WEBVTT - How We Win the Messaging Game 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.520 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Look a f Daily 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:19.640 with Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, Recording from the Home Bunker. Folks, 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:22.079 I want to start off today by saying I'm really 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:27.800 excited about the conversation that i had with Annette shankar Osario. 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:34.280 She is the host of a brilliant podcast talking about 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:39.080 the power of words, talking about the power of messaging. 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:44.320 And if you have listened to my other podcasts, Democracy Ish, 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:49.159 then you may be familiar with a Knot, but Anat 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:52.640 shankar Osario is the host of Words to Win by 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:57.960 and she'll tell us in this jam packed two part episode, 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:02.440 because folks, you know that I talk about messaging all 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.720 the time. I talk about how Democrats are fucking terrible 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:10.600 at messaging. We are headed into the stretch for the 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:14.119 midterm elections and with a handful of weeks to go. 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:18.240 My conversation with a NOD is like, do we have 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:21.280 what it takes to win? Do people understand the gravity 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:24.320 of the situation that we're in. What works? We know 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.640 that fear and lies work with the far right, but 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:32.240 what works to get democrats, progressives and these quote unquote 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:37.600 mythical unicorn independence to the polls right for midterms. She 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:41.760 tells us that we will need historic turnout the way 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:44.280 that we had for Biden. Well, we know that that 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:49.320 ain't going to happen. Just historically speaking, midterm elections usually 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:52.200 do not have the same type of turnout that a 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:56.200 presidential election does. And so if we're hoping for those 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:59.280 numbers in order to win, then have we already lost. 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.760 So this conversation with a Not we went really deep 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:06.400 and into the nitty gritty. So it is broken up 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:09.880 into our first two part episode. So you will hear 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:13.840 a piece of our conversation today and then you will 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:19.040 hear the follow up to that conversation on Tuesday. Folks, 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:25.799 what I want people to recognize is that the political 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:30.840 climate that we're in and how people are feeling has 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:35.520 so much to do with policy as it has to 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:40.639 do with personality and what it has to do with psychology. 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.280 You know, I often talk to you all about the 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:50.280 fact that there are times there were days where I 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:56.120 find myself in tears. Nothing anymore catastrophic will have happened 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:00.320 that will signal this shift and emotion, but it is 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:05.520 just this ever present feeling of overwhelm. I mentioned this 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:10.720 because like me. You all have no doubt spent the 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:16.000 last several days watching the news and seeing the catastrophic 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:22.600 devastation that has happened in Florida because of Hurricane Ian. Well, 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:25.960 I want to share with you one of the stories 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:31.240 that I don't think gets enough attention. You see, what 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:37.640 the networks do, dear friends, is that they will go 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:41.720 and do the same storm coverage, look at the devastation. 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:46.040 They'll talk to somebody, usually a white person, not usually 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:49.440 ninety percent of the time, a white person that has 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:53.120 lost everything, and you know, they're thanking God and we 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:56.680 could have been worse. And meanwhile, you know they've lost 0:03:56.720 --> 0:04:00.680 their homes, they've lost you know, their livelihoods. Look, I'll 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:04.840 be honest that a lot of the places in Florida 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:08.280 are you know, you're showing us coral gables. Well, those 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:12.280 are multimillion dollar homes, and those are not people's first 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:15.200 homes right in a lot of ways. But there are 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:18.880 a lot of folks in Florida who live in mobile homes, 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:23.279 who are the actual working class. And you know, can't 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:26.479 just chalk up their loss to you know, somebody's tax 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:30.880 right off, right, But I then look at the coverage 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:34.599 and again, we only empathize and are trained to empathize 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:38.960 with white people and white grief. And I think to 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:44.400 myself about the people of Puerto Rico, the island being 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:51.400 devastated by a hurricane as well loss of power, you know, infrastructure. Again, 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:53.280 we look at Puerto Rico and we're like, oh, well, 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:55.440 that's a nice island. Do you know it's part of 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:59.240 the United States? And why they don't have fucking infrastructure 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:03.479 that allows them to be able to deal with the 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:07.800 impacts and the increasing impacts of these hurricanes and are 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:11.760 treated as second class citizens in more ways than one. 