the actual communication problem democrats have is this: their most prominent national figures filter everything through focus grouped lines and are incapable of plain speech
Replies
jeffried studiously avoids all of the verboten words and yet still sounds like a management consultant.
aug 24, 2025, 2:36 pm • 2,029 128 • view
It's not a communication problem. They lack the conviction necessary to speak out in this. They are incapable of the sincere outrage that would drive a real opposition.
aug 24, 2025, 2:40 pm • 11 1 • view
All I hear when he speaks is “blah, blah ginger”
aug 24, 2025, 2:43 pm • 2 0 • view
Even Mayor Pete, a former real-life management consultant, speaks more clearly than these guys. Maybe that’s why we don’t see much of him these days.
aug 24, 2025, 2:52 pm • 3 0 • view
This drives me nuts. Also drives me nuts: His coordinated, choreographed hand gestures that accompany his studied words.
aug 24, 2025, 2:37 pm • 11 0 • view
The hand gestures make him look like even more of a blithering nitwit.
aug 24, 2025, 3:16 pm • 1 0 • view
I hope like hell the Dems take back the House in '26, but I also DO NOT want Jeffries as Speaker. We need someone who speaks like a normal person who uses normal words who can communicate with the people.
aug 24, 2025, 3:44 pm • 5 0 • view
Cosigned.
aug 24, 2025, 3:57 pm • 0 0 • view
It always reads like they don’t genuinely care about whatever they’re talking about. They talk like a customer service rep from an insurance company explaining why you don’t qualify for the new treatments Makes you wonder why the Democratic Party struggles as a brand…
aug 24, 2025, 3:01 pm • 1 1 • view
Why say something in a sentence that you can say in a paragraph or two?
aug 24, 2025, 2:54 pm • 2 0 • view
He did manage to use the approved phrases 'big bad bill' and "ripping away healthcare" I wonder how much it cost them to decide health care was 'ripped away'.
aug 24, 2025, 2:52 pm • 3 0 • view
I guess he pays attention to @radiofreetom.bsky.social but maybe missed the message
aug 24, 2025, 11:16 pm • 0 0 • view
What happens when you're beholden to corporate donors who think anything to the left of Joe Manchin is socialism
aug 24, 2025, 2:42 pm • 7 0 • view
It’s centrist word salad, but opaque language only becomes a problem when said language is associated with poor people, Black people, women, and transgender people
aug 24, 2025, 3:23 pm • 7 1 • view
“Jeffried” is a great term for describing how paralyzed democrats have become
aug 24, 2025, 3:38 pm • 3 0 • view
Nope…just no. Jeffries continues to show why he’s not qualified to be Speaker IF dems take back to House. Does he not know what’s happening in the country and who’s responsible?!?
aug 24, 2025, 2:46 pm • 7 0 • view
@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social
aug 24, 2025, 3:17 pm • 0 0 • view
It’s a distraction from the big distraction, which distracts us from Trump’s ultimate sin: distracting us
aug 24, 2025, 2:37 pm • 23 0 • view
Get rid of think tanks and political consultants. We don’t need McKinsey for politics.We need street fighters why do think they’re petrified of Mandani - the right is a criminal organization and the Dem are organizing a Toastmasters event
aug 25, 2025, 11:32 am • 0 0 • view
His pet phrase “people over politics” makes my blood boil, it’s incoherent, dishonest, demobilizing nonsense
aug 24, 2025, 3:17 pm • 2 0 • view
Until they democrats have a shorter acronym than MAGA theyre failing on messaging
aug 24, 2025, 2:43 pm • 0 0 • view
When the consultant clas told Walz to stop saying "Republicans are weird", his poll numbers flattened. Because talking like a Beltway hack flattens everything.
aug 24, 2025, 2:47 pm • 29 1 • view
There are no distractions. It's all the same game plan. @democrats.org, y'all need to walk and chew gum at the same time.
aug 24, 2025, 3:52 pm • 0 0 • view
"yet" or "hence"?
aug 24, 2025, 2:59 pm • 1 0 • view
Class Warfare is right there begging to be used. Simply ask with every single policy how it brings down the cost of groceries, reduces the cost of gas, addresses rising housing costs, or reigns in out of control insurance costs. Every sound byte given should talk to where people live.
aug 24, 2025, 2:45 pm • 5 1 • view
the difference is that hardly any elected democrats use the “woke” language but they almost all speak like this bsky.app/profile/tome...
aug 24, 2025, 2:39 pm • 1,121 56 • view
At the risk of piling on, “woke” language is understandable, sends a clear message about the person using it. It’s not that people are confused by terms like LatinX or pronouns in bios, they just don’t like the people who favor them
aug 24, 2025, 2:49 pm • 4 0 • view
Still the magical swing voter, and not the I'm undecided if I will vote for my side this time voter. Id say the battle is not with the swing, but with the couch. (No Vance, not like that, euww)
aug 24, 2025, 3:16 pm • 0 0 • view
@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social
aug 24, 2025, 3:17 pm • 0 0 • view
“Swing voters” is an interesting g way to spell “white supremacists”
aug 24, 2025, 3:28 pm • 0 0 • view
I'm constantly astounded by this idea of American 'swing voters' supporting concentration camps &secret police simply because the dems use "woke language". From an outsiders standpoint the entire idea that Dems need to tone down 'woke' is just more insipid MAGA narratives being validated by media.
aug 24, 2025, 2:43 pm • 14 2 • view
you’ll notice that Third Way isn’t concerned about management speak as much as they want Dems to use *their* management speak.
aug 24, 2025, 2:40 pm • 1,902 153 • view
aug 24, 2025, 6:28 pm • 1 0 • view
This is the malignant and seemingly constant pressure inside the Dem machine, a competition for messaging influence over anything else.
aug 24, 2025, 3:03 pm • 2 0 • view
People want to see passion and fire. No wonder Dems are dismissed as effete.
aug 24, 2025, 2:45 pm • 12 0 • view
This! I listened to him and it sounds OK but I don’t really *feel* anything. It’s just words coming out. They both seem zoned out. There’s some kind of sheen or gossamer overlay that prevents them from connecting.
aug 24, 2025, 10:07 pm • 0 0 • view
"The bigger problem is orgs like Third Way reinforcing this false, right-wing narrative. Dems can't stop doing something they're not doing!" “language dem candidates should publicly yell at their base for (hypothetically?) using so they look cool to imagined centrist voters and savvy politicos”
aug 24, 2025, 2:44 pm • 191 11 • view
"It's gamergate bullshit that broke containment ten years ago Again, the thing is completely made up The other thing is it is impossible to sanitize your language to satisfy right wingers, because their goal is to be upset by language they will just dig up or fabricate something to get upset about
aug 24, 2025, 3:17 pm • 152 24 • view
Agreed. They are using our sense of community against us. I do want community and to listen to others - but I will not be constantly on the defensive and make sacrifices to them (like Trans rights) just so they feel better… then they pick some other grievance. Blue cities it seems
aug 24, 2025, 4:14 pm • 25 0 • view
This 1000x
aug 24, 2025, 4:06 pm • 1 0 • view
yep- & Third Way is a corporate front group that gets its funding from the banking industry. This should be the first response to anything from them. Totally discredited. Hard to believe it started as a gun law advocacy group.
aug 24, 2025, 3:31 pm • 4 0 • view
They have an incredibly powerful propaganda/psyop/disinfo machine that cranks out the tribal buzzwords. If I had time I'd compare it to the "BroCountry" music machine.
aug 24, 2025, 2:57 pm • 20 1 • view
It was already around, but it built its muscles in the Obama years. This country electing him broke millions of brains and opened the door for hundreds of charlatans.
aug 24, 2025, 3:09 pm • 6 0 • view
This machine could have turned "four score..." or "ask not what..." into right wing memes, tribal totems.
aug 24, 2025, 3:48 pm • 0 0 • view
Nice lineup.
aug 25, 2025, 12:50 am • 0 0 • view
I'm trying to imagine what Third Way would think if a Democratic pol accused the GOP of being "malefactors of great wealth." They'd blow a gasket and say that pol was alienating voters. Too bad FDR didn't have the benefit of their wisdom.
aug 24, 2025, 3:48 pm • 2 0 • view
Trump connects with the press and his supporters because he speaks like a middle schooler.
