Dunn and Done
The only thing better than a fake Ron Klain memo is a fake Anita Dunn memo.
-- Ancient Gang of 500 proverb
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TO: JRB
FROM: Anita
DATE: 4/25/22
RE: Facing reality (before it is too late)
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Good morning.
You asked me to provide a daily Red (a/k/a Blue) Team look at where things stand, separate from the daily morning memos Ron sends you.
Here goes, although, as you know, Ron is like a brother to me, so I don’t think we are going to differ very much in our perspective.
Great work by Tony and Secretary Austin out of Ukraine. They recovered nicely from President Zelensky’s “they are on their way” I-have-the-US-by-the-nuts power move, ditching their traveling press corps, keeping undercover during the meeting, and putting out this great photo:
And Tony proved yet again what a great communicator he is by nailing the Reaganesque soundbite he had in reserve: “Russia is failing, Ukraine is succeeding."”
The timing of the announcement of reopening some aspects of the embassy and more military aid were great deliverables, helpful as Congress returns today to limit the hawkish carping – although we do need to figure out what to say about Marines protecting our diplomats in theater.
And, lastly on Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal story about our having sanctions locked and loaded on Putin’s girlfriend was well executed and should send the proper message to Moscow.
Now about Ron.
We both know you are never going to fire any member of the political family, which is great for job security and for everyone feeling comfortable in the bunker together.
But I’m not sure this tweet was the best idea:
You should know that, while Mickey Kaus has as much influence as E.J. at this point, this is out there:
I’ve surveyed all the wise women and men communicators about what we should do before the midterms and everyone agrees we need to do something, but no one agrees on what that something is.
There are those who think the only way to energize our voters ahead of November (besides a Supreme Court ruling on abortion…) is to give the devil his due and make it all about the Trumpification of the Republican Party (or, as you like to say, this is not your father’s GOP).
It is definitely true that the enthusiasm gap must be addressed, but there are those who say that we need to speak to the real lives of real people on kitchen table issues more than we need to hype the Thompson-Schiff-Raskin primetime show about 1/6 (meaning: TRUMP).
The reason Senator McConnell is smiling like Alfred E. Neuman is that their side has a dozen base-energizing issues that have virtually no chance of burning out before the midterms and we have exactly zero such arrows– except for TRUMP, which is why going back to the TRUMP well is so tempting. Krugman and Jen Rubin will talk about TRUMP all day and night, as will CNN and MSNBC.
But is that really the way to win?
Senator Warren wants us to fulfill progressive dreams, but first we need to unstick the toxic mix of “must-pass” measures on more Ukraine aid and pandemic relief, both potentially bottled up by immigration (by which I mean Title 42, NOT/NOT the transportation mask mandate).
The Wall Street Journal frames our nightmare all too well:
When Congress returns this week, a pandemic-era immigration policy could complicate efforts to pass further coronavirus relief legislation and possibly another Ukraine aid measure if centrist Democrats side with Republicans in opposing the Biden administration’s repeal of the border rules….
Republicans are trying to amend a $10 billion coronavirus relief bill that is being considered in the Senate to reinstate the border policy. They are hoping enough Democrats will join them.
A request for additional aid to Ukraine could also become tied up if Democratic leaders decide to move that measure along with the Covid-19 aid package. President Biden said last week the administration would send a supplemental budget request for weapons and ammunition.
James Downie nails it in the Washington Post when he calls out the Republicans for cynically dog whistling on immigration, but the revved up Red base doesn’t care if we call out those whistles (in fact, it only energizes them more).
Leader McCarthy and nine other Republicans are going to the southern border at Eagle Pass, Texas, today, and the group brazenly includes Marjorie Taylor Greene.
They are supposed to speak to the press at around 2:45pm ET.
Will there be questions about TRUMP for McCarthy? Sure. But those won’t energize our base as much as the Title 42 message will energize the right.
More immigration political torture for us: Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is testifying on the Hill three (3!) times this week (where Ds will probably hammer him almost as hard as Rs do, to show their independence from our immigration record), and Politico has a story about how Maggie Hassan is taking hot heat from both the left and the right for doing a photo op on the Mexican border.
And the Red red meat hits just keep on keeping on.
For all our side’s efforts to beef up our content production, we are still no match for the right’s factory. The New York Post is all hot and bothered about this new Dinesh D’Souza film that claims we stuff drop boxes with phony ballots. It’s the kind of thing our side will not notice or will laugh off, but it will be recycled on an endless loop on social media and talk radio through Election Day.
Other similar memes of the Red Team: your alleged mental decline (again, the New York Post) and the House Republican plans to investigate Hunter if they win the majority (an Associated Press story that reflects how mainstream the Hunter narrative has regrettably gone).
And I have written this far without even mentioning what is our biggest problem (not just with the far right propaganda machine, but with, uhm, actual real voters): inflation.
The Washington Post breakdown of all the reasons food prices are so high is chilling politically. We really don’t have much of a chance to make a genuine dent on this problem before the midterms. If inflation motivates Red voters to turn out, well, we can’t necessarily call that demagoguery (or blame TRUMP).
Your communications team is hard at work, ready to solve this for you.
I will have a draft of the Supreme Court abortion comms and political plan ready for the senior staff to review later this week.
We are going to find a way to energize our base, if it is the last thing we do.
And I don’t mean that ironically. I mean it literally.
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ESSENTIAL VIEWING
Harry Styles and Shania Twain sing “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” at Coachella: