Whenever my text tone dings, I scramble to see if I am about to receive a loving, fun, or informative SMS from a friend, but in all cases, they are Democratic campaign solicitations. They all look the same: my name in caps, a shocking warning, then the ask: a dollar amount, a deadline, a link to ActBlue. I am stingy, but I have made my share of campaign contributions. That does not fail to buy peace—if anything, it invites more spam.
This is monetization, not mobilization. Like many Americans, I want to hear from the Democratic Party so I can know what the fuck they are going to do about this evil shit and what I should do to help. This is not the communication I crave.
The mass SMS is the most instant communication tool available short of telepathy. There are better uses of it than begging for money. Every event—court rulings, indictments, executive orders, scary pronouncements—has been followed by a request. Why not tell the story instead?
This direct messaging operation should be repossessed from the fundraisers and repurposed away from low-quality, spammy panic blasts that train recipients to resent and ignore messages from elected officials and leaders. We are losing the messaging war while misusing the messaging infrastructure.
After the stock market’s disastrous March crashout (triggered by President Donald Trump’s reckless and inflationary tariff announcements)—investors recoiled. The S&P dropped nearly two percent. The Dow lost over 650 points. Nasdaq slid like a Canadian Xanax smuggler on a sled. Voters watched their retirement accounts bleed while the White House publicly shrugged and called it “necessary pain.”
The downturn had an obvious cause (an erratic president) and a clear valence (“recession fears” is a phrase that causes most Americans to go begging for that Canadian alprazolam). The fastest Democratic texting fingers in the Western hemisphere ought to have been typing a message like: “Pour yourself a drink and check your 401(k).” Three more examples of stories the public should have had texted to them in real-time:
Trump knows he’s creating a recession
OH NO: Republicans said “the fundamentals of the economy are strong” again.
Trump Administration: Seniors won’t complain if Social Security stops their checks.
In fact, why isn’t the Party trying to use these tools to help turn people out for the April 5 mass protests?
In lieu of that, we got links to “chip in $5 before midnight.” Democrats, I love you, but the only thing I want to hear you talk about “before midnight” is the doomsday clock. People swipe these texts away, block the numbers, delete the threads, and occasionally even manually type out UNSUBSCRIBE.
The party must use these tools to send alerts, updates, rebuttals, and early warnings for misinformation. Deliver the base real-time context before CNN’s spin-cycle mashes everything into an unknowable partisan slop. Democrats, text me! But about what is happening to my money, not requests for my money.
Speaking of my money, if you are a Democratic strategist and found this article to be a useful roadmap to fixing this shit, please consider subscribing or purchasing a “Trump is a Bitch” or “Fuck DOGE” t-shirt from the Partisan Hex store.