aug 24, 2025, 2:44 pm • 8 1 • view
Hmm duelling consultancies, makes sense
aug 24, 2025, 3:38 pm • 1 0 • view
Third Way are Far Right actors
aug 25, 2025, 9:31 am • 1 0 • view
I solemnly pledge to ignore anything Third Way has to say.
aug 24, 2025, 3:42 pm • 5 1 • view
“The left needs to stop policing language! Here’s a list of words and phrases they should no longer be allowed to use.” is how the entire Third Way statement reads to me.
aug 24, 2025, 4:48 pm • 16 0 • view
If a group claims to be separate from both you and your opponent, that still means that they are saying they are not on your side.
aug 24, 2025, 3:11 pm • 3 0 • view
I mean there is no PowerPoint with a list words and phrases that echo white nationalist blogs and turn off suburban moms and dads.
aug 24, 2025, 3:13 pm • 1 0 • view
Any day they're going to release the branding Democrats for Democrats, or some derivative, and it will be the most WASP-coded garbage.
aug 24, 2025, 2:53 pm • 2 0 • view
I’m going to have to thank Tom Nichols for helping us drive a stake through the absolute bullshit he proffered as a way to save ‘us’ from ourselves. Emperor looking for his clothes now.
aug 24, 2025, 3:57 pm • 0 0 • view
They want Dems to become Republican because Republicans became Nazis.
aug 24, 2025, 3:58 pm • 13 1 • view
You are so clearly right about this it leaves me breathless.
aug 24, 2025, 7:53 pm • 1 0 • view
Again, fuck Tom Nichols and everyone like him. Block that disingenuous, self-righteous asshole already. He has nothing good to offer any of us who are interested in saving democracy.
aug 24, 2025, 3:56 pm • 3 0 • view
This whole debate is vibes-based and kind of pointless. It’s just a bunch of people saying “politicians should talk more like me.”
aug 24, 2025, 3:46 pm • 1 0 • view
politics is a game of vibes tho
aug 24, 2025, 3:57 pm • 1 0 • view
This is true, but that doesn't mean our personal opinions about vibes carry any real weight. It's perfectly fine to say whether or not you like someone's vibe, but I don't think we need to be making grand proclamations about the Right Kind of Vibe.
aug 24, 2025, 4:14 pm • 0 0 • view
we can make a collective decision about what kind of vibe. a recent poster said "instead of birthing person, say "where the hell did you go to school that you don't understand that some people have the birth parts and some do not?" that's the vibe. or the move. IDK how the kids say it these days.
aug 24, 2025, 4:16 pm • 0 0 • view
We certainly can, and that's what elections are for (among other things). But I am going to be extremely skeptical if you're saying: "this is obviously the vibe that voters want, which coincidentally aligns with the vibe that I want."
aug 24, 2025, 4:21 pm • 0 0 • view
put that right up there with "the magic stones spoke to me with the voice of god"
aug 24, 2025, 4:22 pm • 1 0 • view
If Jeffries were to appear on Pod Save America and speak like this, he might actually feel the backlash they way Secretary Pete did recently. Maybe it's just that the Sunday morning shows aren't fundamentally integrated into social media, so that feedback doesn't filter up? It's vexing.
aug 24, 2025, 2:43 pm • 24 1 • view
McKinsey BS will never convince anyone, as you noted. Plain-spoken truth and hard evidence is much more convincing, except for the folks who are too far gone.
aug 24, 2025, 2:54 pm • 9 1 • view
Hakeem Jefferies is a master at reading every room, he would never find himself in a Pete Buttigieg situ. He feeds his words very carefully in rap formation. I feel so sad, that a man as brilliant as Pete will never see his potential only because he chose to be openly gay.
aug 24, 2025, 5:38 pm • 1 0 • view
Succinctly dropped!
aug 24, 2025, 5:32 pm • 0 0 • view
Their issue seems to specifically be about terms used to describe/explain the experiences of marginalized people. Curious!
aug 25, 2025, 12:09 am • 4 0 • view
Third way more like turd way
aug 24, 2025, 3:13 pm • 6 0 • view
aug 24, 2025, 2:45 pm • 2 0 • view
Would be interested to hear how they might spin this:
aug 24, 2025, 10:22 pm • 6 0 • view
Same people who will push the most convoluted policies that confuse regular people
aug 24, 2025, 5:19 pm • 0 0 • view
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspeak
aug 24, 2025, 2:54 pm • 0 0 • view
You can feel the “don’t fuck up stick to talking points” cycling through their brains
aug 24, 2025, 2:51 pm • 43 0 • view
They’ve backed some real duds of candidates over the years, often while arrogantly and condescendingly sermonizing how they are the balanced, responsible adults in the room. There is more than a little projection in their current charge.
aug 24, 2025, 2:46 pm • 20 0 • view
"often while arrogantly and condescendingly sermonizing how they are the balanced, responsible adults in the room." They weren't wrong.
aug 24, 2025, 3:09 pm • 0 0 • view
What we have to do in DC is document any civil rights violations by the Guard, so the mayor and the ACLU can sue like they did in California to get the Guard to back off.
aug 24, 2025, 4:54 pm • 0 0 • view
So you agree the woke language is bad politics, but your argument is that it's moot because it doesn't actually occur with any great frequency? If so, I don't really see what's contentious here. Bar an empirical question, everyone is on the same page.
aug 24, 2025, 2:42 pm • 1 1 • view
i think it is bad to spread republican messaging as if it is true
aug 24, 2025, 2:45 pm • 47 2 • view
and maybe i am old fashioned, but i think it matters whether something is actually true
aug 24, 2025, 2:46 pm • 41 3 • view
Also the battles aren’t just about what language to use. They’re a proxy fight for which groups of people are important to consider as allies in the fight against fascism. bsky.app/profile/sera...
aug 24, 2025, 2:58 pm • 3 0 • view
These people don’t object to specific (rarely used) words. They object to what those words represent, that the fight against racism, misogyny and transphobia have a place on the centre left.
aug 24, 2025, 3:03 pm • 5 0 • view
This is why they talk endlessly about “pronouns” despite prominent left wing politicians almost never talking about preferred pronouns. They don’t want mere silence, they wanted Kamala Harris to performatively condemn the transgender community.
aug 24, 2025, 3:09 pm • 8 0 • view
This is obvious to me because Harris actually rarely, if ever, talked about the trans community during her campaign. And if she did, all she said is “I support the existing laws” or something super vanilla like that. It was R’s obsessive commercials about trans ppl during the election, not dems
aug 24, 2025, 4:41 pm • 5 0 • view
“Bar an empirical question, everyone is on the same page.” So except for the fact that centrists have trapped themselves in a nightmare of their own creation divorced from objective reality, we’re all good here.
aug 24, 2025, 4:37 pm • 0 0 • view
I certainly don't agree with that, to even the slightest degree.
aug 24, 2025, 5:24 pm • 0 0 • view
The other thing you might notice is whenever people start speaking naturally we get a bunch of articles about back room meetings to address people's off the cuff speech being a turnoff for swing voters
aug 24, 2025, 2:42 pm • 2 1 • view
EXPLAIN in detail what you mean by 'WOKE LANGUAGE?'
aug 24, 2025, 5:31 pm • 0 0 • view
The problem is that they see transexuals as a polling issue and not as people. Same for every other word they are afraid.
aug 24, 2025, 8:34 pm • 1 0 • view
Maybe they should all take elocution lessons from Katie Porter. But would the country then be less inclined to disappear people of color to torture sites? How effective is tone policing?
aug 24, 2025, 3:35 pm • 0 0 • view
It's also just fucking lame? I do not know who this is meant to resonate with? My guy speaks like he's always walking on egg shells.
aug 24, 2025, 2:41 pm • 14 0 • view
It’s meant to resonate with his donors. If he doesn’t say things verbatim the way they coaches him, they might turn off the money faucet.
aug 24, 2025, 2:48 pm • 6 0 • view
i'm a sicko who listens to politics podcasts and i skip 100% of interviews with politicians at this point because they all sound the same. i can predict exactly what's going to be said and the phrasing of it
aug 24, 2025, 2:43 pm • 2 0 • view
I'm an insane feminist who will question shit about what societal language norms imply about cultural understanding and even I know when to turn that shit off. It's wild how democrats have gotten to the point where they have no genuine voice of their own.
aug 24, 2025, 2:45 pm • 0 0 • view
As usual it's all media framing by media people who want to help the GOP win.
