Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) let loose on Trump at a rally, calling him a "criminal," a liar, a "rapist," and a stock market cheat — for starters.
Or maybe they were looking at their own lives and the lives of people around them? After decades of gaslighting from both parties it’s no wonder that Americans don’t trust the statistics they are offered.
Biden did do a lot of economic good and it’s true that income inequality was reduced on his watch. However it wasn’t the kind of fundamental change required for most people to actually experience it in their lives.
Marginal changes around the edges also don’t add up to any kind of narrative that Democrats can use to drive participation. Trump supplied a narrative that Biden could use against him in 2020 but, by 2024 that story was old. The narrative around Trump in 2024 looked more like a classic hero arc than the classic Bond villain he was in 2020. The Democrat’s narrative was about technocratic competence, something I appreciate but not terribly engaging. Biden’s debate performance and late withdrawal also ran counter to that story.
It might sound silly or flippent to talk about narratives, but anybody in marketing will tell you that the narratives around a product usually matter more than the qualities of the product itself. There are effective narratives that Democrats could use, but those narratives cast wealthy Democratic donors among the villains, and most don’t have the courage or integrity to do that.
Under Biden, economic inequality decreased for the first time in a generation.
But you dumb shits absolutely refused to believe it. Because propaganda fucking works.
Or maybe they were looking at their own lives and the lives of people around them? After decades of gaslighting from both parties it’s no wonder that Americans don’t trust the statistics they are offered.
Biden did do a lot of economic good and it’s true that income inequality was reduced on his watch. However it wasn’t the kind of fundamental change required for most people to actually experience it in their lives.
Marginal changes around the edges also don’t add up to any kind of narrative that Democrats can use to drive participation. Trump supplied a narrative that Biden could use against him in 2020 but, by 2024 that story was old. The narrative around Trump in 2024 looked more like a classic hero arc than the classic Bond villain he was in 2020. The Democrat’s narrative was about technocratic competence, something I appreciate but not terribly engaging. Biden’s debate performance and late withdrawal also ran counter to that story.
It might sound silly or flippent to talk about narratives, but anybody in marketing will tell you that the narratives around a product usually matter more than the qualities of the product itself. There are effective narratives that Democrats could use, but those narratives cast wealthy Democratic donors among the villains, and most don’t have the courage or integrity to do that.