"It is absolutely critical that Democrats make this story about more than the finances of one corrupt, broke man. It needs to be a story about a corrupt and broken financial system that rewards the wealthy at the expense of the working and middle class."
YES. Maybe I've been studying The Message Box a little too closely, because when the story broke yesterday and all my FB friends were posting about Don being a cheat, what I posted was:
"There's a lot to unpack here, but I just want to say this first: In 2016, when Donald Trump paid $750 in taxes, I paid $2945. There's a lot of corruption and lying and whatnot in this story, BUT corruption isn't the only story here. LOTS of rich people pay very little in taxes by using perfectly legal loopholes. That HAS to change. This country is massively broken when I paid four times as much money in taxes as Donald fucking Trump during a year when I was a freelancer and single mom barely making ends meet."
Yes, Donald Trump is a cheat, and of course that matters, but he's not the only one not paying taxes, and many of them are doing it through perfectly legal means. Poor and middle-class people paying more in taxes than rich folks isn't a bug in the GOP platform; it's a FEATURE.
We need to explain to people into what the deductions and lack of tax accountability translates. R’s constantly talk about Dem’s plans costing too much, that we can’t go into debt with “entitlements” that help people survive. The reason we wouldn’t be able to afford such programs is the tax laws and loopholes that people like Trump and his friends abuse to avoid paying taxes.
Every dime they cheat their way out of paying is another dime the rest of us have to pay! Hate seeing your paycheck disappear to the federal government every week? That isn’t happening to millionaires and billionaires! They’re keeping their exorbitant pay and all the profits the workers laboring for them produced! Meanwhile they’re complaining about paying said workers an expired minimum wage of $15 that won’t even afford them quitting one of their 3 jobs. Disgusting.
I'm one of those who is outside of the NYT-Dan's Message Box Venn overlap. Thanks for making this information digestible and actionable. Keep up the good work in helping people relay important information to uninformed voters.
excellent once again, grounded in research about what works. Hopefully this helps chip away at his "economic genius" perception (eye roll into back of head) but we have to land it simply. Joe's video is so good and makes the point -- am circulating it to everyone I know to message this and use their platforms. Even for the people on "our" side we have to counteract the "nobody cares inevitability" with something pithy like Nurse/Teacher/Firefighter vs. $750.
Dan- one very important part of the equation that should be talked about IMO is his massive debt load and how that clearly puts him in a compromising position. Any thoughts on how to best communicate that to a broad audience?
This sure won't change one mind of his cult members, nor bring any outrage from the GOP enablers, but perhaps for those individuals that say they are voting but aren't really all that committed this will drive them to vote. We really do need a landslide!
Excellent advice. It's also a chance to contrast that Trump and Republicans want to gut another key piece of the economic safety net: Social Security. While Joe has a specific plan to strengthen it, including raising the SS payroll tax cap on high earners.
This may seem far removed from the tax story, but isn't really: your strategy of an over-arching economic narrative could be useful to Democrats re: the Barrett SCOTUS nomination. Her record is hostile to unions, gig workers, older workers. Along with the ACA. We might not be able to stop her confirmation, but we can use it to highlight how Trump's court picks will stack it against working people.
Probably not the right place to ask this question, but why don't I see the kind of material the Biden campaign tweets posted on Facebook? I'd love to be able to post some of these videos - especially the tax one - on facebook.
"It is absolutely critical that Democrats make this story about more than the finances of one corrupt, broke man. It needs to be a story about a corrupt and broken financial system that rewards the wealthy at the expense of the working and middle class."
YES. Maybe I've been studying The Message Box a little too closely, because when the story broke yesterday and all my FB friends were posting about Don being a cheat, what I posted was:
"There's a lot to unpack here, but I just want to say this first: In 2016, when Donald Trump paid $750 in taxes, I paid $2945. There's a lot of corruption and lying and whatnot in this story, BUT corruption isn't the only story here. LOTS of rich people pay very little in taxes by using perfectly legal loopholes. That HAS to change. This country is massively broken when I paid four times as much money in taxes as Donald fucking Trump during a year when I was a freelancer and single mom barely making ends meet."
Yes, Donald Trump is a cheat, and of course that matters, but he's not the only one not paying taxes, and many of them are doing it through perfectly legal means. Poor and middle-class people paying more in taxes than rich folks isn't a bug in the GOP platform; it's a FEATURE.
We need to explain to people into what the deductions and lack of tax accountability translates. R’s constantly talk about Dem’s plans costing too much, that we can’t go into debt with “entitlements” that help people survive. The reason we wouldn’t be able to afford such programs is the tax laws and loopholes that people like Trump and his friends abuse to avoid paying taxes.
Every dime they cheat their way out of paying is another dime the rest of us have to pay! Hate seeing your paycheck disappear to the federal government every week? That isn’t happening to millionaires and billionaires! They’re keeping their exorbitant pay and all the profits the workers laboring for them produced! Meanwhile they’re complaining about paying said workers an expired minimum wage of $15 that won’t even afford them quitting one of their 3 jobs. Disgusting.
I'm one of those who is outside of the NYT-Dan's Message Box Venn overlap. Thanks for making this information digestible and actionable. Keep up the good work in helping people relay important information to uninformed voters.
excellent once again, grounded in research about what works. Hopefully this helps chip away at his "economic genius" perception (eye roll into back of head) but we have to land it simply. Joe's video is so good and makes the point -- am circulating it to everyone I know to message this and use their platforms. Even for the people on "our" side we have to counteract the "nobody cares inevitability" with something pithy like Nurse/Teacher/Firefighter vs. $750.
Dan- one very important part of the equation that should be talked about IMO is his massive debt load and how that clearly puts him in a compromising position. Any thoughts on how to best communicate that to a broad audience?
This sure won't change one mind of his cult members, nor bring any outrage from the GOP enablers, but perhaps for those individuals that say they are voting but aren't really all that committed this will drive them to vote. We really do need a landslide!
Excellent advice. It's also a chance to contrast that Trump and Republicans want to gut another key piece of the economic safety net: Social Security. While Joe has a specific plan to strengthen it, including raising the SS payroll tax cap on high earners.
This may seem far removed from the tax story, but isn't really: your strategy of an over-arching economic narrative could be useful to Democrats re: the Barrett SCOTUS nomination. Her record is hostile to unions, gig workers, older workers. Along with the ACA. We might not be able to stop her confirmation, but we can use it to highlight how Trump's court picks will stack it against working people.
Hey, Dan - where's the figure on Ivanka's stylist write-off come from? I'd like to quote it.
Probably not the right place to ask this question, but why don't I see the kind of material the Biden campaign tweets posted on Facebook? I'd love to be able to post some of these videos - especially the tax one - on facebook.