They have their right-wing propaganda machine that has had decades to take root.

Sinclair is the biggest owner of local stations, which it has been steadily buying up since the 90s. According to this article, research has shown that local stations spent more time covering national politics and showed a rightward shift in said coverage after Sinclair acquired them. And it is buying more each year. News 3 in Vegas is my local Sinclair station.

With Fox News still a top player in the MSM, OAN and Newsmax gaining steam, Sinclair-owned TV stations blasting GOP talking points, right-wing religious leaders and radio personalities spewing bile to their big audiences, and Facebook having a serious right-wing disinformation problem that it has not shown an eagerness to confront, is it any wonder we feel we are hearing very little from our Democratic leaders?

I'm rather sick of seeing or hearing overly broad statements such as "we suck at messaging" and "we are being out-messaged by the Republicans" from Democrats or people of the liberal persuasion. These are incredibly lazy arguments that have proven to be popular in liberal circles as poor substitutes for thoughtful discussion.

1. We are communicating our agenda and vision.
2. We don't have Fox News, OAN, Newsmax, right-wing religious leaders, and a slew of right-wing talk radio programs to help spread our message and carry water for us.

If the argument is that we are not communicating effectively enough, then the most important consideration is, what practical steps should we be taking right now to more effectively communicate our vision to voters? What are key practical takeaways from this failed campaign that will help future campaigns? These are the types of discussions we should be having, not 500 variations on "we suck at messaging".