Swimming with the sharks: What progressives can learn from Republicans Against Trump

[highplainsdem]

Found this article on a British site, Politics.co.uk, thanks to a tweet minutes ago from Rick Wlson:

Link to tweet

The article:

https://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2020/06/22/swimming-with-the-sharks-what-progressives-can-learn-from-re

The Never Trumpers might as well have written the phrase 'go big or go home'. For them there is no Plan B, so there is an intensity and relentlessness about their approach. They act quickly and opportunistically through their attack ads, frames and messages and react to and lead conversations in real time.

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There is no magic formula – they just keep it simple by using Trump's own words against himself. The attacks are often witty. Crucially they always go straight for the jugular. And part of the strategy is to wind Trump up so that he attacks them rather than Joe Biden. This means nothing is off limits, which a lot of the left ('we're better than this') finds distasteful. We do too. But you don't take a bar of soap when wrestling with pigs in mud.

-snip-

As Lincoln Project founder Rick Wilson said in a recent podcast, the people the Democrats need to win over in these states "are not people who care about gender pronouns". Unlike a lot of progressives, the Never Trumpers understand what makes their target audiences tick. The left is good at talking to itself but not empathising with the views of people who think differently.

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Republicans Voters Against Trump is a master class in low budget values campaigning. The videos are shot on smart phones or computers. And they are effective because they are unpolished peer to peer testimonials that speak to core conservative morals, values and identity frames.

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Much more at the link.

[EarlG]

1. This is basically "Republican privilege" in action

Democrats aren’t as effective at pulling off these kind of attacks for two reasons: first, Wilson and Co. are getting traction simply because they are Republicans. It’s a novelty to see “red on red” fighting of this intensity.

But second, whenever Democrats try to pull off this kind of thing they get swamped with a bunch of media sniffing and handwringing about how they’re going to turn off “forgotten Americans” with their horrible partisan attacks. Wilson and Co. are immune from this — because they’re Republicans.

The fact is, the Lincoln Project is a useful ally doing a grand job to help us bring down Trump, which is really the very least that anyone who considers themselves to be a patriot should be doing right now.

Just bear in mind that once all this is over, they’ll still be out there, ready to turn their fire right back on President Biden. They are against Trump, but they’re not on our side.

[highplainsdem]

2. I agree about this being Republican privilege in action, and that they're only temporary allies.

But I'm very glad they're our allies during this emergency. And I do think we can learn from them.