Burdened by Brat and Coconut Trees
Doomscroll 7.28.2024
This week’s newsletter is sponsored by RumbleUp!
Hello friends. Welcome to another edition of Doomscroll! I’m just going to say it: I had to google “brat” and “Kamala Harris coconut tree” this week and I resent it very, very much. More on that later.
One Question
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question about President Trump’s pick of J.D. Vance to be his running mate! 75% of you said you “love” the pick, while 25% said you “weren’t thrilled”. As far as how you’ll take advantage of the pick for small-dollar fundraising, I got a couple interesting takes:
Maga culture warrior content. He can go hard in the tea where Trump cannot. That ambassador story is one example of content we can adapt that’s unique to Vance & still on brand for MAGA. Other than that, I’m struggling to really think of ways to leverage the pick. He wasn’t a particularly strong small dollar raiser before, and other than he’s attached to Trump directly now i don’t think he alone will change that.
Lots of soft asks, 5% Splits to their campaign committee, and following their messaging. With small-dollar fundraising slowing down, lets hope JD and Kamala news can help boost it.
Someone else asked: “The base is excited, but are the donors?”
It’s the question of the hour, my friend. Time will tell!
Ok, moving on. This week’s One Question is maybe the most open-ended I’ve ever asked: what’s your take on the digital rollout of the Kamala Harris for President campaign?
I have my own thoughts so I’ll go first. I’m already annoyed by the tone and tenor of her campaign. It’s like they handed the keys to a bunch of Gen Z interns and asked them to create an internet candidate for president. They’re trying too hard. And as someone who just entered her mid-30’s, I’m irritated by the very unserious vibe emanating from Wilmington and the all-out narcissism of this campaign operation. These are serious times. We need serious policy solutions to address very serious problems, and yet all I saw this week from her were memes and repetitive fundraising asks that weren’t even all that original. And then there was the fawning coverage, like this Fast Company treatment of her logo and this Tech Crunch piece about how the memes are actually very DEEP. Spare me. The effort to make Kamala cool again is already annoying AF, and I’m kind of maybe bracing myself for Republican candidates to start asking how we can meme-ify their own campaigns. God help us all.
Then again, it says a lot about what the Dems have to work with when Week 1 of Harris for President is so internet-focused. If you need to rely on memes, Beyonce, and google searches of “brat” and “coconut tree” to launch your campaign, perhaps that is not a good sign. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about using online tools and tricks to win votes and get people excited, but let’s not pretend that Kamala 2.0 is any different from the Kamala who was rated most liberal senator and who answered a question about going to the border by saying she hadn’t been to Europe. And that’s just like, my opinion, man.
And lest anyone think I won’t tie this to the ongoing debate around Republicans on TikTok…think again. If THIS is what it means to “chase the youth vote” and embrace TikTok culture the left can have it - and their lime green overlays.
Who’s Doing What
—At least Republicans are taking this seriously
…Most of us, anyway. I’m sure everyone’s watched this ad from Pennsylvania senate candidate Dave McCormick already, but it’s so good I’m including it here anyway. The brilliant thing about this ad is that it’s so simple. It’s not overly-produced in any way. It’s literally words straight out of her mouth. And they should scare everyone. Well done, Team McCormick.
Other GOP’ers launched some great video ads as well this week hitting at Kamala’s record and they’re all worth noting!
Like this one from MAGA Inc.
And this one from the NRSC.
And this one from Preserve America PAC
—America PAC (F Yeah!)
Elon Musk’s America PAC went up with ads on Meta asking people to “lock in” their vote for Trump or register to vote. The PAC is being run by DeSantis alums Phil Cox and Generra Peck - as well as my former boss, Dave Rexrode. I’m not sure what the Facebook ads directed to, since clicking on them in the ad library just takes me to my own Facebook timeline. So uh…hopefully that doesn’t mean a bunch of money (almost $900K) was blown on ads that didn’t work. That would be ::checks notes:: real bad. Still, lead-gen campaigns asking people to make sure they vote for Trump-Vance probably work real well, even if they’re a tad unoriginal (not a dig, just a fact). Excited to see what else this group does between now and November.
—J.D. Cringe
I’m absolutely not throwing in the towel on J.D. Vance just yet, but man is this fundraising video cringey. I kind of expected better from him, TBH, since he’s an elder millennial and all. Friends: Don’t call free snacks at your own campaign event a “ton of crap.” Let’s just start there.
Who’s Spending Where
P2P
BTW…that text in the top left about Mitch McConnell costing Republicans a Senate seat last cycle came from Blake Masters…
Industry Watch
Digiday has a write-up on how political campaigns are taking advantage of AI. It only mentions Democrat-leaning AI start-ups, of course, but still worth a read. Here’s a snippet:
Not all agencies working with political candidates are using AI yet for content. Instead of focusing on AI for content-generation, Tyler Goldberg, director of political strategy at Assembly Global, thinks the biggest growth market for AI is for building contextual audiences. While he hasn’t used AI for writing emails yet, he sees how it might be helpful to reach new audiences and bring more voters into the democratic process. …
More companies in the ad tech space are already using AI to create new audiences based on consumer and voter data. Today, Yahoo and Resonate announced plans to integrate Resonate’s voter segments with Yahoo’s demand side platform, giving advertisers access to more than 1,000 audience segments based on political affiliation, interests, shopping behaviors and health categories.
2024 Watch
This is where I make note of a few other things that caught my eye this week.
New Mexico GOP senate candidate Nella Domenici has an interesting new ad up about mental health. Watch it here.
Sandy Pensler dropped out of the Michigan GOP senate primary race and endorsed Mike Rogers. Read about it here.
Ryan Zinke has a new ad about protecting girls' sports. Watch it here.
The Grapevine
Nothing this week! Booo.
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
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Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
Ok…this specific story may not be a digital thing per se JUST YET…but I guarantee White Women for Kamala are going to show up in a big way online between now and November. Did everyone else hear about the massive Zoom call they held the other night? Reading about it makes me want to claw my eyes out with sandpaper, but we NEED TO BE AWARE, my friends. Here’s a bit from Reason:
According to Elizabeth Minnella, who served as a sort of master of ceremonies of the call, more than $1.8 million was raised last night. Urging viewers to group chat their friends with a fundraising link, Minnella said she would be dropping it into her favorite group chat, titled "Witches for Harris."
"I am here tonight, embracing myself in your incredible, profound white women midst, because we've got a fucking job to do, y'all," said Britton, who has starred in shows like Nashville, American Horror Story, and The White Lotus. She went on to suggest that because Vice President Kamala Harris is a woman, she will "listen. And lead with empathy, integrity, and the power of the truth." When President Joe Biden stepped down as the Democratic Party's 2024 presidential nominee and endorsed Harris to take his place, "the world blew up. Did you feel it?" asked Britton. "It was seismic. Cosmic, even. And since then—have you seen it? Have you seen Kamala glisten in the brilliance and shine of her true power and leadership? And what does that feel like? Feels like self-love."
… If there was an underlying theme, it was that white women needed to use their privilege to elect Harris—or else.
"White women, we have 100 days to help save the world!" Watts said
Literally dying.
From the other side of the tracks:
I too, think this is pretty freaking cool. Not gonna lie:
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!