The Importance of Clear Messaging

Republicans are really good at coordinated messaging. Consider how many times, and from how many “talking heads” you have heard some version of: “Republicans are working as one team with President Trump to deliver for the American people,” or “We must hold Senate Democrats and candidates accountable for their radical, out-of-touch priorities and dishonest fear-mongering.” 

• Amy Klobuchar stated on May 11th Meet the Press, that Republicans are rubber-stamping issues with each other. They frequently use the same words as each other.

Now more than ever with the stakes as high as they are, Democrats need clear messaging and furthermore, they need all of us to rally around that message and repeat it over and over again. At the campaign stage, the messages should be able to be easily understood and parroted by all Democrats.  As Mario Cuomo once said, “Campaign in poetry and govern in Prose.”

Republicans have one clear goal of the coordinated messaging:  “The whole end game in 2026 is to get these Trump voters out to vote again… we need to turn them out. And no one is better at turning out those voters than Donald J. Trump,” NBC News, 5/2/2025. 

Effective messaging consists of three intersecting components: the messenger who delivers it, the message itself, and how the message is delivered.  

Democrat examples of effective messaging:

• Chris Van Holland believes in the rule of law. 
  Van Holland spoke about it, and he went to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia, the man who was sent there from America without due process.
• Cory Booker cares about his constituents.  
  Booker spent 25 dramatic hours on the Senate floor repeating their stories.   He delivered the message by breaking Senate filibuster records, winning hearts and minds in the process.
• Pete Buttigieg doesn’t condone disinformation. 
  Appearing on Fox News repeatedly and challenging their “reporters” with facts, Buttigieg maintained his cool demeanor, demonstrating knowledge and explaining thoughtful ideas.

  Republican messaging is effective but for different reasons:

1. They prey on fear.  A story with a grain of truth or one that affects a very small percentage of the population is made to appear like it is happening EVERYWHERE.  

• For example, trans-athlete issue messaging is exaggerated and short on detail. Focusing on an issue that is poorly understood their messaging inspires discomfort among many Americans.  
• Another example is crime committed by undocumented people.  With all statistics to the contrary, Republicans would have people believe that MOST crimes in our country are perpetrated by illegal migrants.

1. They disseminate mis-and-disinformation to promote their points.   Twisting stories and reporting outright lies.  
   • For example, remember the story about kitty litter boxes in school bathrooms for kids who identified as animals?  That story went viral  despite being untrue.  
   • Another example, kids going to school one gender and returning home another.   
2. Trump’s followers know that repetition builds brands.  So, they literally develop talking points and disseminate them to Influencers to parrot the messages over and over.  

• They use the same words.  
• They reflect the same intonation.  
• They display the same indignation.  

But when these individuals are asked more about any specific issue their answers often fall short.  Turn on all the Sunday morning news shows to find an array of Congressmen and Senators rubber-stamping the issue by saying the same words to each audience.  

The results from these efforts are voters who believe they are informed but who have actually had their positions crafted for them with little to no actual information.  

This was easily demonstrated many times, recently by Jimmy Kimmel assistants at a Trump rally, who asked attendees a number of questions.  Consider the questions and responses below:  

1. Kimmel Question: Should Critical Race Theories be Taught in Schools? Answer: No.  
   • Follow up Question: For people who don’t know what Critical Race Theory is, can you explain it? Trump supporter: Honestly, I can’t.  Can you tell me what it is?
2. Kimmel Question: Do you think Marxism should be taught in schools? Trump supporter: No
   • Follow up Question: Can you describe Marxism to people who may not know what it is? Trump supporter: It’s when someone puts a point on you.  It’s sort of a judgement thing.  

These examples may be humorous, but they’re used here to show how Trump supporters will take positions on  issues they know nothing about because of rubber-stamp Republicans.

The Democrats need to take a page from the Republican messaging book and stop qualifying their messages to the point of diluting them.  Here are examples of clean and clear messages:

• We believe in strong borders, and we value what legal immigrants bring to our society.  
• We believe Healthcare is a right and not a privilege, and we support Medicaid.
• Government should stay out of the decisions that are made between a patient and their physician. HIPPA privacy should protect us from the government.
• We believe in the Constitution.  We believe the three branches of government are separate but equal.  We believe in the Rules of Law.
• We believe in the separation of church and state.  The ten commandments should have no place in public buildings.

Undiluted.  No use of terms like:  except or unless or if.

Author: Rosemary C