Good evening! Welcome to another edition of Doomscroll, your favorite newsletter covering all things digital on the right! Who wants to do some scrolling?
One Question
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question about cursing! 40% of you said it is NOT ok for candidates to curse. 30% of you said yes, and the other 30% said it depends. I’m probably in the “it depends” category as well. Here are some reader comments:
It's being over done. Politicians should be examples to the community and the better angels of our nature
I’m all for anything that makes these guys more relatable. BUT I don’t think the “yes, go ahead and say your favorite bad word” advice can be applied across the board when the right has some serious self righteousness in our arena. One bad word and a crotchety enough big donor pulls out. So, yes, f*** it. But campaigns should just be at the ready for some complaining.
This is just Dems signaling to their base they are Extremely Upset About The Current Situation and are doing everything they can to stop it. Unfortunately for them--and their base--their base is largely out of touch with what most Americans want and playing into their desires and fearful fantasies will only drive a bigger divide. At least assuming the administration can be normal and not overplay their hand. Just because we got the big W in the fall doesn't mean we have a license to do anything. We've gotta deliver on the promise of the campaigns and not pretend everybody is based all of a sudden.
Keep it classy. Don’t get in the mud with the Dems. It’s a losing strategy.
This isn't the 1950s, a way timed/placed curse is fine as long as it's natural and doesn't get fucking overused.
Thank you for that.
This week’s One Question is about paying voters. Like, voters in Wisconsin $1 million. Last week, we read that Elon Musk was planning to pay Wisconsinites $100 for signing a pledge against activist judges. Ok…then this week he announced a $1 million reward for a Wisconsin man. I know there’s gotta be some gray area here legally…but what do we think about this tactic? Good? Bad? Shady? All’s fair in love and campaigning? Let me know what you think!
One Quote
One Thought
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the TikTok extension ends on April 5 - meaning that if ByteDance doesn’t sell the app by then, it’ll be banned in the U.S. Ok who are we kidding. President Trump will never let that happen. But maybe he’ll dangle a reduction in tariffs to convince the Chinese to sell? Who know what’s what at this point. Frankly, I’m just ready for this TikTok saga to be over.
Just a thought.
Who’s Doing What
—Dark, Dark Money
Axios is reporting that a cadre of pro-Trump “dark money” groups are spending heavily on TV and digital ads to not only promote the administration’s policies, but also do so in places that are sure to grab the president’s attention (think DC and Palm Beach). First off: Go team! Second off: Love it. Groups mentioned in the piece include:
Vapor Technology Association
America First Steel Alliance
Seniors 4 Better Care
Building America’s Future
Big Stick Project - the newest member of the group, which will advocate on energy policies. (Also appreciate the Teddy Roosevelt reference).
Check out an ad from Seniors 4 Better Care here.
Building America’s Future has been spending heavily in the Wisconsin judicial race. These ads are just BRUTAL.
—What’s Going On in Florida?
I know I’m not the only one asking this right now, but what the actual eff is going on with this special election in Florida? Here’s a snippet from a recent Politico article:
The Democratic candidate, math teacher Josh Weil, reported raising more than $10 million for the April 1 race in a deep-red area of the state that went for Trump by more than 30 points. Fine, in contrast, has raised less than $1 million.
Um, are we alarmed yet? I know what some of you are probably thinking: Don’t over-extrapolate from ONE special election. Ok, but this disparity is concerning and is 100% bringing up flashbacks from all my 2024 ranting and raving about online fundraising. I get the environment. Republican donors are tired and probably feel that the seat is SO safe there’s no reason to donate. BUT MAYBE IT’S NOT THAT SAFE. And also maybe we still have a small-dollar donor problem we need to deal with. And maybe we didn’t recruit the best guy (shrug emoji). Maybe he should have a better merch store…(sorry, can’t help it; you know how I appreciate good merch). All the above - and more - can be relevant factors, but they don’t let us off the hook. Le sigh.
