The Democratic Party finally took a small step toward increasing its presence in new media, but the other leg seems anchored in the past. It now has a morning news show on YouTube called The Daily Blueprint, a mixture of regurgitated headlines and tired accusations woven into tall tales and old promises, all delivered in a snarky tone spiked with an occasional four-letter word. Though it has 87,000 subscribers, the last six or seven episodes have had fewer than 500 views. This was supposed to be a way for Democrats to “leverage creative opposition tactics to put Republicans on the back foot, and combat the lies from the right,” according to its promotional material. But so far, it appears to be a failed attempt to gain relevance. It’s not difficult to understand why this endeavor can’t even get off the runway. It’s more than a messaging problem.
Democrats Dip Into Doublethink
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) launched The Daily Blueprint in June. According to DNC Deputy Communications Director Hannah Muldavin, it's “nothing like the Democratic Party has ever seen before.” But it would require an exercise in Orwellian doublethink to believe the show doesn’t embody everything the left has been doing since Trump’s memorable ride down the golden escalator.
Advertised as “a rundown of everything viewers should be paying attention to during the day and how they can get involved in the fight,” The Daily Blueprint is primarily yesterday’s news merged with attacks on Trump and his policies, reciting the usual hyperbolic narrative: Orange Man Bad. How is that unlike anything the party has done before? Didn’t they get the memo? Americans don’t want to listen to talking points anymore. They want off-the-cuff conversations, not teleprompter skits and video clips edited as neatly as a 60 Minutes interview.
Muldavin hosts most episodes, spouting scripted monologues in a snide tone. She holds a smile you’d expect from a waitress, with the occasional wink and nod while slinging trite one-liners. There’s no substance, just recycled opinions packaged in new media with the addition of profanity. Muldavin opens one episode using this asinine phrase: “Breaking News, Donald Trump is making s**t up as he goes along.” A headline for a video in which she interviews Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb reads: “Mayor Gets S**t Done.” What audience is she trying to reach using this language?
Viewers aren’t buying it either: “[Los Angeles Mayor] Karen Bass, [Chicago Mayor] Brandon Johnson, [Seattle Mayor] Bruce Harrell are not getting anything done,” said one commenter. “Try to actually solve problems rather than crying about Trump all day long. Actually try to not say Trump for 1 day. I bet you can’t!” Another person wrote, “Is this a joke?”
The party didn’t need a new platform. Elected Democrats could have carried on as usual and received the same attention on social media. So what is the point?
The DNC likely created the show because so many elected Democrats and their advocates seem to believe their major problem is messaging. If they can tell the right story, advertise their “wins,” reframe the narrative, reach the target demographic, and educate them properly, then the party will rise from the abyss and take back Washington. They have apparently put most of their energy and focus into rebranding despite having changed nothing but the packaging. Meanwhile, the states and cities they run are declining as disgruntled populations flee. That’s not a messaging problem – that’s a governing problem.
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