If you paid attention to any of the hashtags or ads during the 69-hour partial government shutdown, you’ll notice a rare victory in communications: Republicans won the battle of messaging.
Republicans in the digital age have been historically bad when it comes to having a cohesive message that resonates with the public. Some of it is due to party infighting, but a lot of it has to do with liberal-leaning media outlets outnumbering conservative-leaning ones. Congressional Democrats don’t have to put in a whole lot of effort to propagate and recycle Democratic talking points because the mainstream media was there to help.
But with this government shutdown, the tables have turned. Democrats went up against President Trump, the master of brand marketing who makes nicknames stick like white on rice, and lost. Big league.
Despite “#TrumpShutdown” outperforming “#SchumerShutdown” in individual posts and retweets on social media platforms like Twitter, Trump, with the help of his own Twitter account and a rough but effective television ad campaign, came through for the GOP in ways no Republican could do in the past.
Now, the conversation has shifted from #TrumpShutdown to #SchumerSellout. It’s pretty amazing, really.
After an 81-18 vote in the Senate to reopen the government, Democrats came away with promises and reassurances from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to vote on a permanent solution to reauthorize the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. In the eyes of many liberals and progressives, a gym bag full of dirty clothes is more valuable than promises and reassurances from a Republican-controlled Congress in Washington.
But, by appearing willing to negotiate with Democrats on the issue of DACA and keeping a largely low profile through the past few days, Trump did himself and, by extension, the Republican Party a huge favor by getting ahead of the messaging battle and turned a lump of coal into a diamond.
Not only is this a big win for Trump and the GOP, but it also stymies the so-called “blue wave” that Democrats have pinned their hopes on in terms of seizing control of both the House and Senate in the upcoming midterm elections. At this point, voters leaning towards casting their ballot for a Democrat come November, especially in a red state, might not turn out to the polls at all. And that, to put it in Trump speak, is “YUUUGE!”
Siraj Hashmi is a commentary video editor and writer for the Washington Examiner.