aug 24, 2025, 2:43 pm • 4 0 • view
Pritzker statement yesterday was ok w me He used some of the phrasing Jeffries used But his message was “the people of Illinois elected me to deal with public safety, get off Illinois’s lawn” Pritzker is sharpening the contrast between his legitimate authority and Trump’s illegitimate grasping
aug 24, 2025, 3:00 pm • 5 1 • view
Jeffries and too many elected Democrats do sound like conultants being a federal legislator in the minority is a partial explanation but not a great excuse Congressional Democrats should highlight the authority of their own state officials right now
aug 24, 2025, 3:11 pm • 2 0 • view
But it's bad for the same reasons as the woke language. It's just not how the vast majority of people speak, and certainly not the swing voters you need to win over.
aug 24, 2025, 2:38 pm • 23 2 • view
WoKe LaNgUaGe
aug 24, 2025, 5:37 pm • 3 0 • view
What the fuck is the woke language Tom?
aug 26, 2025, 11:25 am • 0 0 • view
Yes but crucially one is happening in the real world constantly and the other empirically is not happening.
aug 24, 2025, 2:46 pm • 7 0 • view
They don’t need “swing” voters they need new voters. Stop narrowing the targets to likely Republicans.
aug 24, 2025, 11:55 pm • 0 0 • view
the swing voters dems should be courting are not the ones deciding between R or D they are the ones deciding whether or not to vote at all
aug 24, 2025, 6:19 pm • 1 0 • view
Also, I really wonder about these focus groups that don't point this out. Are they really focus grouped answers? Why did no-one in the focus group say it's a 'typical politician answer'?
aug 24, 2025, 2:39 pm • 1 0 • view
Look man, if you’re still mad about “Latinx,” or whatever while the president is sending troops into the streets and kidnapping people to concentration camps, you are simply not a serious person.
aug 24, 2025, 4:28 pm • 9 0 • view
Is the “woke language“ in the room with us right now?
aug 24, 2025, 3:10 pm • 26 1 • view
What "Woke language" are you referring to that democratic politician use? Like honestly, a lot of this is the Transitive property used to assign fringe language to democrats as a whole. Jeffries sounds like someone who doesn't even listen to what he says.
aug 24, 2025, 3:04 pm • 13 0 • view
It's always the impression of sincerity, or lack thereof. Liz Warren tends to speak like the policy wonk she is, which isn't how most people speak, but it works for her because everyone can tell that's actually just who she is and not some effected fake persona.
aug 24, 2025, 2:46 pm • 45 0 • view
It's also part of Bernie's popularity. He's further to the Left than most Democrats, but he attracts more than just the furthest reaches of the Left because he believes in what he's saying.
aug 24, 2025, 3:08 pm • 23 0 • view
Okay, go for it. Find me a clip of some woke politician being troublingly woke. Gimme an AOC, an Omar, a Mamdani, a Sanders, any of them saying something that you feel is alienating in its language.
aug 24, 2025, 4:19 pm • 1 0 • view
Probably sounds like a management consultant BECAUSE he studiously avoids all of the verboten words.
aug 24, 2025, 2:38 pm • 1 0 • view
The “verboten” words. So true
aug 24, 2025, 7:35 pm • 1 0 • view
the precision with which he chooses his words is so painfully obvious. There must be a checklist they keep where every time they bring up an edgy topic they need to clarify they aren't being too edgy and it's painful to listen to
aug 24, 2025, 2:40 pm • 11 0 • view
It's even worse when you try to parse what he's actually *saying* and it's... nothing at all. Support law enforcement? What does he mean by that, how's it relevant to events being discussed? How is it opposed to Trump playing games with the American people & how does *that* relate to distractions?
aug 25, 2025, 12:12 pm • 1 0 • view
If I were to try and figure out what he's *saying* I might come to a "do nothing because Trump's unpopularity guarantees we'll win elections" message but I don't think he's saying even that, he's trying to emit certain vibes and mashing together sentences he hopes carry those vibes. It's LLM-level.
aug 25, 2025, 12:18 pm • 1 0 • view
That’s why Tim Walz was so refreshing last year because he wasn’t like that.
aug 24, 2025, 2:52 pm • 12 0 • view
Exactly! He is a master at skipping!
aug 24, 2025, 5:30 pm • 0 0 • view
I think they fall into the trap of trying to do high minded oratory, but most people just aren't good at it, and it comes off as insincere or manufactured.
aug 24, 2025, 3:06 pm • 2 0 • view
🥱
aug 24, 2025, 10:15 pm • 0 0 • view
And who likes management consultants? Management not the people
aug 24, 2025, 4:26 pm • 0 0 • view
Plus, his carefully triangulated hand movements drive me nuts.
aug 24, 2025, 3:05 pm • 1 0 • view
Studiously avoiding a long list of words *makes* you sound like a management consultant.
aug 24, 2025, 3:17 pm • 1 0 • view
He sucks
aug 25, 2025, 12:03 am • 1 0 • view
And these fuckin clowns keep saying “everyday Americans.” A nonsensical phrase. So condescending. They think it sounds better than “ordinary” and “average.” It sounds patronizing nonetheless. Just say “American citizens” you stupid fucks.
aug 24, 2025, 3:02 pm • 0 0 • view
i imagine him sitting around thinking about what inauthentic too cute by half alliterative phrase he can use next
aug 24, 2025, 3:10 pm • 0 0 • view
What do you think it will take for Democratic leadership to publicly recognize what’s happening, and then speak and act accordingly?
aug 24, 2025, 2:41 pm • 6 1 • view
Nothing, no matter how atrocious or shocking, will make them change course. They're fossils, and you might as well ask the soon-to-be-removed blasphemous t-rex skeleton at the Smithsonian for more effective leadership.
aug 24, 2025, 4:49 pm • 2 0 • view
aug 24, 2025, 2:48 pm • 5 0 • view
New D leadership (which sounds like a joke but I think the circumstances are already alarming enough that reasonable D leadership would be talking about raising militias and defending the honor of the great states of California and Illinois)
aug 24, 2025, 2:49 pm • 3 0 • view
They get voted out of office and replaced with younger people who know how to use the internet.
aug 24, 2025, 4:52 pm • 3 1 • view
They're never gonna say the f word
aug 24, 2025, 2:42 pm • 0 0 • view
I try hard not to criticize the leadership. They’re still trying to appeal to a middle that doesn’t exist. But sending troops to blue cities isn’t a distraction. It’s an invasion. He’s declared literal war on democrats. Why the hell can’t they see that?? My hopes lie with the blue governors.
aug 24, 2025, 2:38 pm • 4 0 • view
No one, and I mean no one, wants to be “policed” by the army. It’s easy to talk about this like a normal person.
aug 24, 2025, 4:58 pm • 1 1 • view
I think this needs to be qualified to congressional Dems. Dem governors aren’t talking like this.
aug 24, 2025, 2:56 pm • 1 0 • view
After seeing Zohran’s campaign the Congressional Leadership all look like amateurs and inspire negative emotions and hopelessness. It is so damaging to the party’s legitimacy in the eyes of voters and the world who is watching the main opposition barely change tactics after the fascists won power.
aug 24, 2025, 3:09 pm • 3 0 • view
My theory is the Reagan era style conservative consultants can no longer get jobs on GOP campaigns in the Trump era, so they got jobs with centrist democrats and are pushing them right/subconsciously undermining them because that’s their decades of training.
aug 24, 2025, 8:03 pm • 0 0 • view
They’re cosplaying as politicians instead of working as representatives of the people.
aug 24, 2025, 3:04 pm • 0 0 • view
aug 24, 2025, 3:47 pm • 6 0 • view
Jeffries sounds like an automaton. He lacks any vision, ambition, or drive. Why is he a leader?
aug 24, 2025, 3:04 pm • 0 0 • view
I’ve been a Democrat since the first time I could vote at age 22 on 1972 (back then you had to be 21.) Now is the first time I’m actually embarrassed about it. Why can’t our national leaders communicate like actual people? WHY??? Make it make sense.
aug 24, 2025, 11:25 pm • 0 0 • view
They are not authentic or honest. They are calculated. And, most importantly, they lack the fight. Epic failures. They cannot meet the moment.
aug 24, 2025, 2:39 pm • 26 3 • view
Just like Mark Penn stunted Hillary with his “consulting.”
