On Branding
"They...included a letter?"
Such was the reaction one month ago when several community leaders opened up food donations from the local urban food bank only to see a letter from the Trump Administration taking credit for the generous donation from the Department of Agriculture. In true Trump form, the letter claimed that His Holiness The Donald was once again being benevolent by helping to feed the masses, completely ignoring the fact that our community was in such a dire predicament exactly because of his failed leadership. We compared it to what it would be like if the captain of the Titanic took credit for providing free ice to the passengers after striking the iceberg. After enjoying a laugh at this image, our team immediately went to work and removed over 300 letters from the food donation boxes ahead of the nearly 150 families that were about to receive their weekly donation. As strongly as folks felt about Donald Trump and the letter itself, the simple fact was that this food bank was organized by local community organizers through collaboration with faith and environmental allies who raised funds and organized the deliveries. The last thing we wanted was to make the food donation a political act.
But that idea of branding stuck with me. After all, it was Trump who delayed the $1,200 stimulus checks so that he could have his own signature on the check to be deposited. Of course, it was never his money to give but the fact that he put his name out there on checks and on food donations got me wondering if any of this was making a difference. Did people actually believe that Donald Trump was helping them simply because he attached his name to services that would have been provided anyway? Were people really that easily won over? Did our community, one that was overwhelmingly Latino, really believe that Trump wanted to help them?
It turns out, the answer to all three questions was yes.
In the wake of the 2020 election, my own community has been featured on the national news. Dave Wasserman has highlighted it as a city that might be indicative of a larger national trend. Wasserman showcased it because as the only majority-Latino city in a reliably blue state and one with nearly 80% of the population being people of color, it is quite an anomaly when after four years of the most racist and xenophobic president in our history the city would swing more toward Republicans than any other town or city in the entire state. For statisticians like Wasserman, the question becomes how and why something like that could happen and what it means for us as a country moving forward.
Having worked in the city for nearly 4 years, I can't say that I'm surprised as to the election result. As we're seeing across the country, Latinos are not a monolithic group. This city, in particular, is made up of immigrants primarily from the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico but it also has scattered populations from Ecuador, Nicaragua, Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, and Colombia among others. There is a prominent Evangelical community that is strongly pro-life and that has a tremendous fear of socialism. There are those who see the Democratic Party as being pro-drugs (legalizing marijuana being a gateway to this) and being anti-law and order. And yes, there are those who actually believe that "Papa Trump" greatly helped them by providing them with food and money during the pandemic.
The truth is as much as we might mock the idea of Trump signing his name to a stimulus check or a food donation, that type of branding matters to low-information voters. Sure, we all wish that folks saw through the charade and over 79 million and counting did. But there are those, not just immigrants, who truly believed that Trump gave them money or gave them food simply because he attached his name to a letter or a check. It's how and why over 73 million Americans live in this alternate reality where Trump is doing well when it comes to managing the pandemic. They believe it because Trump believes it and they believe Trump because, as a lifelong con artist, he has branded himself as a success to any and all who might want to be just like him.
Joe Biden won't be personally signing stimulus checks any time soon. Nor should he. But what he and the new administration can and should do is take to heart this idea about branding. I don't mean falsely brand yourself like Trump has done these past four years. What I'm saying is work to brand Democrats as the party for the people. Start every press conference with "our Democratic Administration has." Have the new press secretary use that exact same phrasing. Have surrogates say "We as Democrats believe" when answering questions on the Sunday news shows. Filter that messaging down to state and local parties. Challenge Republicans on the issues. Have discussions at city council meetings by stating "Our Democratic councilors support this measure, why won't our Republican colleagues do the same?" Call them out on their beliefs for the neutral audience. "As Democrats, we are taking the pandemic seriously" should be the first response to any question asked to any Democratic official when he or she is asked a question about public health policy.
People in cities like mine don't fully trust Democrats because they don't hear from them. They hear from candidates sure, but those candidates rotate every two years. People in this city don't have an understanding of who Democrats are or what they believe in because they've never branded themselves as Democrats. I've been in this work for 4 years and have yet to hear a candidate call himself or herself a proud Democrat. It's time for that to change. It's time for Democrats to brand themselves rather than being defined by Republicans. Take ownership of your beliefs. Being a Democrat means being pro-science, pro-environment, pro-education, pro-woman, pro-LGBT, pro-racial justice, pro-immigrants, pro-refugees, and pro-truth. Democrats are on the right side of history on every single one of those issues. Take it and run with it. Own it. Be a proud Democrat, damnit!
There are more of us than there are of them. But we can do more. We need to reach these low-information voters. Not the deplorables, they're clearly unreachable. But those who are won over by a person's signature on a stimulus check aren't yet hopeless. Democrats have the ability to reach them and all they have to do is brand themselves. Have that West Wing season 7 moment when you take the label of "Democrat" and wear it like a badge of honor. Be proud of it. Own it. Share it with those you meet. We're the party that just defeated American fascism, damnit! We did that. Because we're Democrats and we care about this country. In the words of Barack Obama, we're the ones we've been waiting for.
Now let's go out there and act like it.