the Biden campaign's apparent choice to effectively resume the disastrously pusillanimous "when they go low, we go high" strategy in the face of a formidable Trumpian fight-or-die media assault.
With this method the question for me is not whether Trump wins the election but by how much, as his campaign dismantles Biden's public persona piece by piece and assuages any residue of conscience that would check a lustful GOP vote---yes, even in the face of x00,000 dead. For Pete's sake, are there any organizations who are willing to bring a bit more energy and media savvy to the fight? Are they likely to have any effect? Do they accept cash donations?
I think I may have to go through all five Kübler-Ross stages over the Biden campaign's apparent choice to effectively resume the disastrously pusillanimous "when they go low, we go high" strategy in the face of a formidable Trumpian fight-or-die media assault.
With this method the question for me is not whether Trump wins the election but by how much, as his campaign dismantles Biden's public persona piece by piece and assuages any residue of conscience that would check a lustful GOP vote---yes, even in the face of x00,000 dead. For Pete's sake, are there any organizations who are willing to bring a bit more energy and media savvy to the fight? Are they likely to have any effect? Do they accept cash donations?
Vote against all Republicans, or just the Trumpian kind?
As a small-p pragmatic small-l libertarian, I don't find myself having a problem getting along with people in the middle who are willing to negotiate. I think I would find the Lincoln Project backers to be interesting people who may finally understand, better than a lot of Democrats, how much damage is done to their party when crazy grabs control.
I think that the Lincoln Project Republicans attacking Trump do so from a better position than the Democrats, and if you go through their ads, they come across as non-crazies with a clear message.
However, it isn't clear to me that they will be able to damage the Trumpians. This whole Tea Party thing has been brewing for awhile. It feels like it is a result of voters who were not particularly Republican but who were in favor of the whole Reagan small government thing, and who were eventually shocked and angered by the election of President Obama. If there is really a lot of racism and anger out there among these voters, they may not find themselves shamed by the messaging the Lincoln Project is sending. If that's the case, that's a problem.
posted by jgreco at 1:38 PM on May 18, 2020
As a small-p pragmatic small-l libertarian, I don't find myself having a problem getting along with people in the middle who are willing to negotiate. I think I would find the Lincoln Project backers to be interesting people who may finally understand, better than a lot of Democrats, how much damage is done to their party when crazy grabs control.
I think that the Lincoln Project Republicans attacking Trump do so from a better position than the Democrats, and if you go through their ads, they come across as non-crazies with a clear message.
However, it isn't clear to me that they will be able to damage the Trumpians. This whole Tea Party thing has been brewing for awhile. It feels like it is a result of voters who were not particularly Republican but who were in favor of the whole Reagan small government thing, and who were eventually shocked and angered by the election of President Obama. If there is really a lot of racism and anger out there among these voters, they may not find themselves shamed by the messaging the Lincoln Project is sending. If that's the case, that's a problem.
posted by jgreco at 1:38 PM on May 18, 2020
Response by poster: I'll take what I can get, as many as I can get. It's with a bit of despair that the Lincoln Project is the only bet so far. Can Democrats really be so obtuse as to think this is a genteel fight. (Again.)
The tea party will have to have been written off long ago, and rightly so. I think the game that Trump is stalking now and that Democrats are conceding is the "comfortable" voter, the one who hasn't had the other shoe fully drop quite yet. It is still a big quarry despite the modern GOP's diligent efforts to undermine the earth beneath their feet. (Partly because of those efforts, in fact.) For any one of them, if the floor collapses in the next few months, they will tumble into a poisoned bosom of operationalized grievance; if it holds out till November, they'll hear---over and over and over and over again---that their tenuous safety is slowly corroding thanks to an indistinct, menacing vapor from the left.
Is there no defender? No advocate? Just anodyne musings about "standing together" and prolix admonitory tweets that link to paywalled Krugman op-eds? How on earth can this accomplish anything at all?
Thanks for the thoughts, in any case...
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 2:52 PM on May 18, 2020
The tea party will have to have been written off long ago, and rightly so. I think the game that Trump is stalking now and that Democrats are conceding is the "comfortable" voter, the one who hasn't had the other shoe fully drop quite yet. It is still a big quarry despite the modern GOP's diligent efforts to undermine the earth beneath their feet. (Partly because of those efforts, in fact.) For any one of them, if the floor collapses in the next few months, they will tumble into a poisoned bosom of operationalized grievance; if it holds out till November, they'll hear---over and over and over and over again---that their tenuous safety is slowly corroding thanks to an indistinct, menacing vapor from the left.
Is there no defender? No advocate? Just anodyne musings about "standing together" and prolix admonitory tweets that link to paywalled Krugman op-eds? How on earth can this accomplish anything at all?
Thanks for the thoughts, in any case...
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 2:52 PM on May 18, 2020
I agree with jgreco that there is a lot of racism and animosity and resentment out there that is entrenched. No amount of messaging from outside the tent or inside the tent will dislodge a large chunk of that population. With that said, Donald Trump got 46.09% of the vote. A messaging campaign doesn't have to quarter or halve his support to cause him to loose...he only needs to loose <1>
These ads aren't going to reach the people who use the words "DEMONcrats" or "Democraps" in Facebook comments. They are going to reach the people who now have buyer's remorse. As well as the people who usually voted D or R but stayed home or voted 3rd party in 2016. Likewise, it will motivate all the people who helped turn the House blue in 2018 and statehouses in 2019. It helps the people who thought of themselves as polite Republicans see that being anti-Trump is an acceptable thing to be and still call yourself a Republican.
posted by mmascolino at 8:30 PM on May 19, 2020
These ads aren't going to reach the people who use the words "DEMONcrats" or "Democraps" in Facebook comments. They are going to reach the people who now have buyer's remorse. As well as the people who usually voted D or R but stayed home or voted 3rd party in 2016. Likewise, it will motivate all the people who helped turn the House blue in 2018 and statehouses in 2019. It helps the people who thought of themselves as polite Republicans see that being anti-Trump is an acceptable thing to be and still call yourself a Republican.
posted by mmascolino at 8:30 PM on May 19, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by mmascolino at 12:50 PM on May 18, 2020