David Atkins Profile picture
Nov 8, 2022 9 tweets 2 min read Read on X
The Right stood up at least 3 different twitter clones to push hate and lies.

The entire liberal-left couldn't stand one even ONE twitter clone despite long advance notice of the Musk takeover.

THAT right there is the entire problem. The whole difference between the two sides.
The Right funds infrastructure to fuel hate and overt propaganda. The Liberal-Left refuses to, because it feels icky and they just want to win the next election and hope everything calms down and goes back to normal.

You cannot cede the information space and hope to succeed.
The big money of the liberal-left has allowed social media to become a right-wing toxic waste pool the same way it let AM radio, local newspapers and local TV news.

It's not for lack of money. It's for lack of focus. /3
Every cycle we overfund a bunch of Senate races to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. And every cycle the Right swallows up more and more of the media infrastructure: AM radio, TV news, cable news, podcasts, YouTube channels, social media ownership and algorithms. /4
We have *allowed* them to do this by refusing to grasp that we are in an information war. The Right has understood that for decades.

You don't give a speech and hope the New York Times covers it, then hope readers make the right choice. That's for losers. /5
You have to actually push your narrative. The fact that our narratives are TRUE and theirs are lies doesn't mean they'll win automatically. You actually have to develop the infrastructure to push and sell them anyway, or you have no chance. /6
Rightwing dictatorships succeed by controlling the media. We are perilously close to a complete lockdown on all major media and social media by rightwing forces, even as they lose the battle for the culture of the country. That is a disaster.

Liberal money MUST FUND MEDIA. /7
There should have been a twitter clone up and ready to go within weeks of Musk's purchase announcement.

The Left should have beaten the Right to been producing local news content after private equity destroyed the non-partisan stuff.

It's an information war. Act like it. /8
If you properly fund media (and social media) year over year, cycle after cycle, you won't have to dump a bajillion dollars into Senate races. You'll have a fairer playing field to begin with.

Every election cycle we fight uphill in a quagmire of lies. We don't have to. /end

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More from @DavidOAtkins

Nov 5, 2024
MAGA world is convinced they are going to win and win big. They are all telling themselves it will be a blowout and that the only way Dems can win is by cheating.

But if Trump loses, he will lose fair and square. Here's a little thread to explain exactly how: /1
MAGA is losing among women by record margins. Trump is waging a horrific sexist, and women are furious.

MAGA may want to remind themselves that the GOP was terrified of overturning Roe for fear of backlash. Well, guess what? It's here. You thought it wasn't coming. It is. /2
Young people *hate* Trump. The MAGA movement is trying to overturn a century's worth of economic and social progress. Outside of a few weird incels and young GOPs, GenZ and Millennials are not having it. MAGA is losing by 15 to 20 points with the Swifties and the Brats. /3
Read 22 tweets
May 29, 2023
People are being deliberately obtuse about Will Stancil's points.

Since Democrats are structurally disadvantaged by a rigged system, when we DO get majorities we HAVE to use our power to unrig the system. Our legislators have to stop putting norms and comity over fixing things.
The point isn't to "not vote." The point is that we WILL lose elections. It's baked into the system, especially in a rigged system.

WE *WILL* LOSE ELECTIONS. IF LOSTING ELECTIONS MEANS FASCISM WINS, WE HAVE *ALREADY* LOST.

Dem legislators have to be bold about fixing systems.
Dems need use power in such a way that when Republicans win elections again--and at some point they will--they are structurally UNABLE to destroy democracy. Or they have to revamp their coalition to appeal to majorities.

Otherwise we have already lost. /3
Read 13 tweets
May 12, 2023
The biggest mistake moderate Democrats are making is that they are governing to preserve institutional credibility while hoping that Trumpism will blow over, rather than preparing with grim fortitude for a society-wide confrontation with a fascist movement playing for keeps. /1
What does this look like? Let's take some examples. Democrats are trying to preserve the comity of the Senate so it keeps "working" after Trumpism dissipates, failing to get that the Senate is the barricade the fascists are fortifying to prevent us from stopping their coup. /2
The Supreme Court. Much of the center-left is terrified of expanding the court, worrying about future GOP expansions & the legitimacy of the institution, rather than understanding that the current balance, with Senate apportionment, is their siege engine against democracy./3
Read 13 tweets
May 10, 2023
Going after junior staffers is wrong and inappropriate.

But the problem is that we're in a situation with NO accountability mechanism. The legislator cannot be contacted or pressured. There is no relief valve.

The only possible avenue is exposure by someone on the inside./1
The incentives for staff are also perverse. Exposing the situation potentially destroys their careers. Continuing it basically gives the senior staffers the power of a Senator and keeps their jobs.

I feel for all of them, but someone has to step forward and do the right thing./2
The legislators' *colleagues* could step forward and do the right thing. But they also have little power over it, and most of their personal and career incentives incline toward protecting the privileges of the gerontocracy, no matter the externalized costs to the public. /3
Read 9 tweets
May 9, 2023
True Blue Dems wasting tens of millions of dollars on doomed vanity campaigns against MTG will do far, far more to damage to Democrats in 2024 than Marianne Williamson running a silly primary campaign that won't actually hurt Biden in the general.
You know why no one frets that a Trump vs DeSantis brawl will hurt the GOP in the general election? Because it won't.

Primaries are good. If Bernie hadn't given voice to millions of frustrated young progressive voters in 2016, Clinton might have straight-up lost the pop vote.
Since our utterly broken winner-take-all system doesn't allow for more than two viable parties, & caucus politics are a pure tug-of-war, literally the only pathway for hashing out issues internally for the sane half of the country is through the imperfect mechanism of primaries.
Read 5 tweets
Apr 26, 2023
Almost every major error and meltdown in Dem/left politics, from post-left fash apologism to popularist left-punching cringe, comes from fatally flawed attempts to solve what I call the Upper Left Quadrant problem.

Here is the chart, and the fundamental problem: /1 Image
This chart explains *so much* about modern American politics. What it says, simply, is that almost all the actual persuadable voters in the electorate aren't "moderates."

They're cross-pressured extremists and...kinda fashy. They're socially bigoted and economically leftist. /2
Needless to say, this is not great. It's a huge impediment for making progress.

But it's also highly inconvenient for the major ideological factions in American politics. /3
Read 16 tweets

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