To: Ken Martin, Chair of the Democratic National Committee
From: A Dude
Re: “Democrats in Disarray” is a joke, not a guide.
When voters tell the party it is “weak and woke”, they want you to show them that the party is strong and normal. Not just say it.
Your DNC Chair campaign focused on creating a “war room” of messaging. What voters - and your fellow Democrats - need is not just strong messaging, or more distribution channels. It is strong leaders delivering the message by their actions.
And you just got a golden opportunity to do that, from the leaked audio of your complaints obtained by Politico:
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin told party leaders in a recent private conversation that he’s unsure about his ability to lead the party because of infighting created by Vice Chair David Hogg.
“I’ll be very honest with you, for the first time in my 100 days on this job … the other night I said to myself for the first time, I don’t know if I wanna do this anymore,” he said in a May 15 Zoom meeting of DNC officers, according to a recording obtained by POLITICO.
In the recording, an emotional Martin describes being deeply frustrated by the fallout over Hogg, who has ignited a firestorm in the party by vowing to spend $20 million in safe-blue primaries to oust incumbent Democrats he believes are ineffective. Martin paused twice while appearing to choke up.
Ken, you got this.
Remember when Jerry Maguire writes the manifesto? It was on the things we think and do not say.
You sound like you’re losing your shit. You’re frustrated, and understandably so. You’ve reached the pinnacle of your career, and “contemptible little twerp1” is ruining everything. And at a moment when, um, all of America needs you to get your shit together.
Jerry could write the memo because “I had lost the ability to bullshit.”
Lose the bullshit, Ken. Do these three things:
Admit that a DNC Vice Chair role is completely meaningless. As Bill Maher explained to Hogg, this unpaid role’s responsibilities are literally “nothing.” You can also explain your role does have power, including in setting the presidential primaries that are just 974 days away.
Drop the public conflict. While the DNC Vice Chair role is meaningless, Hogg gets tremendous power from public attention. Attention comes from conflict. Drop the conflict, cut off his power (especially after explaining his role is meaningless.)
Flip the script on the $20m. Hogg’s other source of power is his $20m plan. But everyone’s focused on the $20m, and no one is focusing on the word “plan.” Hogg’s PAC has to file publicly with the FEC. After the first four months of the year, their cash balance had increased by only about $500k. They are about 30% of the way through the cycle’s primary period, and are only about 5% of the way to the stated war chest. And they’re spending huge chunks of that buying email lists and sending fundraising texts. Point that out!
If you get nervy, just call up your father-in-law. He voted for Trump three times. What does he think about his daughter’s husband, his grandson’s father, getting punk’d by this kid?
Jerry Maguire’s manifesto was subtitled “The future of our business.”
The future is in showing strength. It has to be.
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As James Carville called Hogg
The best way for Democrats to improve their declining poll numbers would be to get Blue Cities and Blue States under control and prove that their policies lead to peace and prosperity.
I wonder what Rahm Emanuel would have done about David Hogg.