Defeat Trump by concentrating on consequences

AP breaks the partisan frame by focusing on Trump policies, not Trump himself.

An Associated Press story published over the weekend carried a clear, direct headline:

“Deep cuts erode the foundations of US public health system, end progress, threaten worse to come.”

And the story delivered a sweeping overview of an immensely important issue.

This is too rare in today’s news media. As the Trump regime tries to bum-rush our democracy with one outrageous move after another, the media scramble to cover them all. Too often, the developments get reported piecemeal – a cancer study canceled here, a false statement about autism there – and the public feels overwhelmed. This AP story brings together a variety of public health cutbacks and identifies a clear, alarming trend.

And most significantly, the story removes the issue from an overtly partisan frame. The name “Trump” doesn’t appear until the second sentence of the fourth paragraph, and it appears only once in the first 20 paragraphs.

Based on how I was trained in the news business, this would be considered a bad approach. After all, the chief newsmaker in the story is Donald Trump. He’s the one making Americans sicker. In journalism, we’re told to avoid passive constructions that fail to hold specific people accountable for specific actions. You see passive statements in news coverage all the time, whether you notice them or not. The classic example is when a politician says, “Mistakes were made.”

Passive construction is often a cop-out, but in this case, AP’s approach is brilliant. And it’s a lesson both for journalists who want to have an impact and democracy defenders who want to defeat Trumpism.

When the media and politicians attack Trump directly, they trigger the defensive reflex that Fox News has long trained in his supporters – the notion that the left and the media have “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and everything they say is “fake news.” When these Trump supporters hear his name uttered by his critics, they instantly discount the rest of the message.

For a decade, I’ve been waiting for Trump supporters to be turned off by his crude behavior and rampant dishonesty. But they haven’t. He makes his base of mostly white, mostly male voters feel good about themselves by sending a message that they own this country, while women and people of color are just renting.

So attacks on Trump’s persona simply don't work. But attacks on the consequences of his policies might. That’s what this AP story is getting at – the consequences. More food poisoning because of a lack of restaurant inspections. More cases of measles because of vaccination cutbacks. More lung cancer deaths because of the cancellation of programs to get people to quit smoking.

Even if readers don’t care about the human costs, there’s the financial price that all of us will pay: “For every dollar spent on childhood immunizations, the country is estimated to save $11; on tobacco cessation, $2-$3; on asthma control, $70,” AP reports.

If the news media and advocates for good government can get that message across before Pavlov’s dog starts barking about “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” they have a chance to be effective. The MAGA faithful probably won’t blame Trump, but they may be more willing to blame “the government.”

You may ask: If we don’t center our arguments on Trump and his fascist gang, won’t we be letting them off the hook?

My answer is no.

We can undermine Trump’s support without a direct assault. The right successfully manufactured dissatisfaction during Joe Biden’s term, making many millions of Americans think the economy was “disastrous” and crime was “skyrocketing,” even though neither was true. We can certainly get the idea of society unraveling across to people now that it actually is unraveling.

Supporters of Trump may not understand what it means to fire inspectors general. They may not care whether children in Africa starve to death because of the trashing of U.S. foreign aid. But the MAGA crowd does notice when prices go up and their government services are cut.

Partisan arguments can wait. Right now, it’s imperative to get across to people that the government isn’t working for them because it’s too busy making the super-rich super-richer.

The Democratic brand is damaged, and it isn’t going to be significantly repaired in the next year or two. But that doesn’t mean left-center values can’t be sold effectively. Those values are held by a clear majority of voters on many key issues, such as abortion rights and gun safety. Even on the issue of the economy, Trump has given the resistance a rare opportunity to gain traction, thanks to his tariff madness.

Instead of framing things as Democrats vs. Republicans, we need to see the choice as decency vs. cruelty, as competence vs. grift.

The midterms are 17 months away – if the would-be dictator in the White House doesn't interfere with our elections.

There will be plenty of time to get partisan later. For now, let’s tell people what their government is doing to make their lives worse. If we can sell that idea – an easily documented fact – maybe they’ll vote differently next time.

They voted for change last year. They can vote for change again.

Please consider subscribing to Courier’s new video series, “How Is This Better? with Akilah Hughes.” Her excellent first episode is about the Trump regime’s assault on our national parks.

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