{"id":5313,"date":"2025-03-22T19:05:27","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T19:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=5313"},"modified":"2025-03-22T19:05:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T19:05:29","slug":"democrats-new-internet-strategy-tops-trending-charts-but-also-draws-mockery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=5313","title":{"rendered":"Democrats’ new internet strategy tops trending charts but also draws mockery"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WASHINGTON — <\/span>For weeks, Democratic lawmakers have met with and mimicked figures they believe may offer them a path back to power in Washington: online influencers and content creators.<\/p>\n

Hours before President Donald Trump\u2019s joint address<\/a> to Congress this month, Senate Democrats huddled with a dozen online progressive personalities who have millions of followers. House Democrats were introduced, without staff, to 40 content creators who Democratic leaders said could help them grow their audience online.<\/p>\n

An earlier tutorial session in February featured online personalities like the YouTube commentator Brian Tyler Cohen. <\/p>\n

The result has been a burst of Democratic online content, including direct-to-camera explainers in parked cars, scripted vertical videos, podcast appearances and livestreams \u2014 some topping trending charts online, others drawing mockery from liberal allies and Republicans in Congress.<\/p>\n

But while the Democratic Party is largely divided<\/a> over the path forward after last year’s election losses, party leaders agree that, no matter the message, how they connect with voters in the digital media landscape will be key to a political comeback. <\/p>\n

More than a dozen Democratic senators, asked about the party\u2019s digital strategy, pointed to Sen. Cory Booker<\/a> of New Jersey as the architect of their new push.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen tremendous growth of Democratic senators now. They\u2019re engaging in the tools and strategies necessary to elevate their voice in a new, changing media market, where legacy media is not the place that people get their news now,\u201d Booker said. \u201cWe\u2019re just weeks into this, but just by making key changes … we\u2019re seeing a massive growth in engagement with the content that our senators are creating, and we\u2019ve only just begun.”<\/p>\n

Booker said he’s aiming for Democratic senators to double online engagement with their content over the next year \u2014 and early metrics have been noticeable. Democratic senators racked up more than 87 million views on content they published in response to Trump’s joint address to Congress, according to Booker’s office.<\/p>\n

Not all of that online engagement is positive. After more than two dozen Democratic senators posted identical scripted videos knocking Trump’s speech, saying he should have addressed the cost of living and his support for billionaire adviser Elon Musk<\/a>, conservatives mocked them as inauthentic and out of touch. <\/p>\n

“They are all actors reading a script,” Musk wrote on X, the social media platform he owns. <\/p>\n

There’s no doubt that Democrats are playing catch-up. Trump and his fellow Republicans built a digital operation that fed on bombast and celebrity, and it’s a strategy they’ve taken with them<\/a> to the White House. Official government accounts are new filled with right-wing memes, cinematic videos and pugnacious statements.<\/p>\n

The Democratic embrace of influencers has also yielded mixed early results. Democrats were ridiculed online after a food and wellness influencer who attended the House Democrats’ creators event created a \u201cChoose Your Fighter” video collage of Democratic congresswomen for Women’s History Month.<\/p>\n

The White House posted a video in response that read \u201cAmerica chose its fighters last November,\u201d and the Pentagon, normally known for being studiously non-partisan, posted a video stating \u201cWe chose our fighters a long time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Booker and other Democratic leaders don’t consider the sneers to be a downside. Missteps are to be expected, they say, but the path to Americans’ attention will require some discomfort from lawmakers. <\/p>\n

\u201cI do think that the caucus as a whole is trying to figure out how we show people that we are real people,\u201d said Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, one of the congresswomen featured in the viral \u201cFighter\u201d video. Crockett, whose posts regularly garner millions of views online, said she was used to criticism for her often frank statements and was more interested in combating perceptions that Democrats are \u201celitist\u201d or \u201crobotic.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn’t like the jumping, I’m going to be honest, though,\u201d Crockett added about the viral \u201cChoose Your Fighter\u201d video. <\/p>\n

Democrats adopted a more combative stance online in recent weeks as Trump’s moves to slash the federal workforce<\/a> drew protests from liberals and pushback at GOP town halls. Top Democratic digital operatives who worked for the 2024 presidential campaign of then-Vice President Kamala Harris have been in high demand, with many Democrats anticipating close 2026 races in which digital strategies may be key. <\/p>\n

Some of the most prominent Democrats across the country have been engaging more in new media since the election. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York has touted the party’s message on progressive podcasts over the last month, including from the comedian Jon Stewart and the progressive outlet MeidasTouch. Clips of those videos were also lampooned online but garnered millions of views.<\/p>\n

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential Democratic presidential contender in 2028, has launched a podcast<\/a> of his own on which he has welcomed close Trump allies like the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk and former Trump aide Steve Bannon to discuss hot-button political topics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure we hit the podcasters that normally don\u2019t have Democrats on there,\u201d said Rep. Derek Tran, a Democrat from a competitive California House district. \u201cThe ones that are more right-leaning or independent, and be able to address a crowd and an audience that\u2019s not typical for the Democratic base.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some House Democrats have expressed frustration that the guidance from Democratic leaders about social media is too vague, while others grumble that leaders are too prescriptive in their approach to messaging on platforms they don\u2019t intuitively understand. Meanwhile, Democratic strategists have cautioned lawmakers that garnering attention online is secondary to the goal of using social media as a tool in specific policy fights and campaigns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a fine line before we\u2019re being cringe and trying too hard and seeming too thirsty. I think the most important thing in any of this is being as authentic and genuine as we can be,\u201d said Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to authenticity, it also means leaning into what makes each of us unique. Like many of my colleagues probably should not be doing \u2018get ready with me\u2019 videos. It would look super cringe. But I\u2019m a 36-year-old woman, and I do my makeup all the time, and I watch a lot of makeup tutorial videos, so it makes sense for me to do it,\u201d said Jacobs.<\/p>\n

Some Democrats think that the party’s messaging strategy hinges as much on the messengers as the medium it\u2019s communicated on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you know how to talk to people, it doesn\u2019t matter what medium is going to exist,\u201d said Sen. Ruben Gallego, a freshman Democratic senator from Arizona. \u201cYou could be the best freaking spokesperson in the world, but if you don\u2019t know how to talk to working-class people, it doesn\u2019t matter if you have the best TikTok following, it\u2019s just not going to translate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON — For weeks, Democratic lawmakers have met with and mimicked figures they believe may offer them a path back to power in Washington: online influencers and content creators. Hours before President Donald Trump\u2019s joint address to Congress this month, Senate Democrats huddled with a dozen online progressive personalities who have millions of followers. House […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5315,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5313\/revisions\/5315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}