Thread by @anatosaurus

Critical Race Theory attack is case study in how right has mastered that turnout is persuasion. And knows that job of message isn't to say what’s popular; it’s to make popular what you want said. A 🧵

View from swing voters in focus groups (caveat qual) over last weeks: “CRT” attack isn’t persuasive. Phrase not intuitively bad (eg “death tax”), some think it means critique of racializing things. When explained, swing still want kids taught truths. So why is right doing this?

CRT attack is red 🥩 for their base. Generated “righteous” fury when base feeling defeated. Something new to repeat
over and again, making them seem like guardians of our national virtue instead of propaganda peddlers for prejudice.

There’s also a practical element: school board races generally get little notice so getting attention and name recognition among small subset of voters matters. GOP has always known down ballot matters for setting agenda and nurturing folks to run for other office.

CRT is also perfect distraction from the right’s failures on every front including, of course, education. They’ve decimated schools by refusing to fund & imperiled kids & staff when they botched covid prevention & containment.

But perhaps the most critical (badum bum!) lesson: When the right polls something and it’s unpopular, they introduce it anyway. They research to change the temperature while left polls to take it.

Social security is perhaps best example. When Bush first introduced “personalizing” (read: privatizing) SS it tested abysmally. People loved and trusted SS. So, the right introduced it anyway!

And then they did it again. And then again. Now, even highly engaged lefties frequently repeat “SS is insolvent,” when this is utter nonsense. We need only lift cap. But this has become common sense and with it tarnished SS.

If our own base isn’t engaged and acting as our choir, we have no hope of echo chamber needed to persuade the middle.

Obligatory caution: This is about messaging strategy not content. Engage base in order to persuade applies across ideologies. But kinds of messages that move inherently rightwing people are very different than those that make presently unengaged lefties wanna repeat.

You wouldn’t use same message to sell a white dude sporting good as a Black woman a sports car. They have to push conservative people’s button to sell policies that destroy; we have to push progressive people to sell creation, inclusion and justice.

For those who want to move from "diagnosis" to suggested "cure:" Here's a messaging guide on Honesty in Education. Let's take advantage of attention on curriculum, history & teaching our kids: wemakethefuture.us/resources-docs…

Note - this is where @runforsomething @amandalitman and @RossMoRock are so critical.