Democrats Need a Communications Strategy, STAT

Trump and the GOP’s plans for Americans have not been a secret—they’ve been in the works for years, mapped out in Project 2025, a 900-page authoritarian policy wishlist that proposes to, among other things, expand presidential powers. Co-authored by the likes of Russell Vought, who is now running the Office of Management and Budget; border czar Tom Homan; CIA Director John Ratcliffe; policy chief Stephen Miller; and Vice-President J.D. Vance, who wrote the foreword, Project 2025 made its way into the public discourse well before Election Day. And yet it didn’t stop Republican voters from pulling the lever for Trump. 

We knew Vladimir Putin “helped” Trump as early as 2016—even the GOP-led Senate issued a report revealing that Putin took measures to help Trump win his first election. Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified to this, as well, before Congress in 2017. We know Putin tried it again in 2020 but fell short. And we know this was the case again in 2024. Only this time, Trump had the additional, open assistance of the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, who bought Twitter and turned it into a Trump propaganda machine; contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to his campaign; and possibly even did some funny business with Starlink and the voting machines, if we are to believe what Trump has said.

So why, then, is the Democratic Party Leadership looking like a deer caught in the headlights, and acting so flat-footed? They had no reason to be caught unprepared. There’s no excuse for the party’s lack of a unified, professional, savvy communications game, whose planning should have begun on November 6, 2024, and implementation the moment Trump failed to place his hand on either of two Bibles—including the “Trump” bible—on Inauguration Day 2025. 

Where is the Party Leadership???  

On Day One of this administration, they should have launched a daily Democratic press briefing on par with the daily White House briefings. I’ve been pushing this for weeks on social media. This idea has been endorsed by former RNC chief Michael Steele, “good guy” billionaire Mark Cuban, legendary best-selling author and activist Don Winslow, among other policy wonks and activists.  

And one of the best people to lead those daily briefings, I think, is former Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is perfectly poised to take on this newly created, full-time position on Capitol Hill.  He is well-known, highly respected, and arguably the best communicator in the Democratic Party. The moment he steps behind the lectern to fact-check the White House, report what Elon Musk and his band of merry teen incel hackers from “DOGE” have done in secret, he becomes one of the most recognizable and influential faces in Democratic politics and media.  The new position would instantly become the most important job of our time. The stature gap and gravitas gap between Buttigieg (call him “Senior Advisor”) and the Trump White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt would be as wide as the Gulf of Mexico. Give him a crack staff of top comms people, and we are off to the races!  

It would be a New Day for Democrats across the country. Not only are scared Democrats—and many Republicans who did NOT vote for this—starved and waiting for this, but the world is watching, as well. And waiting.

One question I’ve been asked a lot: Why is Pete Buttigieg the person to do this? And would he even do it?  As I mentioned, he’s the best of the best. And at this time, he does not have a full-time day job that would interfere with this mission should he decide to accept the assignment. We know he’s up to the challenge like nobody’s business. And, like other top communicators and influencers in the Democratic Party, he gets it. He can bring in other experts for part of the daily briefings, such as Reps. Jasmine Crockett, Jamie Raskin, Eric Swalwell, AOC, Jared Moskowitz, Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Chris Murphy, and of course, official current leadership.  

We would eventually need to form a “shadow cabinet” for the opposition, as the Brits and Australians have. But in the short term, Pete Buttigieg—or someone with his talent and high profile—could be to the United States what Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been for Ukraine. When Putin attacked and invaded Ukraine, the world thought the Ukrainian president would be captured and killed in the first 24 hours. Instead, Zelenskyy conquered the airwaves and the hearts and confidence of the free world, gaining support and assistance.  He did NOT roll over for Putin!

Nor should we.