aug 24, 2025, 5:22 pm • 0 0 • view
It’s like AI is writing his comments and speeches. We know he is intelligent so what’s up with him? Why was he so easily and so quickly compromised?
aug 24, 2025, 2:54 pm • 1 0 • view
💲💲💲
aug 24, 2025, 3:26 pm • 0 0 • view
Not everyone has this problem just too many in current leadership
aug 24, 2025, 2:53 pm • 18 0 • view
I’m surprised Jeffries said anything about Chicago when he probably hasn’t had time to get polling or focus group results first.
aug 24, 2025, 4:12 pm • 6 1 • view
We need Jefferies to shut up and do something
aug 24, 2025, 10:29 pm • 2 0 • view
Plainly. They suck. Jeffries and Schumer are toast.
aug 24, 2025, 3:09 pm • 1 0 • view
This is a correct take. It also feels like their advisors and consultants are stuck in the 1990s. This is a failed approach that neither attracts new followers or keeps existing ones.
aug 24, 2025, 6:02 pm • 1 0 • view
aug 24, 2025, 2:44 pm • 4 0 • view
But he didn't use any forbidden words to make that salad! You gotta give him that.
aug 24, 2025, 2:37 pm • 6 0 • view
What they need to hear:
aug 24, 2025, 11:00 pm • 0 0 • view
What the general public hears:
aug 24, 2025, 10:58 pm • 0 0 • view
They refuse to address the elephant in the room while it’s running right over top of them. This is a civil war. Wait until the president succumbs to his health problems. The fight for power within the Republican Party will be a Battle Royale.
aug 24, 2025, 3:20 pm • 3 1 • view
Cmon now. We can at least be honest. Democrats are in office for the money. Just like Republicans. Boats won’t be rocked. Positions won’t be taken. NOTHING CAN DISTURB THE MONEY Nothing matters more than money
aug 25, 2025, 7:18 pm • 0 0 • view
LESS TALK, MORE ACTION, JEFFERIES!!! I’m so sick of all these Dem’s giving speeches while America falls into chaos and a corrupt authoritarian regime takeover. DO MORE FFS!
aug 24, 2025, 3:35 pm • 0 0 • view
How simpler would you say this what Hakeem said? Humor me
aug 24, 2025, 3:17 pm • 0 0 • view
🎯
aug 24, 2025, 5:12 pm • 0 0 • view
I expected old school from Schumer, but Jeffries has greatly disappointed me.
aug 25, 2025, 12:41 am • 2 0 • view
It continues to be insane to me that the very first thing out of so many parties leader's mouths when answering questions is to agree with and validate right wing talking points. "Well first I need to show to all those good faith people that I do not agree with the phrase 'defund the police'"
aug 24, 2025, 4:23 pm • 5 0 • view
Wha?
aug 25, 2025, 3:06 am • 0 0 • view
Yes. It's madness.
aug 24, 2025, 3:08 pm • 0 0 • view
While Jeffries is becoming more unpopular by the day 🙄 When Nancy was in charge, no one had to wonder who was running the show. Just sayin'
aug 25, 2025, 6:39 am • 2 0 • view
How about "Trump is illegally using the military and commandeering local law enforcement to terrorize citizens!". Say it Jeffries or get out of the way You could also add "He wants to incite violence in order to declare Marshall law so the maga party can steal the next election"
aug 24, 2025, 3:19 pm • 2 0 • view
“Martial” law
aug 24, 2025, 3:25 pm • 2 0 • view
Or imaginary people that live in their heads like Schumer's Baileys from Massapequa. And why Massapequa? One of the most racist places on all of Long Island. I know because I grew up there, and I used to take a lot of racist abuse, even from teachers who objected to my efforts to integrate… in '90s!
aug 24, 2025, 3:03 pm • 0 0 • view
I’m so over Jeffries. He’s useless.
aug 25, 2025, 12:34 am • 0 0 • view
Everything the Dems say seems like it was crafted in 1995, back when consultants were at the height of their power, the DLC were seen as the future of the party, and James Carville still sounded like a goddamn genius, rather than a guy with one weird trick and a thick Louisiana accent
aug 24, 2025, 5:56 pm • 1 0 • view
How is literally everything a distraction?
aug 24, 2025, 3:13 pm • 0 0 • view
And the focus group questions and pollsters are from the ‘90s. There’s a decent crop of dems who speak plainly, unfortunately they aren’t in leadership
aug 24, 2025, 3:15 pm • 0 0 • view
Are they filtering focus groups or donors or both?
aug 24, 2025, 3:02 pm • 0 0 • view
The more appropriate response is "Fuck DJT and these games. Deploying the national guard for a dreamed up emergency is not American, and every Republican that stands by and allows this deserves to be removed from office, full stop. We don't turn on our citizens."
aug 25, 2025, 11:16 am • 2 0 • view
Absolutely, sadly true. Even Democrats who want you to believe they are progressive and proactive are so cookie-cutter and prissy that they are allowing fascism to take over while they make excuses. Joe Walsh, newly a Democrat (!) is frustrated by establishment Dems- rightly so!!
aug 24, 2025, 4:30 pm • 1 0 • view
The problem is that Hakeem Jeffries is an ass who doesn’t give a f*** that Trump is is instituting martial law. It’s not a “distraction”. Democrats DO NOT CARE about the armed takeover of the US. They’re only concerned about how it might play at the ballot box (as if that will ever matter again).
aug 24, 2025, 8:07 pm • 0 0 • view
Jeffries, Gilibrand, and esp Schumer need to go! We need fighters who will punch back!
aug 25, 2025, 9:58 pm • 2 0 • view
When you filter you lose 1 immediacy 2 emotional authenticity 3 shared connection 4 validity
aug 25, 2025, 12:22 am • 0 0 • view
It’s just a classier word salad.
aug 24, 2025, 2:29 pm • 8 0 • view
And What good does supporting local law enforcement do when they all seem to be falling in line behind ICE, DHS,NG and trump?
aug 24, 2025, 4:40 pm • 0 0 • view
It’s so frustrating.
aug 24, 2025, 3:06 pm • 361 10 • view
Jeffries and Schumer feel like script readers and we need WARRIORS, right now.
aug 24, 2025, 3:10 pm • 7 1 • view
Yes it is.
aug 24, 2025, 3:48 pm • 0 0 • view
Why can’t they just call it out for what it is? The militarization of law enforcement. The plan is a police state. They’re hitting democrat-run big cities first (that incidentally have black mayors) but will expand everywhere. They are getting us used to seeing military on our streets.
aug 24, 2025, 3:14 pm • 0 0 • view
After hearing Jefferies' mumbo jumbo I still don't know if he's against federal troops in Chicago or not 🤷 Just spit it out man, you have a pulpit and a voice
aug 24, 2025, 3:48 pm • 2 0 • view
It's like every word out of their mouths was written by a public relations agency.
aug 24, 2025, 3:13 pm • 0 0 • view
NO CLUE why Pelosi picked HIM to succeed her!
aug 24, 2025, 3:07 pm • 15 0 • view
He made sense when things made more sense (Biden admin). He’s not the person for the dire situation we have now.
aug 24, 2025, 11:17 pm • 2 0 • view
Protection of the status quo.
aug 24, 2025, 3:21 pm • 33 0 • view
I became disenchanted with Bill Clinton when I realized he was poll-driven. Sometimes Obama was, too.
aug 24, 2025, 3:54 pm • 0 0 • view
I hate the ways the Democrats leadership communicate. Their parses are parsed to the point where it's all meaningless gibberish. Jeffries is one of the biggest offenders. Just start talking like you're from NYC, man.
aug 24, 2025, 4:14 pm • 3 0 • view
And disheartening, imo
aug 24, 2025, 3:13 pm • 0 0 • view
Considering local law enforcement is 100% behind Trump, this might be the dumbest statement ever made.
aug 24, 2025, 3:16 pm • 2 0 • view
No, it is going to cost innocent people their lives. This is beyond frustrating.
aug 25, 2025, 12:52 pm • 0 0 • view
Thank heavens we have some brave Senators and Representatives like Bernie Sanders, AOC, Jasmine Crockett, et al.
aug 24, 2025, 3:08 pm • 0 0 • view
Can’t offend the most wealthy. They could defect over one word.😭💰😭
aug 24, 2025, 3:34 pm • 0 0 • view
It’s much easier to lie I realize. But lying isn’t a strategy either
aug 24, 2025, 11:40 pm • 0 0 • view
My dude, say less.
