Thread to collect campaign talking points for the good guys

MaeZe

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So here's the deal, the point is honesty, but we can play their game too and we need to start passing the truth around our own echo chambers.

For example: NYT: Trump’s Secret Foreign Aid Program - He’s giving away billions to overseas investors.

When Trump brags about how well he's done with the economy, point out the deficit. But also this:
Donald Trump often complains that the media don’t give him credit for his achievements. And I can think of at least one case where that’s true. As far I can tell, almost nobody is reporting that he has presided over a huge — but hidden — increase in foreign aid, the money America gives to foreigners. In fact, the hidden Trump program, currently running at around $40 billion a year, is probably the biggest giveaway to other nations since the Marshall Plan.

Unfortunately, the aid isn’t going either to poor countries or to America’s allies. Instead, it’s going to wealthy foreign investors....

Tariffs are normally paid by consumers in the importing country, not exporters. And we can confirm that this is what’s happening with the Trump tariffs: Prices of goods subject to those tariffs have risen sharply, roughly in line with the tariff increases, while prices of goods not subject to the new tariffs haven’t gone up.

[snipped ad]

So Trump’s tariffs aren’t a tax on foreigners, whatever he may think. On the other hand, his other policies have given selective foreigners a huge tax break.
Please check out additional details in the article. Krugman has multiple salient talking points.

I have a bunch more I'll be adding. By all means if you have any talking points add them to the thread. Discussion about the issues can go in other threads. This thread is for collecting the talking points we are going to need in the next year and a half to counter the massive propaganda effort that has already begun.
 
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neandermagnon

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If I understand this thread correctly - you want stuff that people who are trying to change things can share among others who are also trying to change things.

Here's a beautiful quote from Brian Cox's latest book, The Planets (by Andrew Cohen with Professor Brian Cox) which is based on the recent BBC series.

After explaining that Venus has 90x the air pressure of Earth, surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead and sulphuric acid rain, and how two and a half billion years ago it was like Earth but then a runaway greenhouse effect happened, resulting in the hell-like conditions on Venus now...

"The study of Venus might help us to avoid one of the ways by which we could destroy our civilisation, because it shows us what greenhouse gases can do to a world. I think one of the reasons why anthropogenic climate change is so difficult for a certain type of person to accept is that atmospheres seem ethereal and tenuous and incapable of trapping enough heat to modify the temperatures on a planet significantly. For such people I suggest a trip to Venus where they will be squashed and boiled and dissolved on the surface of Earth's twin."


Note: I'd recommend this book to people who aren't normally into reading science books because it's written in such a beautiful way and it doesn't feel like reading a science book. But it's full of all the latest discoveries about the planets and how the solar system formed. Obviously I'm into it because I'm a science nerd but I think people who aren't normally into science will also love it.
 

MaeZe

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That's more complicated than I had in mind, needs to be in small bites for anyone to listen past the first sentence.

Trump talks about how great the economy is. Point out stagnant wages. Point out the still growing income gap.

People worry about socialism - point out that police and fire are socialist and they work well.

Trump gives trillions to the richest - apparently that is fine.
It is only bad if poor people get taxpayer money.

We need a video of Trump talking unintelligently. There are dozens of clips now.

Trump claims Baltimore has trash. Pick any of dozens of Trump scandals to remind people.

The Atlantic: The Many Scandals of Donald Trump: A Cheat Sheet

Don't buy the narrative no one cares. They don't need to. What works is hearing the memes over and over.​

More to come:
 

MaeZe

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Trump skipping out on debt is a good talking point.

Trump campaign still owes El Paso $470,000 for rally where he lied about El Paso
The Trump campaign owes the city of El Paso, Texas, more than $470,000 for expenses related to one of Trump's hate-filled MAGA rallies that took place in February — and the campaign has so far refused to pay that debt, according to a Monday ABC News report.

The city of El Paso has not seen one penny from the Trump campaign, even though the city sent an invoice stating payment was due by April 26. The city sent another notice on May 23 warning the campaign that the payment was "extremely past due," and that a substantial penalty could be charged after another 30 days of nonpayment.

The bulk of what Trump owes is to reimburse the El Paso Police Department, accounting for $380,900 of the $470,000 bill. The rest is for other city services, such as the fire department and health department, that helped ensure Trump could hold his rally.
"A young man who's got very little going for himself, except he's got a great first name, he is, he has challenged us. So we have, let's say, 35,000 people tonight — and he has 200 people, 300 people, not too good," Trump said.

The El Paso Fire Department was forced to correct Trump, pointing out that the venue where he held the rally only held 6,500 people. Police also estimated that O'Rourke's rally had 10,000 to 15,000 attendees.

O'Rourke's campaign was also sent an invoice from the city of El Paso. According to ABC, the O'Rourke campaign paid its invoice in full and on time.

Hundreds allege Donald Trump doesn’t pay his bills
AMONG THOSE WHO SAY BILLIONAIRE DIDN'T PAY: DISHWASHERS, PAINTERS, WAITERS

The Democrats could make a killer ad with clips of people Trump stiffed. Effective repetition includes repeating the same thing in the ad and repeating the ad.
 
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Introversion

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In 2017, Trump signed a bill reversing regulations that made it harder for the mentally-ill to buy guns. Show that. Then show the aftermath of recent white terrorist attacks. Then show Agent Orange blaming these attacks on mental illness.