What I’m about to say isn’t new. It isn’t even my idea. The hero who gave the advice to Democrats to not fall into the trap of using Republican phrases and framing is George Lakoff, and his Don’t Think of an Elephant should be required reading for anyone on the left. Sadly, what with the state of the Democratic leadership, the obvious bears repeating.
You have to give the devil — and Republicans — their due. They pick their nomenclature, and they stick to it in lockstep. Pro-life, narcoterrorists, school choice, Sleepy Joe, far-left extremists, antifa, parental choice, Who’s a woman?, calling everyone a communist, even using freedom to describe actions that take away people’s freedom. They don’t ever deviate from the prescribed vocabulary playbook. It should be obvious that we should never use their phrases. (Unless you’re turning them on their head. We’ll get to that later.)
But what we also need to do is come up with our own phrases. And use them. All of us. All of the time.
The pettiest White House in American history just dead-named Admiral Dr. Rachel Levine, assistant secretary of health, in the Biden White House. Because there’s not enough money to ensure that ACA premiums don’t double or triple, but there’s millions of dollars for ridiculous gilded ballrooms, Donald Trump’s golf junkets, an autopen joke, and replacing the name on Dr. Levine’s official portrait.
So, if they’re that committed to birth names, then every single Democrat needs to refer to Vice President James Bowman. Ubiquitously. We can let Republicans call that guy JD Vance, the fourth name change made by the most expedient politician on the public stage these days, but not a single Democrat should let that name cross their lips. Evermore. If any Republican has the nerve to object, we need to point out that they’re the ones who insist on dead-naming people. Any #MAGA woman needs to be called by her maiden name. Hey, that’s what you guys want, right? Well, here it is!
We need to take on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s sad attempt to make the Trump regime (note that phrase instead of “Trump Administration” and use it early and often) look as if it were really trying to do something about drugs. (And refer to Hegseth as #WhiskeyPete while they’re at it.) Democrats should always refer to those casualties as random Venezuelan fisherman, unlucky Venezuelan fishermen, or the like. The bombings must always be termed war crimes. Or apparent war crimes or alleged war crimes, if you’re wimpy. Interviews on television need to feature mentions of the Nuremberg Trials and the advisability of turning over #WhiskeyPete to the International Criminal Court so that no one thinks it’s a partisan prosecution. (The added benefit, of course, is that turning #WhiskeyPete and #PresidentDunce over to the ICC means a future Republican president can’t pardon them.)
Remember how Republicans invariably painted President Joe Biden as diminished, cognitively impaired, and drooling? I’ve heard that turn-about is fair play. Let’s find out, shall we?
- Every Democrat, elected or not, on one of those TV news programs needs to express amazement at how quickly Donald Trump is going downhill. Oh, my goodness!
- Trump is only working about five hours per day, mostly ensuring that he’s done before Alzheimer patients traditionally start to sundown. Oh, no! We know what that means!
- Trump, a terrible speaker who has never been able to stay on topic, is worse than ever, rambling nonsensically on the regular. What Trump once called The Weave has turned into Grandpa Simpson Gobbledygook. Oh, no!
- In the greatest case of Karma ever, the man who referred to Biden as “Sleepy Joe” can’t seem to stay awake. Never let an opportunity escape to remind Americans what cognitive impairment really looks like!
You can see how effective Democrats in lockstep can be with the success of using the term affordability and its related nomenclature in the November elections. But why stop there? Call extending the ACA tax credits pro-life at every opportunity. (Remember what I said about turning their preferred terminology on its head?) Refer to affordable college, housing, and affordable childcare as protecting our children/families or supporting American families or treating the 99% half as well as we treat the 1% or expanding the middle class or rebuilding America/the American middle class or making American great again if you really want to piss people off. (For example, a good argument to make is this one: “To make America great again, to return to the advances of the New Deal that built the middle class, we have to invest in the 99%, not the 1%.”) Throw freedom around as much as possible: the freedom to learn, the freedom to be who you are, the freedom to contribute to society (used to support women in the workplace and elected office), the freedom to love who you want, the freedom to follow Christ by protecting undocumented immigrants as Jesus instructed.
And, if you doubt that terminology can bring success, remember how renaming the Reagan Administration’s Strategic Defense Initiative to the derisive name “Star Wars” managed to kill that 1980s boondoggle. (Thank you, Senator Ted Kennedy!)
Okay, you’ve got your marching orders. Lock in that vocabulary, make up more if you can, and use them every chance you get. It’s time to frame the narrative, just as Dr. Lakoff said. Remember – your choice of words matters. Make it count!
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