aug 24, 2025, 3:19 pm • 1 0 • view
And shorten those sentences 🤦♀️
aug 24, 2025, 3:26 pm • 0 0 • view
Hakeem Jefferies is that MF who comes outside after 5 years and has been without TV,internet and radio and has no clue the world has changed around him. Hakeem it's time to wake the fuck up my brother.
aug 24, 2025, 3:57 pm • 5 2 • view
I wouldnt be and it also surprised if Jeffries ends up officially switching parties at some point. 😕 But, that being said, I hope he just realizes that he needs to take all of this way more seriously & starts doing his actual job. 🤞
aug 24, 2025, 4:30 pm • 3 0 • view
It's like someone told him not to be himself. This is not the Hakeem I remeber before he took over for Nancy.
aug 24, 2025, 4:40 pm • 1 0 • view
0 authenticity.
aug 24, 2025, 11:40 pm • 0 0 • view
One problem is the skills needed to be a Speaker or the minority leader aren’t the same as needed to be the leader or face of the party. Counting votes and navigating Congressional rules shouldn’t necessarily make one the voice of the party.
aug 24, 2025, 3:55 pm • 4 0 • view
They are just not channeling the anger I feel and do not seem to appreciate the danger and urgency of this moment.
aug 25, 2025, 1:09 am • 2 0 • view
Such strong wording!
aug 24, 2025, 8:47 pm • 0 0 • view
Or maybe just use focus groups made up of real life Americans rather than professional focus groupies. They should all take a page from GCNs playbook.
aug 24, 2025, 3:25 pm • 0 0 • view
The stupidest thing I've heard in a while is libs arguing that we need politicians that still offer no policy solutions, but who troll like trump. 🙄
aug 24, 2025, 3:39 pm • 0 0 • view
Worse. They don't seem to really care about people.
aug 24, 2025, 3:08 pm • 0 0 • view
Thank you. I've been saying the same thing. Trump isn't sending Military Troops to shoot Israeli citizens in Tel Aviv. So why should Schumer, Jeffries, Fetterman, and the rest of the Dem AIPAC whores care about what is going on? They know where their bread is buttered.
aug 25, 2025, 1:48 pm • 1 0 • view
OMG! Everything is apparently always a distraction to some other thing… 🤦♂️ All the things are the things! This so-called leader of the Democratic party is not even pretending to do the job he should be doing at this point in time. 😡
aug 24, 2025, 2:38 pm • 1 0 • view
It feels like they learned the wrong lessons from Kamala losing. Seems like they're blaming Walz's style or something?
aug 24, 2025, 9:29 pm • 0 0 • view
Jeffries is not the leader for this moment. I don’t know if he’s a leader for any moment.
aug 24, 2025, 2:36 pm • 5 0 • view
Let's be even clearer. They are cowards.
aug 24, 2025, 3:42 pm • 0 0 • view
It's risk aversion. They see the harm that a "gaffe" can do, and fool themselves into believing is such a thing as gaffe-free communication. They should instead develop a consistent viewpoint and say what they think, shrugging off the inevitable attacks. Assuming they have a consistent viewpoint.
aug 24, 2025, 3:07 pm • 0 0 • view
One of the downsides of social media is that Democratic politicians are overly sensitive to online blowback and criticism and therefore overly cautious, which means they say nothing at all, allowing the right to define them and take up oxygen
aug 24, 2025, 4:42 pm • 1 0 • view
One thing we need they need to understand is that social media is fast moving and has a short attention span so it better to be active and speak plainly even if you end up making the occasional gaffe and say nothing and make no impact- Trump and the right understand this
aug 24, 2025, 4:42 pm • 1 0 • view
That what Sarah Longwell said - TALK LIKE A NORMAL PERSON! That’s in her orig post that you trashed. Talk like a normal person.
aug 24, 2025, 3:17 pm • 0 0 • view
Maybe it's just because I'm so fixated on the leadership of the Democratic Party now given the radical authoritarian actions of the Administration, but I have also never been so completely unimpressed and uninspired by them. Schumer and Jeffries are the weakest politicians I've ever known.
aug 24, 2025, 2:38 pm • 1 0 • view
This dude is useless.
aug 24, 2025, 3:50 pm • 2 0 • view
Agreed. I heard that Hakeem Jeffries is supposed to be a wonderful speaker. Myself? I never hear it.
aug 24, 2025, 3:16 pm • 0 0 • view
Yes. The biggest reason AOC and Bernie are popular (except with Dem leadership) is because they express democratic values in plain, direct speech. Bernie even got Joe Rogan talking like a socialist for a few minutes and liberals pointed the circle firing squad at him.
aug 24, 2025, 3:51 pm • 0 0 • view
He is schooled in "respectability politics" but this moment demands more than that.
aug 24, 2025, 6:36 pm • 0 0 • view
Too many in the Dem party rely on data and statistics instead of being amongst and speaking to their fellow citizens.In N Phoenix, AZ no Dem has run for local office in 30 years & now they are bitching because they are losing.When asked why?Responded “why should we, we’ll just lose”.🤦🏼♀️😳
aug 24, 2025, 4:48 pm • 0 0 • view
I like Jeffries, but he's too passive for me. It's time to put all that gentlemanly University learning to the side and bring out the street cred. Obama spoke softly but you know he carried a big stick. This guy speaks softly while carrying a toothpick.
aug 24, 2025, 10:26 pm • 2 0 • view
We're way past that, dems. You should be showing them these hands not carefully curated speeches
aug 24, 2025, 8:02 pm • 0 0 • view
Jeffries is a corporate, centrist Democrat. He needs to be replaced by a more progressive, media savvy representative.
aug 24, 2025, 2:58 pm • 0 0 • view
Behold the works of David Shor and Blue Rose!!
aug 24, 2025, 2:37 pm • 0 0 • view
This Democratic "leadership" message has been sponsored by your friends at Palantir and SpaceX readsludge.com/2025/03/20/d...
aug 24, 2025, 3:15 pm • 7 2 • view
What the fuck does that mean?
aug 25, 2025, 2:26 am • 0 0 • view
Jeffries and Schumer are so annoyingly cautious. They really need to realize they’re using water pistols in a knife fight.
aug 24, 2025, 11:44 pm • 1 0 • view
Sooooooo disappointed in Hakeem. What the fuck happened to him
aug 24, 2025, 11:15 pm • 0 0 • view
aug 24, 2025, 3:52 pm • 0 0 • view
aug 24, 2025, 3:52 pm • 0 0 • view
i live in an area with a lot of people who don’t trust democrat candidates and their inability to speak plainly is a big reason why. not saying i agree with it, but i can see how it makes you question their integrity when everything they say feels like it was rehearsed and planned in a focus group.
aug 24, 2025, 4:38 pm • 0 0 • view
Hey Blusky HIvemind, I'm a highly paid long-time Democratic Consultant busy building consensus. Got a minute to answer a question? I can't figure out why calling the military occupation of American cities a "distraction" doesn't lead to a huge surge of support for the party. Help me out, please.
aug 24, 2025, 3:47 pm • 0 0 • view
It's a focus group consisting solely of lobbyists and megadonors. A normal focus group would ask what the fuck he's talking about.
aug 24, 2025, 11:23 pm • 2 0 • view
Jamie Raskin, too. Really good.
aug 24, 2025, 7:25 pm • 0 0 • view
Rep Robert Garcia has been great. Let's focus on some positives.
aug 24, 2025, 7:24 pm • 0 0 • view
Correct.
aug 24, 2025, 4:12 pm • 0 0 • view
@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social
aug 24, 2025, 3:16 pm • 0 0 • view
👏 👏 👏 This is so obvious to so many that I truly don’t understand why it isn’t obvious to @kenmartin.bsky.social @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social @schumer.senate.gov . And it’s not only about simplicity (bcuz I’ve seen super simple lame sm posts from them) it’s about timeliness and authenticity too.
aug 24, 2025, 2:53 pm • 1 1 • view
Also use 3-4 snappy sentences instead of one long run on.
aug 24, 2025, 8:20 pm • 0 0 • view
They are afraid of being called, “soft on crime.” The media is doing this, as well. Your point is 🎯. Call this out for what it is: a military coup.
aug 24, 2025, 3:41 pm • 3 0 • view
I expected so much better from him. The words he is using are falling on deaf ears. No point is made. Useless
aug 28, 2025, 2:05 pm • 0 0 • view
… right ! … “Civil War” is happening … but only one side is fighting … is that because the left don’t have any guns ?