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:16.120 Why weren't they given wald to wall coverage. Why didn't 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.680 we look at their suffering and their grief in the 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:23.360 same way that we once again are treating Florida, will 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:28.719 treat South Carolina and other places. I just don't understand 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:32.640 why we can't have shared empathy for everyone, and why 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:35.880 white people are the only people that the media wants 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:38.880 to empathize with. Look, and guys, I'm asking this question. 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:41.520 I know the answer. I know who's in the newsrooms, 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:44.040 I know who's in the c suites, Right, I know 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:46.840 the answer to these questions. But if we don't ask them, 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:51.200 then we allow this just to continue to be normalized, 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:53.880 and it shouldn't be. Why did we have Walde Wall 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:57.200 coverage of the colonizer that died in the UK at 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.760 the same time when brown people in Puerto Rico are 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:05.440 desperate and like hanging on for dear life. Why was 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:08.719 it okay that Donald Trump went there during Hurricane Maria 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:13.560 and throughout fucking paper towels and that was acceptable and 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:15.680 the media covered it as if it was a joke 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:20.919 as opposed to it being fucking cruel. Words matter, And 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.159 that's why we have this supersized two part episode with 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:29.080 the Natschenko Osadio because I want us to understand that 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:32.880 it isn't about just getting into the psychology again like 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:35.560 the media loves to do with regard to white supremacy, 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.800 and we need to understand white grievance. No, I actually 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:41.400 don't give a fuck, but I do want to understand 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:45.280 why these same people, what gets them to the poles 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:47.520 and what doesn't, What has them wake up to the 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:51.320 fact that climate change is a real thing, right is it? 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:54.720 When the water is up to their necks? You know, 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:57.200 I don't know, but what I will say and what 0:06:57.279 --> 0:06:59.640 I want to share with regard to the hurricanes. Is 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:05.440 this pulled up This article in Axios says Hurricane end's 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.800 climate warning, and this is what it says. And I 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:13.680 want to read to you a piece of this, because again, 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:17.120 the news is not covering this. What they are covering 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.880 is the damage. What they are covering is how people 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:22.640 are going to pick up their lives and then they 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:25.160 will move on to the next story by the middle 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:30.800 of this week. But what we're not talking about is 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:35.920 why these storms are intensifying and how this storm jumped 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:39.600 from you know, a category three to a category five. 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:44.800 What we have all learned right in school in earth science. 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:48.040 Who the fuck knows what they teach now is that 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:52.840 when hurricanes hit land, or they hit certain areas, they 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:59.520 lose strength. We're accustomed to hurricanes hitting certain areas losing 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:03.600 strength than turning into tropical storms and then dissipating. This 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:07.040 is not what's happening, and I will read you this. 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:13.080 Hurricane forecaster's worst nightmare came true on Wednesday morning, when 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:17.560 what had been a category three storm Tuesday night suddenly 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:21.640 jumped to almost to a category five. Why it matters, 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.960 It used to be rare for storms to keep strengthening 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:31.880 until landfall, let alone do so rapidly. Now it is not, 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:36.800 and studies show this is a dangerous sign of climate change. 