Looking past the pushback: Democrats still must show they are the better alternative to MAGA

Messaging again. The resistance, the pushback, is slowly taking shape; the messages are still reactive to each outrageous thing Trump says.  There is still no single message other than billionaires running Trump's regime are by their nature self-serving and uncaring about the human condition. Words like stupid and incompetent are entering the Democrats' vocabulary as they point to Trump's failures. Trump himself may begin to blame others for so many of his edicts biting the dust in a still-alive judicial branch, at least until the Trump Supreme Court gets involved. Indivisible is also getting organized to gear up protests and tap into the 48% of the voters who voted against Trump and are rightly so outraged by the power grab and ready to act because the Democratic party apparatus and some Democrats in Congress wishy washes while a Constitutional crisis became a gathering storm. 

Democrats are also in danger of just speaking to their choir and still failing to regain power. Street protests may just scare the pants off of some on the right who otherwise would object even quietly to Trump. If it is to increase its base, instead of just keeping its 48% energized, Democrats will also have to appeal to some more rational part of what used to be the GOP.   Resistance, outrage, and anger are going to happen at the grassroots by a minority of 48%, but that does not guarantee they will be the majority again. To win, Democrats must do better than just preaching to their choir and must appeal to enough Trump voters to win. The first opportunity will soon be the tax breaks to the rich..debate...and Dems must scream to the rafters, "It ain't fair".

Update: Here is a message that will work: Jeffries is on the right track. https://www.msn.com/.../gop-slammed-over-bait-and-switch.../ This gets it down to what counts...grocery prices, utility costs, child care, etc to be gutted to pay for billionaire tax cuts. Warnings and I told you so's are fine, but until voters actually feel the pain in their personal lives, we will be stuck at 48%. That needs to be hammered home until it reverberates in heads, right and left. Still missing from this is how the Democrats will fix it since they are being blamed for high grocery prices, utility and energy costs, etc.

For now though, bait and switch is a good attack.  Watch for the Consumer Price Index for signs of inflation and cost of basic consumer needs. the next one is 2 12 2025.

Democrats must also be more than obstructionists and take to the streets or make use of whatever vestiges of democracy remain in the courts and a midterm election. The value of street protests is not only to convey how powerful the pushback is by rank and file but also to convey a message (s). The more focused and simple the message, the more unified the messengers are, and the more effective the street demonstrations will be in rallying more than just the 48% Harris voters. 

A valid pitch is still to offer a return to normalcy and end the madness, incompetence, stupidity, and power madness.  That still is not enough: "normalcy " was why MAGA revolted in the first place because they felt the pain of an economy that passed them by. Attacking the billionaires is a short-term rally focus. In the long run, the billionaires could become so toxic, and Trump's popularity sinks into the upper 30s, he will ease them out of his close circle or force them to be in the shadows. Musk may get the blame for all, but Democrats will need to pin the blame on Trump, who empowered him and so far has never reined him in or disagreed with his actions. Musk was his appointee and the buck stops with Trump, not Musk. Then what? In the long run,  for the non-racist-driven MAGA, it is still the economy, stupid.  Per Joe Scarborough 2/6/2025, on Morning Joe,  don't make it personal; make it about the voters whose lives are affected.

The most powerful message could be just the issue of economic fairness and ending the open and hidden corruption of a Trump regime based on an alliance with billionaires. There will be little Democrats can do about the racist and "cultural" elements in the GOP, and that will just have to be accepted as reality and unreachable.  

The rest of the message will depend on what Trump does about inflation, grocery prices, tariffs on China, and other dislocations in the economy. Trump may provide the fuel for the most successful pushback: once again, it is the economy, stupid, and the stupidity is happening on Trump's watch. That is still a speculative strategy since it will take some months before MAGA feels economic pain, so it depends on what Trump does.  At that point, the message needs to pivot to capitalize on how ordinary people are being hurt.