IdeaLog
How to talk about the latest Trump indictment
Posted on June 14, 2023
Trump’s been indicted and MAGA is struggling to defend him. But there’s no way to argue he’s innocent. So instead, the MAGA arguments are designed to change the subject. These arguments are logical fallacies....
Six-step program to enact legislation
Posted on May 31, 2023
Nearly always, it takes years to pass important legislation. So why don’t more progressive lawmakers and advocates prepare multi-year plans? Part of the reason is they only know the same-old methods of organizing and...
Progressives need to frame the political narrative
Posted on May 17, 2023
Liberals, lefties, Democrats, environmentalists, unionists, consumer advocates—all progressive types—suffer from negative stereotypes. Some of these stereotypes were invented by the right-wing messaging machine, and others are self-inflicted. We need to shape the political debate...
The battle cry of freedom
Posted on May 3, 2023
It is time for us all to follow some message framing advice from President Biden – we should explicitly defend American “freedom.” Don’t be afraid to use the word; it is the strongest argument...
Pundits are wrong, the economy is fine
Posted on April 19, 2023
By blocking a routine increase in the debt ceiling, the House GOP is trying to blow up the economy. What Americans don’t understand is how bad that would be, because the current economy is...
How to talk about the Trump indictment
Posted on April 5, 2023
It’s not the indictment that’s unprecedented, it’s the criminality. We’ve never before had a president like Trump—he’s a one-man crime wave. First, let us consider who we’re trying to persuade. The great majority of...
Don’t say “woke” and other idiocy
Posted on March 22, 2023
Here we go again. The rightwing adopts absurd messaging, it dominates the conversation for a time, and then their leaders move on to other, similar absurdities. The directors of the rightwing noise machine know...
For truth, not triangulation, on crime
Posted on March 9, 2023
With the blessing of President Biden, most Democrats in the U.S. Senate joined Republicans in voting to overturn the District of Columbia’s recodification of local criminal laws. This is because the Administration “believes criticism...
The imminent threat of Christian nationalism
Posted on February 22, 2023
PRRI (Public Religion Research Institute) recently published a groundbreaking poll with analysis entitled “Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture.” The topline of the PRRI/Brookings poll received considerable coverage by...
This Big Lie is more dangerous than the one about the 2020 election
Posted on February 8, 2023
Most Republicans now believe that average Democrats are “extreme,” “immoral” and “dishonest.” This results from years of right-wing propaganda. Rank-and-file conservatives now live in a carefully curated alternate reality. According to Pew Research, 72...