Something Democrats get right

In my previous post, I was harsh in my criticism of feckless leadership of the Democratic Party. In short, I think they need to do more to stand up to Don and to lay bare how much of an extremist Don is, how he is utterly out of step with the majority of Americans. However, sometimes they do get it right, and the graphic above is only one example of that.

I get emails every day from the Democratic National Committee, and a few times a week, maybe, I get ones with bold graphics, like that above. They’re clear, to the point in a visually compelling. One such graphic a few days ago was aimed at the Republican leadership in Congress and had a rolling display, like credits in a movie, of things the money to build Don’s wall would be better spent on (unfortunately, I need to assemble the email graphics into one suitable for posting, and adding an animated part of a graphic would be too time-consuming to reproduce).

In the case of the graphic above, the DNC makes the point that Don’s Muslim ban is disgraceful and un-American—which it absolutely is. The bold, dark ominous colours suggest the threat and danger in Don’s policy without diluting the message verbally. Similarly, the three photos of Don out of phase suggest Don’s unstable mercurial nature, where one never knows from moment to moment what he’ll say or do—or lie about—next.

The main purpose of the graphic is to try to activate Democrats and supporters of the Democratic Party, which is a worthy goal on its own: An effective opposition (or, resistance…) is more powerful and successful the more popular support it has. The link in the email goes to a page on the DNC site where people can add their name to those opposing the Muslim Ban. Obviously, newcomers will be added to the DNC email list, as all such actions do regardless of party, and those already on the list will probably be marked as active.

But getting people to add their names to the list, while good and important, isn’t the main thing I’m praising here: It’s that the DNC is using clear messaging to present a simple message and a simple, no-effort action that anyone can do—both of which are absolutely central to the modern political ethos in the Internet Age. At the same time, the visuals also help wordlessly reinforce DNC messaging. Put another way, the DNC gets it, and that should be a source of hope for all of us who oppose Don and his regime.

Now, if the party could just get some strong, effective leadership, we’d be in a stronger position to stand up to Don’s tyranny. Even so, it’s good to stop and look at what’s positive and what’s being done right, and the DNC messaging is very good.