Cheri Jacobus: I keep saying Dems need to do a daily briefing on Capitol Hill and fill the void, fact check the WH.
I keep saying Dems need to do a daily briefing on Capitol Hill and fill the void, fact check the WH. Hire Pete Buttigeig and give him a staff to do this.
— Cheri Jacobus (@cherijacobus.bsky.social) 2025-02-13T20:15:24.875Z
@kenmartin.bsky.social
— Cheri Jacobus (@cherijacobus.bsky.social) 2025-02-14T19:33:50.921Z
I think this is a great idea!
= new reply since forum marked as read
Last edited Sat Feb 15, 2025, 03:28 PM - Edit history (1)
Call it "voted off the island by MAGA" - bring a wholesome red state family or community leader who was devastated by the impacts of DOGE cuts to research or support systems:
who lost housing in areas where there is no affordable housing,
Low income families who had hundreds of dollars taken out of their accounts to pay suddenly removed federal grant money (February deposits) that would have paid for critical utilities they had already used,
Jobs lost where there are few as a federal site was shuttered, or department decimated,
Lives lost or impacted critical health care or pharmacopoeia/therapies lost where research or subsidies were taken away,
Citizens who were cheated of thousands of dollars by scam businesses or investments as consumer guardrails were removed - or became critically ill or died due to cuts at the FDA or CDC, allowing corporations to ignore contamination in products or disease vectors if it might impact their profits,
Individuals impacted by hackers who got into their accounts or personal information, who lost life savings, or found a criminal had used their personal information open accounts and to commit financial crimes.
Communities that lost their economic drivers when critical infrastructure projects were cancelled, or manufacturing, or agriculture businesses dried up...
"Barksdale, LA and Minot ND - You've both been voted off MAGA Island...
You've lost these units at the bases,
these departments in other Federal sites impacting this number of employees,
this much funding in infrastructure and these federal grants, taking this much money from the local economy and impacting these local businesses, and
lost this much in individual HHS grants, taking food, housing, and utilities support from this number of families.
The DOGE has spoken. Hand over the keys to your houses and businesses to Donald Trump and go find a tent at the camps."
But sadly sarcastic. It seems to be the only way some people experience the world.
Learn from it. Feed the media machine with a daily dose of truth in a compelling, news worthy fashion.
Just Do It Dems! 
Welcome to DU!
I was here many years as a lurker before joining. I still mostly lurk. 
You get the rest of my unused valentines.
This is the kind of thinking we need.
Similarly I have suggested that Dems should develop a "National Conversation" (give it any name you like) program that brings together prominent, trusted, thoughtful people from all across our society. Certainly not just partisan Dems and liberals, and certainly not just politicians. But people who will talk honestly about where we are as a society and where we need to be going. I think this could be a very popular program if it happened, say once a month or even 4 times a year -- a regular enough schedule that people would follow it.
I'd like ti see it covered by the legacy media as well as streaming/podcasting/all of the above. It could be organized by a respected group like the League of Women Voters.
Politicians tend to be followers, so it should not be dominated by politicians. But certainly all the past Presidents, VPs and prominent national leaders should be invited in the rotation. It should include people like Cher, Dolly, Beyonce, and many more from the entertainment world. It could include Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and other successful business people who could lend expertise on practical economics. There are many thoughtful people in sports, such as Lebron James, Steve Kerr and many others. Some great thinkers like Neil deGrasse Tyson. Authors like Stephen King. Late night hosts. Many more. The common element is no lunatics, and no spewing of talking points. They would need to have an honest dialogue, acknowledging pros and cons of each others' positions, showing respect for the intelligence of the American people.
I really think this could become a must-see program if packaged and presented smartly. And this is the kind of program that could drive news cycles. The legacy media could spend the following week with "The other evening, we heard Mary Barra of GM say ... and people have been talking about what Brad Pitt and Pete Buttigieg had to say about that. We'll take a further look ..."
The key thing with both of these ideas is for Democrats to take the initiative and not just sit silently while the Republicans burn everything to the ground.
I agree!!