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:42.439 The big picture, such an intensity leap was made possible 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:49.520 by warm ocean temperatures and abundant atmospheric moisture, both factors 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:55.480 that climate change enhances. During the past several years, there 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:59.760 have been multiple storms that rapidly intensified as they neared 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:05.640 the Gulf Coast and did so through landfall. Previously, tropical 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:08.920 storms and hurricanes tended to weaken as they neared the 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:13.080 northern Gulf Coast, in particular, falling victim to cooler waters 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:17.640 or stronger jet stream winds. But that did not happen 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.520 with Hurricanes Laura or Ida in twenty twenty and in 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:25.720 twenty twenty one, or with Hurricane Michael, which ramped up 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:28.880 all the way up to a Category five storm in 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:33.520 the Florida Panhandle in twenty eighteen. It's not just the 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:36.960 United States that has been suffering the consequences from rapidly 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:42.720 intensifying tropical cyclones. Consider an example from halfway around the world, 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:46.280 which occurred just as Ian was spinning up in the 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:51.440 Caribbean at the same time in the western tropical Pacific Ocean, 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:56.120 a storm named Noru began swirling toward the Philippines. It 0:09:56.160 --> 0:10:00.320 took forecasters by surprise when it suddenly strengthened from a 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:05.319 robust tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of sixty miles 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:10.040 per hour to a category five super typhoon with one 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:13.959 hundred and sixty mile per hour winds folks, in just 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:19.080 twenty four hours. So if you are thinking about this 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:25.000 right and news reports and alerts come on and they 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:28.120 are warning people going to be having a tropical storm, 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.760 it right now has these level winds. This is the 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:38.640 difference between you deciding to evacuate and deciding that you 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:45.360 can weather the storm. But if what is happening is 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:50.160 the intensity is growing and forecaster is because of climate change, 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:54.480 do not have the ability to provide the necessary in 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:58.800 depth level of warning because the storm is changing so rapidly. 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:02.360 What does that mean for people's ability to get to safety? 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:07.160 News flash, they can't get to safety and fucking tie, 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:14.079 so more people are going to die. So the threat level, 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:18.560 according to Axios, the danger of a rapid intensification shortly 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:21.480 before a landfall is that people will be caught off 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.720 guard by the stronger storm and get stuck in a 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:29.440 vulnerable spot for storm surge, flooding, damaging winds, or both. 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:34.960 Emergency management officials designed their evacuation plans based on storm 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:39.960 intensity and movement. Sudden shifts in either one can render 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:44.560 their planning inadequate. A one hundred and fifty five mile 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:48.480 per hour Category four storm, which Hurricane Ian became on 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:52.720 Wednesday morning can push a far higher surge inland and 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.440 bring a catastrophic swath of high winds inland compared to 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.080 the one hundred and twenty mile per hour Category three 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:02.560 storm that Eden was when most Fuloridians went to sleep 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:08.560 Tuesday night. All landfalling storms now contain more dangerous coastal 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:14.439 flooding in their arsenals due to human cause sea level rise, 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:18.880 and they are urging you in this article to read 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:23.240 between the fucking lines. The trend seen in the past 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:27.160 several years, together with studies of how hurricanes are changing 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:30.920 in a warming world, point to a key role for 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:38.320 human caused climate change. We have made the planet unpredictable 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:46.040 and unfucking safe. And right now you have a climate denier, 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:50.760 authoritarian piece of trash in Ronda Santis as the governor 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:55.120 of Florida, who is too busy walking the line between 0:12:55.280 --> 0:13:00.520 Republican dictator to recognize that their ignorance around climate change 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:05.120 is no longer bliss. It is actually fucking catastrophic and 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:08.360 it is up to the media to connect the dots 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:11.600 for the people as to why these things are happening. 