Democrats have always had a messaging problem. While Republicans are laser focused and keep pounding the same idea over and over again, we tend to lack such messaging discipline. This is clearly one of the things that will have to change if we are going to retake the reins of government in the long term. Generally, successful messaging depends on two things: first, the message should achieve multiple goals simultaneously. Second, the message must be hammered over and over again.
This is why I was so heartened to see Chuck Schumer tying the Gorsuch vote to the Russia scandal. When it comes to message effectiveness, this one is really great. First, it sidesteps the issue of whether or not Gorsuch is qualified. Though I am completely in agreement that this right wing fanatic should be kept off the Supreme Court, and that Garland really did deserve that seat, one has to be pragmatic in selecting a messaging strategy that will persuade the largest swath of Americans possible. This achieves that, because it completely takes the entire issue of qualification off the table. It also means that Senators from R-leaning states have political cover in supporting an eventual filibuster. Saying that you are trying doing your patriotic duty and ensuring that our president is legitimate sure sounds good, doesn’t it?
Indeed, it arguably foreshadows a potentially very effective strategy by the Dems — refuse to do anything until the Russia matter is settled.
Second, it brings the spotlight back to something that the entire country needs to be focused on — the likely collusion by the Trump campaign and the Russian government. If Garland could be held up for political reasons, surely we can wait until we find out if our President colluded with a foreign government during his campaign before allowing him to nominate a Supreme Court justice. The country deserves to know what the hell happened during the campaign, and whether or not the sitting President got to that position through active intervention by a foreign power. Just as importantly, keeping the headlines focused on Russia will only help Democrats and hurt Republicans.
Already the story is paying huge political dividends. “Serious” conservative outlets like WSJ are starting to come around, and are asking what the hell is going on. There are even cracks over at the impenetrable propaganda wall of Fox News. This could be the wedge that separates enough of the congressional GOP from Trump to render his Presidency stillborn. And rightly so — if you got there with help from the Russians, you don’t deserve to govern.
As it should be clear, I feel strongly that this should be the tactic going forward: refuse to do anything until the Russia question is settled. Tie everything to Russia. President wants a budget? That’s nice, but for now let’s just keep doing continuing resolutions until we figure out what happened in Russia. President wants a Secretary of the Navy? Seriously, we are going to let a Russian stooge put someone in charge of our Navy? President wants a Supreme Court justice? Is the nominee a secret Russian??? You get the picture.
Now the real question — will this be a real talking point, repeated ad nauseum by our Senators? Or is this just another good messaging idea our tragically disorganized party fails to capitalize on? Can we drag our tepid party to finally adopt a winning obstruction strategy? I surely hope so.
UPDATE (3/23/17, 17:58 EST):
This is how its done (from the office of Ted Lieu, D-CA):
“The bombshell revelation that U.S. officials have information that suggests Trump associates may have colluded with the Russians means we must pause the entire Trump agenda. We may have an illegitimate President of the United States currently occupying the White House.”
“Other than allowing routine governmental functions, there must be a total and complete shutdown of any agenda item being pushed by the Trump Administration. Congress cannot continue regular order and must stop voting on any Trump-backed agenda item until the FBI completes its Trump-Russia collusion investigation.”
“Congress must immediately form an independent commission and appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the collusion allegations with impartiality and independence. Congress also needs to pass the Resolution of Inquiry, authored by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and I, to compel the Trump Administration to publicly disclose information on its Russian ties to the American people. At this point in our nation's history, there is nothing more important than finding out whether or not high crimes were committed by associates of Donald Trump or possibly by Trump himself.”