Fighting Trump Without Becoming Him: Democrats’ Plan?

Over the next few weeks, FrameLab contributor Jason Sattler will examine how Democrats are communicating in this era of Trump fascism. Jason is LOLGOP on BlueSky and pretty much any other social media platform. His writing has appeared in USA TODAY, Wired.com, the New York Daily News and Alternet.

Democrats have never been this unhappy with their own party, at least not in the last 30 years.

Earlier this summer, Gallup reported that the favorable rating of the Democratic Party had plummeted to 34%. That’s the lowest number recorded since the poll began in 1995, and 4 points lower than the GOP. 

The polling firm noted that the “image woes partly stem from Democratic identifiers’ historically low favorable rating of their own party.” And that lack of persuasiveness to their own base has left the party just about as unpopular with swing voters as Republicans.

But here’s the good news

Still, somehow, this branding nightmare doesn’t mean the party’s future is cooked. 

Democrats have pulled ahead of Republicans in party identification for the second time since early 2024, and they also hold a lead on the generic ballot, though a far smaller lead than at a similar point in 2017. 

The best news is coming out of states about to hold pivotal elections—bellwether Virginia, and blue New Jersey. Democrats at the top of the ticket hold leads beyond the margin of error in non-partisan polls.

This data suggests that two trends you may have observed online may actually exist outside our algorithms: 1) America is turning against Donald Trump and his GOP, and 2) Democrats largely feel that politics as usual is leadings us toward disaster, so they’re desperate for a party that aggressively confronts Trump. 

The people demand action—or memes

These contradicting trends help explain why parts of the Democratic base have been so giddy about Gavin Newsom’s trolling. 

FrameLab’s Gil Durán explained why the governor of California’s antics garner far more attention than other Democrats who are also bringing the fight to the GOP in more subtle ways. 

Subtlety obviously isn’t impressing the party base. They want leaders who match their fury with action, or at least memes.

Newsom’s abortive effort to host a right-wing podcast, and his triangulating against trans people’s fundamental rights, contain problematic contradictions of their own. But he’s one of the few early examples of how a Democratic leader has tried to step up messaging to face the realities of opposing a fascist quickly consolidating control of the government and the media.

What Newsom does right

Other Trump opponents should leave the task of trying to out-Trump Trump with ego and ridiculousness to Newsom, who has the ego and staff to pull it off. You’re not going to do it better than Newsom. He has mastered the bit so well that it would be hard to tell if you’re aping him or Trump.

Yet Democrats can definitely learn from how Newsom seemed to figure out, as his state’s largest city was being invaded. The only way to counter Trump—with his incredible ability to use propaganda to engage his followers in “deep stories,” combined with the massive powers of the federal government—is to understand the dynamics of constant cognitive warfare.

Here’s how that works:

1. Crave conflict
   The right has spent billions to shift the information landscape in its favor—online and off. Exploit that by forcing the media to cover your conflicts with the regime that advance your frames. This will help “magnetize” your message.
2. Be everywhere
   Democrats need to break through algorithms to reach the people whom Rob Flaherty, Kamala Harris’ Deputy Campaign Manager, calls the “opt-out voters”: Go on every podcast you can. Constantly produce video. Bring in the people who don’t follow you and “preach” to your own choir, so they will then preach your message out to the world.
3. Repeat
   Try everything. When you find a message that works, repeat it everywhere. When it doesn’t work, move on, try something else. Make mistakes! Negative attention should not be feared, as it has been by mainstream Democrats for decades. Instead, see that heat as a chance to shift attention to the messages you want to repeat.

‘Yeah, but what about?!’

If you follow politics at all, you’re probably screaming, “But _______ does that! And s/he does it better than Newsom!” And you’re probably right. 

Newsom has the platform, the confidence, and the white maleness that make the media comfortable elevating his conflicts with Trump. Fox, for instance, fixates on him, either sensing opportunity or trying to drive up his negatives in case 2028 is anything like a real election.

But no single white knight is going to save us. We need an Avengers of Cognitive Warriors to invite more people into this fight with stories and tactics that people can’t help but share.

Luckily, we have excellent examples at the state, federal, and local levels who have found that they don’t need to become a Trump to take one on. It’s not just the names everyone knows, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Pete Buttigieg, two politicians familiar with Dr. George Lakoff’s work and who have exhibited some masterful messaging and framing.

Still, we all have to admit that no one has discovered the cheat code to stop the right’s assault on our freedom. We can all do better, since every one of us will play a role in deciding if we can keep this republic.

In the next installment, we’ll look at another governor who has taken a different path to confronting fascism in real-time. Which politicians impress you most? Let Jason know in the comments.