10 One-Liners for Democrats

Believe it or not, most people don’t read the New York Times, and they don’t choose who to vote for by gathering information and making reasoned decisions. Instead, people start with their own preconceptions about the world, absorb the tenor of the news, and make a snap judgment of the candidates. It’s hard but not impossible to change people’s minds once they’ve chosen a side.

Simple, aggressive, repetitive messages break through to voters who don’t obsess over politics. An effective message attacks the other side’s core beliefs.

In other words, the kind of messaging Democrats are terrible at. Democrats’ idea of a good slogan is: “Keep hope alive” and “Yes, we can.” Feel-good lines that at best energize people who were going to vote Democrat anyway but contain nothing that would persuade a non-crazy Republican voter to switch sides.

To help out Democrats, I offer the following sound bites for them to repeat at every opportunity between now and election day:

“The United States is weaker and more isolated today than it has been since 1941.”

“In the last 25 years, the Republican Party has killed more Americans than all foreign adversaries in the history of the United States, combined.”

“Republicans don’t believe in the right to life or anything else. They only believe in one thing: their own self-righteousness.”

“Being pro-business is the opposite of being pro-growth…unless you know of a business that doesn’t need workers and customers. Democrats are pro-balance and pro-growth.”

“Republicans don’t believe in free markets. They believe in allowing big corporations to mine the government for profits instead of competing fairly.”

“There isn’t a single conservative principle Republicans haven’t betrayed.”

“The Republican Party is the best political party money can buy.”

“You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re ignorant of American history and culture.”

“Republicans talk about freedom all the time, but actual freedom scares them to death. What they really want is someone to tell them what to think. That’s why they behave like zombies, all saying and doing the exact same thing.”

“Why do Republicans lie and cheat all the time? Because their ideas don’t work, and they’re incompetent. And they know it. They’re practically telling you not to vote for them.”

If you don’t hear Democrats talking like this, they’re not winning.

Final note: none of these sound bites mentions Donald Trump. He is not the opponent; the Republican Party is. Democrats waste opportunities every time they attack Trump unless to illustrate how disastrous the Republican Party has been for decades.