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:14.960 This is not an act of God, It is an 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:20.520 act of greed, folks. Coming up next, part one of 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:25.440 my conversation with a Nat Schenker Asorio on how we 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:31.120 win the messaging game. It's no secret that the news 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:34.880 is horsepill hard to swallow. Thankfully, there's The Bituation Room 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:39.480 podcast hosted by comedian and commentator Francesca free Erantini for 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:42.079 a lighter take on the heavy stuff. Each week, the 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:46.040 Bituation Room brings you progressive comedians, experts, and activists to 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:48.040 break down the issues in a way that won't just 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:51.199 leave you crying under a weighted blanket. Get The Bituation 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:55.200 Room on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and streaming on YouTube 0:13:55.280 --> 0:14:02.079 and Twitch. Hey I'm David slates Political gab Fest. As 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:06.280 another election season accelerates, it can be tricky to sort 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:09.120 through all the noise and the news. Each week on 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.079 The gap Fest, John Dickerson, Emily Bathlona and I decipher 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:14.520 the headlines, break down the races, and tell you what 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:19.160 issues really matter. We do not always agree, We definitely 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:22.720 do not always agree, but we always deliver thoughtful debate 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:25.520 and we always have a good time. So subscribe to 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:31.960 Slates Political Gapfest New episodes every Thursday. Folks. I am 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:35.480 very excited to welcome to woke f Daily for the 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:40.840 first time, hopefully not the last time. Fellow podcaster and 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:46.880 message maker An Shanker o Saudio, who hosts the show 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:51.440 Words to win By and Folks, if you also happen 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:55.560 to listen to my other podcasts with my friend washahat Ali, 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:59.880 you might remember our conversation with a Knot because I said, 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:04.880 can you just run everything? Because you make it seem 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:09.520 so easy and you make it sound so clear what 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:13.400 it is Democrats should be doing. But but first, before 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:16.560 we talk about what they should be doing, I actually 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:21.320 want to get your thoughts of Joe Biden's winning summer, 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:26.960 the Biden administrations quote unquote winning summer. And you know 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:33.160 we had passage of you know, major legislation Joe Biden. 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.080 You know there were several things that were past. Some 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.160 you know, have no teeth, but hey, we you know, 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:43.280 we did it. Anyway. We got some debt relief for students, 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:45.600 but I don't know if they'll actually see that because 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:50.240 Republican governors are fighting against that in our suing the 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:54.600 Biden administration to make sure that young people suffer. And 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:59.120 then you had Joe Biden kind of cap off his 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:05.040 winning with this Soul of the Nation speech that he 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:09.920 gave with the backdrop of Philadelphia. And so I want 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:15.120 to get your thoughts on how Democrats how the administration 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:19.560 spoke about these wins, and then we can talk more 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:22.680 in depth about your thoughts on the Soul of the 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:27.040 Nation speech, which again I don't think was given enough 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:31.280 air enough time in media and is worth delving into. 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.200 Yeah for sure. Well, first, thank you for having me. 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:37.920 It's hard to know where even to begin, but I'll 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:42.800 start with the accomplishments. So what I will say is 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:47.000 that it is general life advice, both in relationships and 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:50.520 in politics, that you cannot argue with people's feelings, which 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:55.440 is very frustrating if you are a person who watches 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:59.880 focus groups, which unfortunately for me I am, so I'm 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:02.680 part of a Giant Research collaborative where we do two 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:06.040 to four focus groups a week and have done that 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:10.080 every single week since twenty twenty, which means watching a 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:14.240 whole lot of different kinds of person people, surge voters 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.080 meaning folks who were new to us in eighteen or twenty, 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:21.119 and we obviously we absolutely need returning out and then 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:24.800 swing voters, the definition of which is probably pretty clear 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.639 to most people what we mean by that. So what 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:33.600 we see is that the quote Democrats delivered message A 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:37.520 doesn't take us very far, and it doesn't actually matter 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:40.320 what is true in the world. What matters to people 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:43.480 is their own lived experience. And for the most part, 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:47.480 speaking in broad strokes, people are feeling down and out. 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:53.080 They are feeling despondent, they are feeling strapped, They're very 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:57.080 very concerned financially, they have more month than check. I'm 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:00.959 thinking of all the idiosyncratic ways people describe this to us, 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:02.920 depending who they are and what focus group it is. 