aug 24, 2025, 8:13 pm • 0 0 • view
I hope they think like that.
aug 24, 2025, 11:18 pm • 1 0 • view
As Dino crooned, "Born to lose..."
aug 24, 2025, 6:14 pm • 0 0 • view
Can you blame them in an environment where Democrats are demonized by OTHER DEMOCRATS for not being perfect. Someone has to try to bring the party together…which is an impossible or Herculean task. Which was first; Cart or horse?
aug 24, 2025, 7:46 pm • 0 0 • view
Reminds me of the issue with Hirohito's famous address - written in the official court language, not in regular Japanese, so bulk of people did not really get it is a surrender... Same issue with US surrender leaflets written in "formal Japanese".
aug 24, 2025, 6:30 pm • 0 0 • view
A Japanese American interpreter managed to collect quite a few POWs on Saipan IIRC by going on solo "patrols" and talking to the Japanese soldiers in street Japanese. Basically instead of "military situation developing not necessarily in Japan's favor" telling them "Oi, you're screwed, so give up"
aug 24, 2025, 6:32 pm • 0 0 • view
Like, none of this is memorable, none of this is genuine, just grey slop from a man who is incredibly forgettable. Where's the passion? Where's the human being?
aug 24, 2025, 8:19 pm • 1 0 • view
Totally out of touch and impotent. Mr Speaker watch Instagram IceOutOfPortland for a reality check on how this Government is operating with impunity. Your style is no longer working Your common ground does not exist Start Impeachment hearings Start Epstein hearings for the record
aug 24, 2025, 5:51 pm • 0 0 • view
Seriously like we don’t have any catchy slogans or common themes. Just wonky lectures that don’t make sense to lots of folks.
aug 24, 2025, 4:41 pm • 0 0 • view
aug 24, 2025, 5:18 pm • 0 0 • view
They also simply do not care about anything beyond campaign contributions. Pretty sure that’s the bigger problem
aug 24, 2025, 4:11 pm • 5 0 • view
Not only are his words pablum, his over rehearsed halting cadence makes him an accidental soporific.
aug 24, 2025, 4:45 pm • 0 0 • view
It's only partly a communication failure. After all, his main priority is undermining progressives. Opposing Trump while screwing progressives is too hard for him.
aug 24, 2025, 3:52 pm • 3 0 • view
David shor charges this guy millions to help him humiliatingly short circuit out on tv.
aug 24, 2025, 11:52 pm • 0 0 • view
Lengthy statements go nowhere.
aug 24, 2025, 5:28 pm • 0 0 • view
Harris had the same problem in the election. She used language like "distraction" or "playbook" rather than call out the language Trump was using for what it really was: racist and misogynistic. If you don't want to use the term misogynistic, say Trump hates women.
aug 24, 2025, 3:23 pm • 1 0 • view
Good point!
aug 24, 2025, 8:02 pm • 0 0 • view
I’m so sick of the demo leadership.
aug 24, 2025, 5:47 pm • 0 0 • view
It's depressing how many open goals there are and the Dems are acting too high and mighty or clinging to consultants' opinions. 'Dementia Donnie' and 'Pedo-nald Trump' are easy targets to whip the public into a frenzy with.
aug 24, 2025, 3:00 pm • 0 0 • view
Chuck Schumer doesn't say a word before considering whether it would offend imaginary centrists in his head while Trump bellows away about every emotion that flits into his skull It sucks that either approach works on voters but guess which one does
aug 24, 2025, 4:16 pm • 21 2 • view
"Continue to support local law enforcement" definitely sounds like a talking point cooked up in a lab to avoid accusations that Dems are soft on crime, as if there is anything they could possibly do or say that would get Republicans to not call them soft on crime.
aug 24, 2025, 7:00 pm • 4 0 • view
It is also impossible to tell from Jeffries' answer what Trump plans to do in Chicago and why it is bad. And even while arguing that we shouldn't let Trump manufacture a crisis to serve as a distraction, he implicitly accepts the premise that crime is out of control and goes on a little spiel...
aug 24, 2025, 7:08 pm • 3 0 • view
...about how to reduce crime. All while never once mentioning that it is bad for a president to turn the military on American citizens and occupy American cities. Just a masterclass in terrible messaging.
aug 24, 2025, 7:08 pm • 2 0 • view
Trump and the J6 Militias have members in all states and a network in Police Leadership. He's not going in blind, he has MAGA people in Illinois too. But the people of Chicago, are not as laid back as California. There will be big resistance.
aug 24, 2025, 6:39 pm • 0 0 • view
Agree completely. Trump is unfiltered, which gets translated as ‘authentic’ despite all the deceit and corruption. Democrats sound like they are at dinner party. It’s not the message, it’s the messenger.
aug 24, 2025, 2:40 pm • 5 0 • view
#teambeshear
aug 24, 2025, 2:40 pm • 0 0 • view
It's not just that they're incapable of plain speech. Its that they harass dems who are capable -- AOC, Walz, Mamdani -- with greater fervor than they confront the GOP.
aug 24, 2025, 3:13 pm • 40 2 • view
This right here
aug 24, 2025, 6:33 pm • 1 0 • view
Where's the vision? Just react to the orange felon and praise local law enforcement? WEAK.
aug 24, 2025, 9:29 pm • 1 0 • view
aug 24, 2025, 8:31 pm • 0 0 • view
Right, like, the way to communicate about this would be to say something like “This is fucked up - Trump’s sending the military to our cities and towns!” or something to that effect. TALK 👏 LIKE 👏 A 👏 HUMAN 👏
aug 24, 2025, 3:18 pm • 3 0 • view
Nothing like getting lightly scolded by your party to stay in line & trust the system while being invaded by your own country & being labeled as a “distraction” by your own party.
aug 24, 2025, 2:46 pm • 5 0 • view
Particularly Hakeem.
aug 24, 2025, 8:31 pm • 0 0 • view
@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social is not the voice to lead the resistance, his unwillingness to be human continues to hamper his connection with everyday people
aug 25, 2025, 3:43 pm • 0 0 • view
Why can’t we just say no!! We are going to get crushed by carefully nuanced statements from our leaders 😡😡😡😡
aug 24, 2025, 2:43 pm • 0 0 • view
I wonder how many packets of little round multicolored stickers the consultants expended coming up with that mess?
aug 24, 2025, 5:15 pm • 0 0 • view
Not tough enough Jeffries
aug 25, 2025, 2:15 am • 0 0 • view
I find the “distraction” language particularly alarming. Dem leadership does not understand the moment. None if this is a distraction. This is who Trump is and what he and his band of racist incel freaks want.
aug 24, 2025, 4:52 pm • 0 0 • view
Exactly
aug 24, 2025, 11:32 pm • 0 0 • view
If your party’s most prominent national figures are the House and Senate Minority Leaders your party is in big trouble no matter how well they handle comms.
aug 24, 2025, 2:34 pm • 0 0 • view
HJ is from Brooklyn. He knows better. Tell it like it is. Stop being afraid.
aug 24, 2025, 2:47 pm • 1 0 • view
“The president is hellbent on having a police state. He wants emergency powers forever instead of actually solving problems the American way — with laws passed by Congress.” That’s how I’d say it.
aug 24, 2025, 5:50 pm • 1 0 • view
Strunk and White isn’t just for written communications Omit needless words
aug 25, 2025, 12:11 am • 0 0 • view
Sure, that’ll help. Any other pearls of wisdom before the fascist nazi owns Chicago??! DO SOMETHING!!!!
aug 25, 2025, 3:32 am • 0 0 • view
Physically incapable of saying "this is bad" because a donor somewhere might think it's good
aug 24, 2025, 2:30 pm • 136 1 • view
The rotten ghost of George Wallace probably
aug 24, 2025, 9:51 pm • 0 0 • view
I feel like this has permeated most professions however. Very hard to find people who just directly say what they mean, rather than couching it in niche language. Management speak has infested everything. Admin in my school district used to”deliverables” last year (I’m a teacher). 🙄
aug 24, 2025, 2:36 pm • 54 3 • view
what are deliverables?
aug 24, 2025, 2:44 pm • 1 0 • view
Strategic goals delivered with a bow
aug 24, 2025, 2:53 pm • 4 0 • view
oh geez. yeah, that sounds kind of icky.