Many have suggested the DNC or other entities host these press briefings. But as we have seen so far, that is not putting forth our A game. The daily press briefings must be under the auspices of Democratic Leadership in the House and Senate and be conducted in the Capitol. Here’s why:

The House and Senate press galleries are packed with reporters and camera crews from media outlets from around the country, even more than the White House. Covering congressional activities is their beat. The media coverage is almost baked in. If the briefings were held “off campus,” so to speak, such as at the DNC headquarters, the reporter “beat” changes, making it more difficult for them to justify covering it. Importantly, the DNC is a bit of a hike from the Capitol Building, thus making it less likely to get the maximum media coverage possible. And unless the briefing staff operation is funded from congressional budgets, it is harder to justify media coverage from the existing entities of the press in the House and Senate press galleries.

Will Republicans try to stop it? Of course they will. But Democrats, though in the minority, still control their own staff and special committee budgets. The Opposition Press Briefing operation could be funded in any number of ways, with a permanent press briefing room in the Capitol Building.

It is not uncommon for congressional staff with specific roles to be paid from more than one office. A committee and a House or Senate Member personal staff can have a “shared” employee, and some special staff functions can be “shared” by several offices. This new staff and top advisor position would be funded by “shared” staff budgets, with an assessment of sorts from each Democratic House and Senate office, minority committee staff budgets, and Leadership offices. Spread the cost around. 

Another option is to fund it through special committees such as the House and Senate Democratic Steering and Policy Committees. And since they have office space allotments, they can designate one room as the briefing room with the lectern and seating space, along with the ability for permanent TV cameras—or pool cameras. And, of course, there is live streaming. The amplification from social media, podcasts, TV networks, regional press, radio, print—and everything in between—would be substantial and may be beyond our wildest dreams. 

There is even another option, one which may be needed in the short term: a senior Democratic senator with one of those highly coveted “hideaway” offices in the bowels of the Capitol Building can lend their hideaway space to become the briefing room.

The press will cover these briefings religiously, I promise you.  They are as hungry for savvy opposition content as we are. The world is watching, waiting to see if Democrats have a pulse, have the commitment, have the heart, to stand up to Trump, Elon Musk, and Putin. 

If we build it, they will come!

If Leadership signed off on this, and Pete Buttigieg would get on a flight back to D.C., these briefings could start in a matter of days. Anyone claiming otherwise either doesn’t know how to accomplish this, or would throw up bureaucratic roadblocks  for another agenda. Time is of the essence and speed bumps are deadly, as Elon Musk dismantles, hacks, and destroys our government every day, in the dark of night, using private militia to physically bar Members of Congress with oversight and budget authority over federal agencies, from the federal agency buildings. This should terrify every American—and with each passing day, it terrifies more and more of us. 

But without daily opposition pushback and information, most Americans don’t know what is happening.

During the pandemic, as Trump was lying to us about COVID, and telling us to inject bleach and shine magical unicorn lights up our behinds, the masses tuned into the daily briefings by then–NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, before his epic fall from grace. We were hungry for factual information because Trump wasn’t delivering.  

Once again, we are now hungry for information and facts amid this heist, this coup by our own president and his billionaire henchman. 

Democrats must launch a centralized, credible, user-friendly, functional, legible media-savvy, forward-looking daily response—and do it, like, yesterday. Do a few simple things really, really well and build from there. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the possible. 

Here are the obstacles:

1. Pete Buttigieg moved to Michigan with an eye toward running for the U.S. Senate.
2. Democratic congressional leadership may not like being upstaged by an unelected officer/advisor.
3. 2028 Democratic presidential primary “hopefuls” may be threatened by the edge Buttigieg would have with such a high-profile role for which he seems born to occupy.

But if leading Democrats are paying attention, and if they are finally out of denial about the dire straits in which we find ourselves, they will realize future Senate and presidential elections are likely not going to happen—not “real” ones, anyway—because of the damage caused by  Trump and Musk. The ambitions and egos that feel threatened by this needed new structure need to be subdued for the greater good, but also because they are moot. America as we knew her is over. And we must fight like hell to get her back.