Republicans are going to work fast to roll back any progress we were able to get past their obstruction the last 8 years. And they’re going to do more gerrymandering and voter suppression to make sure they keep both houses in 2018.
Democrats can’t win by getting more donations and improving GOTV alone.
Even if Democrats get progressive all of a sudden they have to convince millions what that means. Bernie was heard in the media because he was a candidate with support. Do you think in a Trump managed MSM new progressive voices will be heard?
Trump didn’t win because of his use of social media and the internet, just as social media and the internet weren’t effective in stopping him. Or getting reform through OWS. With all the shit Trump said and did, how can anyone reasonably argue Hillary lost because of what she said or did? Or emails? They won because they’ve had a loud focused message for 25 years and they determined what was acceptable and what wasn’t. Trump rode that in. That’s why he didn’t need money and that why he beat the ‘establishment’ candidates.
From “OperationTrump”, New York Magazine by Gabriel Sherman 4/3/2016:
“Throughout 2014, the three fed Trump strategy memos and political intelligence. “I listened to thousands of hours of talk radio, and he was getting reports from me,” Nunberg recalled. What those reports said was that the GOP base was frothing over a handful of issues including immigration, Obamacare, and Common Core.”
The Republican advantage is their coordinated national and local control of that giant buzz machine. Talk radio is the only medium Republicans completely dominate. In every other medium there is ‘competition’ — alternate voices. Now it’s worse because they will be able to coordinate all that yelling from the White House again.
At $1000/hour x 15 hrs/day, 1200 stations are worth about $5BIL/year FREE for the Republicans. How can the Democratic Party and the progressive organizations continue to ignore that?
Liberals have to do something different. We have to go on the offensive.
Without talk radio Republicans will lose the House and Senate. That could make a huge difference for the supreme court if some of the older justices can hold on.
Anyone doing business with ANY RW talk radio station needs to be boycotted and shunned.
Those stations and the 88 universities that broadcast sports on them (helping them attract advertisers) need to be protested.
The Trump team will be able to plan ahead and use those stations to generate ‘popular’ support for their racist, sexist, fascist deregulation — to get Republican reps and media in line and to attack and intimidate their critics and enable blue dogs. Outspoken critics like Sanders and Warren will get totally trashed on a regular basis and by ignoring rw radio progressives will not be able to say they got their backs.
Once every few weeks we’ll see one of them getting interrupted by Chuck Todd on Sunday morning.
Progressive reps sticking their necks out will be up against armies of Republican think hacks and operatives watching for any progressive meme to get legs so they can construct a PR campaign to derail it. Most of that will come from where it always starts — 1200 coordinated radio stations.
That is how they will generate ‘popular’ support to pass highly unqualified supreme court justices. They will use it to distract us with national and local ‘emergencies’. They will use it to push lies, anger their base, and make excuses for their radicalism and crimes. And just like Iraq, that is where the next war will be sold from.
Turn on any local RW talk station and you will know what I mean. Those stations are essential to all of their plans.
The Democratic Party and progressive organizations have failed to do ANYTHING about it. The actions versus Limbaugh after he attacked Sandra Fluke were small but effective, but not enough. The few hundred liars blasting our states and communities can say anything they want because no one gets in their face. There’s a reason they made Limbaugh an honorary member of the House when they won it in 1994.
The talk radio PSYOPS cannot survive if a few of those deplorable universities merely begin discussing pulling out of RW radio. The rest of the 90+ schools will be shamed into discussing it too, and advertisers will leave an already hurting format. Most of the people working at those stations would probably love to switch to sports or music if the local GOP and think tanks would let them. If Republicans increase their subsidy of talk radio it will start looking more like the propaganda operation it is.
Those schools have no excuse, and now they’re going to help Republicans defund them even further. Tuition will go up and minimum wages will go down. Students need to realize that their own universities are working against them. Everyone of those of those schools is a good place to protest anything Trump.
Protests for almost any issue, from global warming and environment to women’s rights to racism will be more effective if talk radio is included in some way — those stations will always be on Trump’s side and they can shout over protests anywhere unless they are part of the focus. Those protests will get media because the Republicans will be screaming about it, worried about the stations that have ben getting a free speech free ride for 30 years.
Even if the MSM does its job and gets tougher on Trump he will still have talk radio to fight back unless Americans do something about it.
Americans have two years to get the House and Senate back. That will be a hell of a lot easier if Trump’s minions don’t have that massive talk radio advantage. Start it NOW, before January. Put them on the defensive on day 1.
It can be quite satisfying to listen to a few minutes of local RW radio, any time of the day and any national or local talker, write down a few telephone numbers, and make a few irate calls about their support for Trump radio.
And most campuses are quite pleasant.