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:06.159 And so when you try to sort of argue with 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:09.280 people and say the economy is better than ever and 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:12.240 things are going great, you know their response back is 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:14.600 sort of what planet have you emerged from? And why 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:19.120 are you talking to me. However, what I will say, 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:22.040 and this is really really important, is that when we 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:27.080 talk to our voters both surge and swing about the 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:31.200 litany of accomplishments we pass. This, we passed, that, we 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:35.960 passed this, and really vitally the fact that we held 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:39.480 together and that Trump Republicans and I used that phrase 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:42.720 very deliberately, Trump Republicans, Maga Republicans. I'm happy to say, 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:49.439 why stood in your way at every turn. They wanted 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:54.359 to block what our families need and Democrats brought it. Anyway, 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:58.920 when we talk to our voters about the passage of 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:02.680 the bills in the get what that does more than 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:08.040 any one bill is it gets at this sort of 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:12.600 root idea that voters have that Democrats are do nothing 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:18.320 and so interestingly, it's more the act of you know, 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:22.000 there's a canard, right, nothing succeeds like success, and so 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:25.640 this idea that we can do things, we do do things, 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:28.000 we do pass things, we keep moving the ball down 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:31.560 the field. That is as important a part of the 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:36.280 narrative to convey as any one of these specific policies. 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:39.120 So I want to dig into one of the things 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:43.000 that you just said. I want to ask about how 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:51.359 Maga Republicans. Trump Republicans are playing right that phrasing, because 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:56.840 for me, I will say that making that distinction just 0:19:57.040 --> 0:20:00.440 seems false because I don't know what the group of 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:04.400 Republicans there are but Trump or Maga Republicans. I don't 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:06.959 know what other group of Republicans there are other than 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:10.680 the ones that are cheering the rise of fascism in 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:14.520 Italy and you know, and and and and wanting to 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:19.200 shake hands with authoritarians and dictators like Victor Orbon who's 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:23.159 welcomed into Sepack and putin right. So I want to 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:26.040 ask the question about the distinction and how that is 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:30.320 playing uh in in these groups. And also, my god, 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:35.920 I'm sorry you would send to people all all week long, 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:39.960 all of these different groups, Mike, I hope you meditate, um, 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:44.280 but uh the you know, the the other question is, too, 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:50.840 does it play better to talk about how Republicans are 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:56.720 blocking your ability, blocking Americans ability to make their checks 0:20:57.000 --> 0:21:00.760 go longer than the month too, in fact, act, you know, 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:07.160 be able to keep their head literally above water. Does 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:10.600 it help to have that narrative or is it we 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:16.919 need that narrative about democrats doing and the narrative about 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:21.840 why more can't get done. Yeah, so let me try 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:24.760 to answer. I'll answer the second one first. So, the 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:27.840 overarching narrative that we have found working, and this is 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:31.359 on the basis not just of that aggregated qualitative research 0:21:31.440 --> 0:21:33.600 the focus groups I reference, but this is part of 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:37.520 a giant ad and message testing project in which I've 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:40.400 been engaged, where at this point we've tested over two 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:44.080 hundred digital ads and randomized controlled trials over the summer 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:48.960 to arrive at an overarching storyline. And that overarching storyline 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:51.960 I can encapsulate in three words, it is protect our 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:57.840 freedoms freedoms intentionally plural. And so what that does is 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:02.960 we talk about Democrats as being here to protect our 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:06.640 freedoms and Trump Republicans or mac Republicans, and I will 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:12.840 explain why as taking away our freedoms from the freedom 0:22:12.880 --> 0:22:16.639 to decide whether and when we have kids, to our 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:21.320 freedom from gun violence, to our freedom to earn enough 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:25.440 and be able to provide for our families. Republicans want 0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:29.080 to take away Trump Republicans want to take away our freedoms. 