Blog

One of the leading progressives strikes me as talking to the progressive base; another is speaking progressive ideals to everyone who will listen.

Dog whistle politics has changed. In the past, a "dog whistle" was when a politician said something that his supporters would know was racist, but centrists wouldn't hear it. Only supporters, only the target demographic that the speaker intended to mobilize, heard the dog whistle.

I watched good folks start to tear into each other when this window decal made its way to a political facebook group.

I'm guessing: this image is seen as wildly racist to some, and a silly joke about lousy ex-boyfriends to others.

And there is a big danger: when people don't think they're sharing something racist, and then get accused of it, they tend to feel pushed out, not called in. This is creating, over and over, a feeling of rejection among a large part of the country.

This provocation is done very much on purpose:

The spin on the Mueller Report is overwhelming: not just whether Trump is guilty, but even simply what did Mueller find: a lot of us are watching only soundbites. What communication techniques can help? What should progressives be sharing?

Question: what is the best short video, article and tweet (one of each) to share about the Mueller Report, that will help politically disinclined TV watchers say "that's not what I saw" when Mueller is described as having found nothing?