aug 24, 2025, 2:55 pm • 2 0 • view
Great point
aug 24, 2025, 3:31 pm • 0 0 • view
Distraction! Drink!
aug 24, 2025, 3:38 pm • 0 0 • view
He talks like a robot 🤖🗣️everytime you can feel he just repeating the same stuff every where…It’s a shame 😫Dana gave him way to create a viral moment…smh He a weak leader unfortunately
aug 24, 2025, 3:58 pm • 0 0 • view
Masked hoodlums beating up people in the streets does not seem like a "distraction." Giving a couple of yahoos a Kennedy honor is a distraction.
aug 24, 2025, 4:38 pm • 0 0 • view
the voice of HR/Legal, two famously popular groups within any org
aug 24, 2025, 2:45 pm • 7 1 • view
More action, less lectures. Why can't DC Ds anticipate MAGA/47's next moves when most of us out of DC Ds can?
aug 24, 2025, 3:54 pm • 0 0 • view
Not really. The communications problem Dems have is that they don't have nearly the information system bandwidth that the RW propaganda machinery has. Endless angst about the *content* of TheMessage™ and meanwhile the RW propaganda machinery drowns it all out anyway. We keep thinking that /1
aug 24, 2025, 4:20 pm • 1 0 • view
getting just the right "message" (which no one agrees on) will fix it. It won't. We need bandwidth. The RW propaganda machinery gets bigger and more powerful every day. If we don't start countering it, we're toast if we're not already toast. /2
aug 24, 2025, 4:20 pm • 1 0 • view
I want to take the word distraction away from them so much
aug 24, 2025, 2:34 pm • 60 0 • view
They just need to say what it's distracting from! Tariff failures, Epstein, Russia capitulation. Why can't they just say it?
aug 24, 2025, 2:56 pm • 15 0 • view
Here’s why TERFS: “we must protect the children” Epstein: “yes, democrats killed and ate babies” Russia; “HOAX!” there’s nothing they can say that the population they want (white cis straight male nt voters) want more than racism and hate of Other Nothing
aug 24, 2025, 5:49 pm • 0 0 • view
It is a distraction from whatever they currently have focus group research on, and they need to wait for the focus group research to return on the new thing in order to decide what they think about it.
aug 24, 2025, 3:06 pm • 10 0 • view
I.e, they can’t speak from the heart because they don’t have core beliefs.
aug 24, 2025, 3:07 pm • 1 0 • view
"Trump's a blowhard. He should stop using our cops as props." That's what all those consultant-words boil down to, and *what we want to hear*!
aug 24, 2025, 2:46 pm • 22 4 • view
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, words, blah, words, blah, blah. DO SOMETHING you useless twat.
aug 24, 2025, 3:21 pm • 0 0 • view
Plain speech and clear communication is a sign that the speaker understands whatever it is he/she/they are speaking about (and understands their audience).
aug 24, 2025, 3:53 pm • 0 0 • view
Yes, Dems have to realize that their voters are not Republicans and the GOP strategy of having a set of talking points that they repeat over and over doesn't work on voters looking for authenticity. We need leaders that don't need a focus group to tell them what to say.
aug 24, 2025, 3:08 pm • 0 0 • view
Or worse they use right wing framing and gop talking points.
aug 24, 2025, 2:45 pm • 3 0 • view
You are so frickin right!!! Soooo sick of platitudes!! What the French fried f@&k!!!!?!
aug 24, 2025, 6:23 pm • 0 0 • view
Totally agree they suck at plain speech. Why can’t he say something like, Trump wants to D-Day street crime. He thinks he’s fucking Churchill. We want to spend more on local police.
aug 24, 2025, 2:51 pm • 1 0 • view
It's incredible if you ever listen to the Pod Save Bros how they're obsessed with messaging. How should Democrats message an issue never a single thought about what do we actually think about the issues. A total absence of leadership.
aug 25, 2025, 9:28 pm • 2 0 • view
It's so easy to say Team Blue could change their tune and start winning. The fact is scared people aren't listening to any message that doesn't perpetuate their bias. They're stupid and only hear what they agree with.
aug 25, 2025, 5:13 am • 1 0 • view
“You shouldn’t deploy the armed forces against American citizens. These are the actions of a weak, cowardly, tin-pot dictator.” It’s not hard.
aug 24, 2025, 2:31 pm • 172 11 • view
Yup.
aug 25, 2025, 4:56 pm • 0 0 • view
“Always lead with fear that you’ll be acccused of being anti-police, then use weasel words and abstractions to further ensure you’re not really saying anything anyone will remember.”
aug 24, 2025, 5:54 pm • 0 0 • view
Hakim sure knows how to fire up the base. Sounds like he wants to be Prep school class president, not save us from Adolph Trump.
aug 24, 2025, 6:59 pm • 0 0 • view
They try to be so careful not to offend any potential voters. This might masquerade as "decorum," but it just makes them sound vague, namby-pamby, and groundless. And voters are sick of it.
aug 24, 2025, 3:14 pm • 3 0 • view
The problem is that Jeffries is a child with a child’s vocabulary.
aug 24, 2025, 5:51 pm • 0 0 • view
Bingo. It's fairly interesting, because it sounds like they're using the consultant word list, but they aren't. It's just that the two things get thrown in the same "elitespeak" trashcan by normal people. I think this is why Walz seemed like a barn burner until he got picked for VP.
aug 24, 2025, 6:10 pm • 0 0 • view
Just say "Release the Epstein files".
aug 24, 2025, 2:42 pm • 0 0 • view
The actual fascism isn't "a distraction." Sending the military to occupy its own countrie's cities against the will of locally elected officials sounds like the fascism.
aug 24, 2025, 4:26 pm • 0 0 • view
What does the Democratic Leadership unequivocally stand for? What do they unequivocally stand against? Dem Leaders equivocate, and conceal to avoid committing. No trust or integrity. The leave the space open for Republicans to define them because in the absence of honesty, the assumption is not.
aug 24, 2025, 8:14 pm • 1 0 • view
Jeffries is an automaton reading from a script written by donors and his own ambition. Nothing more. Nothing less. He may as well not even be real.
aug 24, 2025, 7:19 pm • 0 0 • view
plain speech—so so much this!
aug 25, 2025, 2:17 am • 0 0 • view
No shit. How great would it have been if he had said "This is some fascist bullshit and we are going to fight until we are dead or free!"
aug 24, 2025, 3:08 pm • 8 2 • view
If he believes the last part of what he says here, everything else he says before it is just drivel. Have some teeth ffs
aug 24, 2025, 2:39 pm • 0 0 • view
And it’s often based on polling which is never representative of the current moment. Polls will never reveal how you should act in the present moment, that comes from one’s own moral compass
aug 24, 2025, 3:11 pm • 0 0 • view
Exactamundo
aug 24, 2025, 5:53 pm • 0 0 • view
Yep. Cuz they are thinking of their job!
aug 25, 2025, 12:07 pm • 0 0 • view
@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social needs to step aside.
aug 24, 2025, 2:42 pm • 1 0 • view
I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to live in DC (or soon, Chicago or NY or?), be experiencing the military occupation, look to their political opposition and see that absolute waffle. He's not winning any voters by calling it a distraction.
aug 24, 2025, 3:23 pm • 0 0 • view
Democrats need tanks who make waves and swing bold words like clubs. Then the minions can follow up.
aug 24, 2025, 3:03 pm • 0 0 • view
My mind glazed over about 5 words in.
aug 24, 2025, 3:08 pm • 0 0 • view
"should" vs "we will" says it all, really.
aug 24, 2025, 3:08 pm • 0 0 • view
There is nothing wrong with his speech, people micromanaging their every utterance are a big part of the problem
aug 24, 2025, 9:55 pm • 0 0 • view
Pelosi initially called Epstein a "distraction" before she walked it back. I believe two things about Jeffries: 1. People give him too much criticism at times. 2. He doesn't have great instincts for the kind of politics we have now. Pols who do: Pritzker, Crockett, AOC, Newsom, Frost, others.
aug 24, 2025, 4:25 pm • 1 0 • view
It's painful to listen to.
aug 25, 2025, 11:53 am • 0 0 • view
Blah blah blah I'm sick of this shit.
aug 24, 2025, 8:05 pm • 1 0 • view
I read it as, continue to take his shit and donate to my campaign. Cowards.