0:22:29.520 --> 0:22:33.639 By joining together like we did in twenty twenty, we 0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:37.640 can protect our freedoms. So basically the polarity is actually 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:42.280 number one. The topic is freedoms plural because when we 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:47.159 use it in that plural form, it unconsciously activates and 0:22:47.240 --> 0:22:51.680 people are more progressive understanding of freedom, whereas the singular 0:22:51.840 --> 0:22:55.680 tips more into kind of your classic right wing guns 0:22:56.080 --> 0:23:00.160 right freedom of religion, which of course just means being 0:23:00.160 --> 0:23:03.920 able to shove a certain kind of patriarchal, evangelical white 0:23:04.000 --> 0:23:10.040 Christianity at you. So freedoms is a really really powerful 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:15.360 and effective kind of overarching concept. And then what we're 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:19.800 doing is we're saying that they are taking away your freedoms, 0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:22.920 because that activates something that we know in psychology called 0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:28.200 loss aversion. People are much more motivated to act on 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:33.760 behalf of retaining something they perceive to have now versus 0:23:34.280 --> 0:23:38.680 acting on behalf of a predicted future gain. So all 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:44.840 of that language taking away freedoms, etc. It's all super deliberate. Now, 0:23:45.119 --> 0:23:48.680 Trump Republicans are Maca Republicans. What you say is of 0:23:48.800 --> 0:23:54.320 course absolutely correct. But when we're thinking about the way 0:23:54.560 --> 0:23:59.760 that we label our opposition, we want to evaluate any message, 0:24:00.000 --> 0:24:04.600 any label, anything we're saying along a set of criteria. 0:24:04.760 --> 0:24:08.120 So the criteria are it feels credible to the voter. 0:24:08.280 --> 0:24:13.400 It feels true and accurate, It feels mobilizing to our base. 0:24:13.600 --> 0:24:16.000 It makes them want to take more action at a 0:24:16.040 --> 0:24:21.760 minimum voting and you know, GoldStar of volunteering, calling, participating, etcetera. 0:24:21.840 --> 0:24:25.879 All the things, all the things, and it is persuasive 0:24:26.040 --> 0:24:29.520 to the broadest number of voters that we can actually 0:24:29.600 --> 0:24:34.080 get recognizing that there are people we cannot and will 0:24:34.200 --> 0:24:38.320 not ever have on our side. And so what happens 0:24:38.840 --> 0:24:43.639 is if we say Republicans period, Republicans want to take 0:24:43.640 --> 0:24:46.800 away your freedoms, or Republicans are blocking XYZ, or Republicans 0:24:46.800 --> 0:24:52.080 are this or that for our base, and this includes 0:24:52.280 --> 0:24:55.480 I want to be very very clear and explicit Black voters, 0:24:55.640 --> 0:24:59.240 Latino voters, etc. Which are the predominant part of our base. 0:25:00.240 --> 0:25:04.280 What they hear in that is, oh, that's just politics 0:25:04.320 --> 0:25:08.200 as usual. That's where team blue shit talks Team read, 0:25:08.320 --> 0:25:11.240 Team Read does the opposite. There's a reason I don't 0:25:11.280 --> 0:25:13.119 want to listen to any of that, and I'm not 0:25:13.359 --> 0:25:16.400 interested in it because we have to remember that our 0:25:16.560 --> 0:25:21.320 task with our disaffected base meaning not activists, so not you, Danielle, 0:25:22.200 --> 0:25:26.959 not me, but people who if they would participate, if 0:25:27.000 --> 0:25:30.159 they would vote, would vote for us. It's just that 0:25:30.400 --> 0:25:36.440 they don't vote all the time, and so they are 0:25:36.720 --> 0:25:44.119 particularly repulsed by what they perceived to be politics as usual, bickering, 0:25:44.840 --> 0:25:49.520 the sort of animosity of it. And right now, especially 0:25:49.680 --> 0:25:51.920 in our battlegrounds. I just got told today by one 0:25:51.960 --> 0:25:56.439 of our media consultants that voters in Las Vegas, because Nevada, 0:25:56.440 --> 0:26:00.800 of course is a battleground state, are seeing eleven political 0:26:00.960 --> 0:26:06.360 ads an hour on average. So the voters in these 0:26:06.400 --> 0:26:09.879 battleground states, basically what our canvassers on the doors are 0:26:09.920 --> 0:26:12.960 telling us is people are like, I don't want to 0:26:13.160 --> 0:26:17.320 hear negative shit. I do not like, do not with that, 0:26:17.880 --> 0:26:24.000 I cannot with that. So what what calling out all 0:26:24.119 --> 0:26:27.480 Republicans does is it makes people think that we're doing 0:26:27.600 --> 0:26:31.640 it for the same reason that Domino says crappy things 0:26:31.640 --> 0:26:35.280 about Pizza Hut, like that's just your job, got it, Okay. 0:26:35.480 --> 0:26:41.120 So when we say Trump Republicans or Magarepublicans, it increases 0:26:41.200 --> 0:26:44.640 the credibility, it increases the heat, and people don't feel 0:26:44.680 --> 0:26:47.199 like that's name calling from us. They feel like, well, 0:26:47.240 --> 0:26:49.600 that's an accurate label, that's something that they would say 0:26:49.600 --> 0:26:54.159 about themselves. With swing voters, what it does is it 0:26:54.400 --> 0:26:59.200 opens up what we call the permission architecture for people 0:26:59.320 --> 0:27:04.440 who have formerly voted Republican self identify even as Republican 0:27:05.400 --> 0:27:08.639 who voted for Joe Biden in twenty twenty, to be 0:27:08.880 --> 0:27:14.560 able to say I'm still a Republican because my grandpa was, 0:27:14.840 --> 0:27:18.800 or because you know some sort of whatever. I mean 0:27:18.880 --> 0:27:22.200 obviously to me total bullshit feeling about Ronald Reagan. But 0:27:22.359 --> 0:27:26.639 it's there, and I can still come with you and 0:27:26.840 --> 0:27:30.119 be in your coalition because you don't mean me. It 0:27:30.280 --> 0:27:40.440 gives people an now mm. So here's the thing that 0:27:40.720 --> 0:27:45.400 troubles me. It's the fact that we still need maybe 0:27:45.720 --> 0:27:48.560 because you know more than I, which is why I 0:27:48.840 --> 0:27:53.280 invited you on Who is this swing voter or not? 0:27:53.560 --> 0:27:58.960 Who is this mythical unicorn that still exists in the 0:27:59.200 --> 0:28:04.639 center that hasn't been pushed to one side by the insurrection, 0:28:05.320 --> 0:28:08.080 hasn't been pushed to one side, by the fact that 0:28:08.760 --> 0:28:13.000 one of the political parties you know, loves their white 0:28:13.080 --> 0:28:17.359 supremacist oath keeper three percent or Proud Boy Bass and 0:28:17.520 --> 0:28:24.960 doesn't say anything negatively against them, like who are those people? Yeah, 0:28:26.000 --> 0:28:29.000 So first I just want to say there aren't a 0:28:29.000 --> 0:28:33.520 lot of them. They are like they can't be. There 0:28:33.600 --> 0:28:37.040 are very very, very very few. But I want to 0:28:37.119 --> 0:28:41.040 remind folks that politics is a game of millimeters, not 0:28:41.160 --> 0:28:48.840 even inches. We won Wisconsin by point seven percent in 0:28:48.960 --> 0:28:52.240 twenty twenty, and we lost it by about one percent 0:28:52.400 --> 0:28:58.959