Look, I also understand it’s really easy for me to sit and judge from afar, and there’s probably a lot about this district and this race that I don’t know (duh). But I took some time to peruse Fine’s Facebook ad library, and I can’t help but feel like his messaging is completely uninspired. Nearly every single ad either touts his Trump endorsement, uses Trump for lead gen, or proclaims a simple policy stance (“Randy Fine will protect Social Security and Medicare!”). There’s nothing I can see about Randy Fine the man. Do voters even really know him? I’m sure he’s been hitting the trail, but we’re talking about online presence here. I can understand why small-dollar donors aren’t feeling very motivated to give when all they’re seeing are platitudes and cliches. Even in a district that went for Trump by 30 points, you gotta sell yourself on more than a Trump endorsement…IMO.
—What’s Going On With This Video?
The internet had a not-so-great reaction to a video of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem talking to a camera in front of ::checks notes:: a bunch of caged gang members in El Salvador. I’m kind of with the herd on this one. I don’t like illegal gang members and I’m all for deportation, but this “photo-op” doesn’t sit well with me. What’s more, the mystery deepens when you notice that at second 17 there’s a glitch in the background. Is this b-roll on top of a green screen? WTF? And if so…WHY? If it’s just a simple edit, her team needs to do better. So many questions here, and all of them end with “why is Kristi Noem always doing things that make us scratch our collective heads????”
Who’s Spending Where
P2P
Today’s P2P shout-out goes to the NRCC. Ok so TBH, I opened this text mainly because of how it appeared on my phone. I was legit like “Wait, what dinner do I have on 4/8 that I forgot about??” 😂😂 Anyway, it’s not a bad text. You guys know I always prefer to the sender to identify themselves in the message…but other than that, this is solid. And I bet it did very, very well, even if I get a little squeamish about making people donate to enter a contest. Old habits die hard!
Industry Watch
🎙️ YouTube is close to rolling out a new ad feature that allows for host-read, dynamically-inserted ads. Read more here.
📹 Speaking of YouTube, the company just changed how it measures a view on YouTube shorts.
👋 Some new X stats. Quick on: The optimum number of posts per week is 6, which is way lower than I thought it would be.
🙄 TikTok is promising it’s very, very good for us.
🩵 Is Facebook really returning to its roots? Maybe.
2025-2026 Watch
NOTUS reports that Republicans are shrinking the voter registration gap in New Jersey…just in time for the gubernatorial election! Nice.
South Carolina State Sen. Josh Kimbrell is eyeing a run for governor. He’ll potentially face Rep. Nancy Mace, Lt. Gov. Pamella Evette, and Attorney General Alan Wilson in the primary.
Speaking of South Carolina, Sen. Lindsey Graham got Trump’s endorsement this week. YUGE!
Texas Sen. John Cornyn announced his re-election campaign. Watch his 2-minute long video here.
The Grapevine
Chris LaCivita is suing The Daily Beast. Read about it here.
Megyn Kelly is launching a big ol’ media network. Read more about it here.
DonorBureau is hiring a Senior Director of SMS Fundraising. See more here.
National Media Research, Planning & Placement is hiring a Digital Media Buyer. Check out the job description here.
Drive Public Affairs’ (part of Push Digital Group) Josh Riggs has an op-ed in PR Week about thinking outside the box with digital. Read it here.
ICYMI: Influenceable has been EXPOSED.
Our friends at Buzz360 took the time to respond to YOUR questions and
objections about relational organizing in a Substack post. Read it here.
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
Resistance Democrats have launched a Substack! Here’s more in Semafor:
A coalition of some of the largest Democratic grassroots groups want to use Substack to promote their pushback against President Donald Trump’s agenda.
MoveOn, Indivisible, and Working Families Power, the 504(c)(4) arm of the Working Families Party, are launching a new digital publication this week called How We Fight Back, a digest of political analysis and direction for how readers and supporters can take action directly against Trump, Elon Musk, and Republicans.
You know what? Don’t mock this. Seriously - good for them! Not only am I a huge fan of Substack (duh), but I can’t preach content, content, content, and then mock the #Resistance for experimenting on this platform. When it comes to reaching voters, leave no stone unturned.
From the other side of the tracks:
A new report from Amazon shows how major life events influence consumer behaviors. It seems pretty obvious, but still worth checking out.
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