aug 25, 2025, 1:29 pm • 0 0 • view
Simplify. Not MAGA bumperstickers, but no double speak, 10 page policy papers, etc. to answer questions. 1. Illinois has not invited the Guard to their state 2. This is not an emergency - crime stats are down in a profound way. 3. We will fight this level of illegal tyranny
aug 24, 2025, 3:40 pm • 0 0 • view
First of all they should abandon Dana bash.
aug 25, 2025, 12:05 am • 0 0 • view
It’s so bad. He is trying to play both sides of the argument and ends up sounding like an alien.
aug 24, 2025, 4:28 pm • 0 0 • view
If said aliens were races of morons
aug 24, 2025, 4:30 pm • 0 0 • view
Fascism can't be a distraction from fascism. He is fulfilling his pledge to be a dictator and to be a hunter against anyone who opposes him.
aug 24, 2025, 2:48 pm • 8 0 • view
AIPAC Jeffries doesn't bring fire.
aug 25, 2025, 12:37 am • 0 0 • view
Corporations use consultants, and neoliberalism long ago infected their minds with the same ethos.
aug 24, 2025, 2:32 pm • 10 0 • view
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec... Exclusive Pentagon plans military deployment in Chicago as Trump eyes crackdown Military officials are sketching out a plan that could deploy a few thousand National Guard members, officials said. The use of... Today at 8:12 p.m. EDT By Dan Lamothe
aug 24, 2025, 7:00 pm • 0 0 • view
Exactly! Just say it! "We're going to stop that crazy from messing up everyone's lives just because he's on the EPSTEIN LIST."
aug 24, 2025, 5:00 pm • 2 1 • view
Because the typical viewers of Sunday morning TV shows don't want to hear politicians screaming and cursing. He knows and understand the demographics of these shows. No, he does not sound like man with his hair on fire, because words law and order resonate with the viewers (voters).
aug 24, 2025, 5:58 pm • 0 0 • view
Everything wrong with Dems is they use values in service of comms/politics instead of using comms/politics in service of values.
aug 24, 2025, 2:36 pm • 3 0 • view
exactly! People want plain speech and realness and fight And not AIPAC I’m sorry it’s painful to witness the hamstringing against speaking up against a genocide
aug 24, 2025, 5:13 pm • 0 0 • view
@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social it’s Fascism. Say it.
aug 24, 2025, 3:38 pm • 0 0 • view
Even Raskin can’t hammer out simple truths, and he’s more comfortable in half-empty committee rooms than on the sidewalk.
aug 24, 2025, 3:34 pm • 0 0 • view
And the focus groups are only concerned with what they "think" will appeal to white suburban Trump voters.
aug 24, 2025, 4:42 pm • 0 0 • view
pro: nuance is good con: 90% of the electorate won't remember nuance
aug 24, 2025, 3:07 pm • 0 0 • view
The problem often isn’t with representatives, it’s that the issues are complex. The DC mayor and court killed Trump’s attempt to take over the DC police department. The courts ruled Newsom couldn’t call off the National Guard, and the Mayor has even less authority than he had. So (see below)
aug 24, 2025, 4:52 pm • 0 0 • view
I remember growing up & being taught "say what you mean, don't hem/haw, on the one hand .... If you yourself believe in what you're saying --say it!! Whomever came up with the "focus-group" idea, and need for minute-by-nano-second polling has created a horrible mess for a nation that cannot think.
aug 24, 2025, 4:31 pm • 0 0 • view
Please @summerlee.bsky.social , encourage Leader @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social to wake up and smell the goddamn coffee!
aug 24, 2025, 2:44 pm • 0 0 • view
And blah blah blah @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social
aug 24, 2025, 5:04 pm • 0 0 • view
I probably shouldn't, but I do kind of blame The West Wing. That show did so much damage to a generation or two of dems.
aug 24, 2025, 2:36 pm • 12 0 • view
Maybe some, but the West Wing was downstream of 90s Democratic politics. And too many Democrats leaders are STILL stuck in that era, which is what drives me the most nuts about the gerontocracy.
aug 24, 2025, 3:00 pm • 1 0 • view
I mean it was basically a fantasy version of the Clinton administration. But yeah, they are still stuck, I'm just saying Sorkin owns a part of that, by trapping the next generation in a mythic amber.
aug 24, 2025, 3:04 pm • 2 0 • view
If anything, it tricked them into thinking republicans were ethical.
aug 24, 2025, 2:46 pm • 20 0 • view
nah it tricked them into basing their politics on lower division stats rather than on listening and leading their people.
aug 24, 2025, 2:59 pm • 5 0 • view
Please expand a bit here cuz I am leaning towards disagreeing but I need this thought train spelled out a bit before I know
aug 24, 2025, 4:26 pm • 2 0 • view
Maybe what I mean is - if I remember the show correctly, which it’s entirely possible that I’m not - there was a lot more bipartisanship on that show than what I’ve seen in politics the last ten years or so. My thought trains don’t always stay on the track, so go at it. heh.
aug 24, 2025, 4:31 pm • 1 0 • view
I see, I'm a super fan, watched the whole show at least 3 times, there was one reasonable republican, but there was a lot of evil republicans throughout the show. I mean, the show did show a utopian world where politics wasn't as dirty as in reality, and that view did skew things a bit
aug 24, 2025, 4:35 pm • 2 0 • view
The polling shit was shit, and the show mostly made excuses for Dems favoring a weak presidency, and ignoring effective presidencies like Johnson's domestic agenda.
aug 25, 2025, 12:26 am • 1 0 • view
It just really didn't do a good job showing what a good presidency looks like, and how hard and dirty ruling is. I recommend Rick Perlstein's fantastic history of the presidencies, and ofc basically everything by Robert Caro. Even more engaging and real.
aug 25, 2025, 12:27 am • 2 0 • view
Of course it didn't it's a fantasy utopian political world - Caro is great, haven't read Perlstein, I'm a pop culture studies person and a tv junkies lol, I try to do both.
aug 25, 2025, 2:51 pm • 1 0 • view
it was good tv, and i enjoyed it, i just think in the end it hurt american badly. kind of opposite of the wire that way - it was harder to watch, but more nutritious of a media diet. even aaron sorkin eventually said he didn't know what he was talking about, he was just writing TV, not politics.
aug 25, 2025, 7:32 pm • 2 0 • view
I bet you kill at trivia. 🙌
aug 25, 2025, 3:26 pm • 1 0 • view
I mean, it’s still tv at the end of the day. I’ve heard of Perlstein’s stuff but haven’t read it. Caro is kind of canon in that genre.
aug 25, 2025, 12:22 pm • 1 0 • view
I suppose I wouldn't be the first or last random nerd to proclaim TV is bad for you into the void 😂 but yeah, @rickperlstein.bsky.social is incredibly readable. He's done all the homework and still makes it read like great novel.
aug 25, 2025, 1:12 pm • 3 0 • view
Eh, there was more than one – like Walken and another Speaker were portrayed rather sympathetically – but I only recall Ainsley Hayes being more than a passing figure and even she got Put On A Bus (which was too bad; the character was great). Oh and Alan Alda's character in the last season.
aug 24, 2025, 6:16 pm • 2 0 • view
It is still good , even though I sometimes find the rah ray America of it a bit over the top, esp these days but it offered an optimistic view of politics and that is both good and bad imo
aug 24, 2025, 4:40 pm • 1 0 • view
I should give it a rewatch. I dig Martin Sheen & Bradley Whitford so much.
aug 24, 2025, 4:39 pm • 1 0 • view
There are good people on both sides....we can have a drink with them after work and talk things through...we all want to help the American people. Horseshit.
aug 24, 2025, 3:26 pm • 0 0 • view
Chuckles, I’m going to choose to believe my eyes and ears and say there are *very few* republicans I would have a drink with right now, if any at all. The cruelty is unforgivable.
aug 24, 2025, 3:44 pm • 0 0 • view
Um. He(?) literally ended the post with the word Horseshit.
aug 25, 2025, 12:11 am • 2 0 • view
Oh thanks, I misread this
aug 25, 2025, 12:18 pm • 1 0 • view
I thought I wasn’t paying good enough attention because he did not say anything I just heard words.
aug 24, 2025, 9:24 pm • 1 0 • view
It’s like they are speaking another language of which I recognize words but none of it conveys a meaning or information.
aug 24, 2025, 2:50 pm • 8 0 • view