From the Biden Book to the Budget Bill, Democrats Keep Falling into the Same Trap

Repeat after me: Journalists aren't your friends.

MAGA has always had a kink for Orwellian doublespeak, so it’s not surprising that Republicans formally named their budget reconciliation legislation the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”

Sure, the bill is a massive executive power grab that yanks health care from millions, shovels tax breaks to billionaires, adds billions to the national debt, and more. But millions of Americans will never read what’s in the 1,100-page monstrosity (indeed, several Republican lawmakers who voted for it now admit they’ve never laid eyes on the text.)

For many, the only passing contact they’ll have with the legislation is hearing its name. And because the “Big Beautiful Bill” sounds positive, it’s easy to tune out criticism or assume it’s overblown.

Let’s face it: That’s a diabolically shrewd move in an era where people’s attention span is measured in milliseconds. No, it’s not thirteen-dimensional chess. But Trump and his minions have a keen understanding of how to message to low-information voters, as the last election just proved.

Many Democratic leaders and strategists are loath to admit this. They find Trump’s tactics as crass and vulgar as he is — and they’re not wrong. But he knows how to tap into people’s basest emotions and his communication style is undisputedly effective. Trump has dominated American politics for a decade; what more proof do we need?

But because so many Democrats can’t help but look down upon Trump’s rhetoric, they fail in their own messaging. Referring to it as the “Big Beautiful Bill,” even sarcastically, just reinforces the name. Liberals have a long, tortured history of accepting the right-wing’s terminology and frame for issues (see the death tax, death panels, welfare queens, special rights, reverse discrimination, etc.) As a result, they’re always fighting from a defensive crouch.

And dismissing the budget as the “Big Ugly Bill” is the equivalent of Chuck Schumer’s “strongly worded letter” to Trump in the face of growing authoritarianism — it’s laughably weak and easy to ignore.

Take some ownership of the language you deploy. Tell people the stakes. Be blunt. Call it the “MAGA Murder Bill,” like Joe Trippi and Rick Wilson do. That’s a term that’s hard for people to ignore — even those who hate politics. You can’t help but wonder what’s so bad about it. And we know that the more people learn about the budget, the more they hate it (again, even Republicans who voted for it.)

But here’s a caveat: If you go full firebrand, you have to say “MAGA Murder Bill” with your whole chest. You have to tell your constituents why you’re going to the mattresses over this bill — and be prepared for them not to believe you about just how bad it is. It’s your job to make the case — and not just with numbers. Tell them what this means for their lives, appealing on an emotional level. You can’t be too good to sell your ideas. People can tell — and they absolutely will not trust you.

And yes, you should be prepared for snickering and pushback from the media, which are well-accustomed to thermonuclear language from Trump — (fallen soldiers are “suckers and losers,” Mexicans are “drug dealers, criminals, rapists,” etc.). But naturally, Democrats are held to a higher standard. (This will be particularly challenging for senators who live to be invited on the Sunday shows.)

Do you want to win or not? That’s what it comes down to. And if you do, you owe it to everyone to play the best hand you have. Of course, the right messaging doesn’t guarantee an ideal outcome. There are a million variables in politics, but you control what you can.

One thing you can’t control is the fact that many legacy news outlets have adopted Trump’s terminology for the bill, even though Journalism 101 is not doing PR for any party or cause. Yes, it’s infuriating. Yes, it’s another example of obeying in advance.

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However, if Democratic officials called journalists out for it and committed to only using the “MAGA Murder Bill” term, some would fold. And more Americans would see a party that’s willing to fight instead of acquiescing to increasingly compromised corporate media entities.

A lesson too many Democrats have yet to learn is that journalists aren’t your friends. Just look at how Jake Tapper’s book about Biden’s health dominated weeks of news stories.

Amid the breathless coverage, you could be forgiven for forgetting Trump was even president, even though he was busy accepting a luxury jet bribe from Qatar; getting his budget bill passed in the House; spreading lies about a genocide against white South African farmers and offering them citizenship while yanking legal status from Afghan refugees; and threatening new tariffs (and chickening out.)

During this time, most Democrats interviewed on cable news were incessantly hounded about The Book. The decline of the octogenarian former president — which had already been widely reported — was deemed a scandal worse than Trump’s Jan. 6 insurrection. Nearly every officeholder with a “D” next to their name had to be held to account. And if presidential hopefuls didn’t chuck Biden under the bus, pundits swarmed on social media to proclaim their ‘28 candidacies DOA.

Talk about fiddling as Rome burns. Someone get Tapper a lyre.

But as usual, too many Democrats stumbled and bumbled, playing along with the media’s piffling obsession. While no Republican has apparently ever read a single Trump tweet in 10 years — or so they smirkingly profess to reporters asking about the latest 3 a.m. tirade — Democrats feel obligated to answer any and every question about Biden, no matter how insidious. It’s part of their self-flagellation ritual over losing in 2024.

Of course, the first rule of political comms is that you answer the question that you want, not the one that was asked. Imagine how the majority of Democratic politicians — who look weak, even to their own voters in polling — would come across if they flatly refused to answer questions about Biden and instead inveighed against the MAGA Murder Bill?

Ditching the professorial politeness and embracing their inner backroom brawler would go a long way for Dems, who are increasingly perceived as being out-of-touch with people’s problems.

And in a world of ever-fragmenting media, turbocharged by viral moments and snap judgments, message discipline is of paramount importance. Those who refuse to adapt to this new climate should expect to go extinct.