Making Free Speech Great Again?
Doomscroll 1.12.2025
Hello, friends. Welcome to another edition Doomscroll, your favorite newsletter covering all things digital on the right. It’s been another rocky week for 2025. Fires everywhere. Literally and figuratively. So let’s get to some doomscrolling.
One Question
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question about resolutions! All…2 of you. Ha! You guys are not really into resolutions and honestly? I respect that. As for me? I try to participate in the eternal pursuit of bettering myself, but also I could live without the self-imposed pressure if you know what I mean. Case in point: I still haven’t posted on LinkedIn in 2025. And that was one of my resolutions. Le sigh.
Anywho! To those of you who did respond - huzzah! I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. Here are some of the responses:
-Run a half marathon (You can do it!)
-Build more meaningful relationships (Shouldn’t we all)
-Reduce the unnecessary stuff (All for this)”
-Spend less time on social media (I should do this. Will I? God only knows)
-Get married this year! (This is your year!).
Good luck!
This week’s One Question focuses on the big news items of the week in the social media space: Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement about changes to Facebook and the the Supreme Court’s hearing on a law that would force ByteDance to divest TikTok.
So here’s the question: What is more consequential for Republican campaigns in 2025? A “ban” on TikTok in the U.S.? Or the red-pilling of Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook?
One Quote
One Thought
I’m not going to dive into arguments for or against a TikTok “ban” today. You all know how I feel about the app and I’ve been VERY public in acknowledging that I tell all my clients not to get on TikTok. I think the evidence is clear that the CCP manipulates the algorithm in its favor and it’s harming our kids. A new report covered by The Free Press this week establishes that fact. You can read the report, from Rutgers University’s Network Contagion Research Institute, for yourself here. And yes, I 100% believe you can be pro-free speech and anti-TikTok (in its current form, at least). Just a thought.
Who’s Doing What
—Announcement Time
It’s been a while since I’ve been able to write about a candidate’s announcement video, so thank you, Scott Schwab! Kansas’ Secretary of State has announced his bid for governor, and his campaign is officially off to the races. The video isn’t bad. It’s not the most exciting thing I’ve ever watched, but I’ve definitely seen worse. He speaks directly to camera and is pretty good at it. He lays out his vision and goes to great lengths to corner the solid, christian conservative market. Kansas is ready for a Republican governor after two terms with Democrat Laura Kelly. His campaign website is nice in that it’s simple and clean - even if the logo is a little uninspired. There’s no merch (boo), but there is a priorities/issues section, which is great! Overall, nice launch.
—Good job, Bernie
I want to give a shout-out to Bernie Moreno for a fundraising email he sent earlier this week. It’s one of the best I’ve seen recently in terms of using an eye-catching subject line, an interesting hook, and copy that actually connects with people (everyone has a dream car!). It doesn’t rely on Trump, it’s not aggressive, and it provides value (watch what he has to say about this important topic!). Good stuff.
—Cool Content
I’m loving a lot of the organic content I’m seeing on social media from freshman lawmakers on the Hill. These videos from Michigan Rep. Tom Barrett and Utah Sen. John Curtis are pretty good!
Who’s Spending Where
P2P
This week’s P2P text highlight goes to….
Oh wait. Let me - a relatively uneducated voter - spend the next 20 minutes trying to decipher the mystery of who sent me this text message. Was it my congressman? Nope! Speaker Mike Johnson? Wrong again! Was it Trump? Heck no.
Drumroll….It came from Next Generation PAC. Not trying to pick on them, but if you’re worried that identifying yourself in text messages isn’t helpful, maybe you’re not approaching your P2P strategy right. I will say this - they did a good job with the first line of their message by keeping in mind how it appears in the iPhone’s messaging app.
Industry Watch
Welp, it’s old news by now but what the hey. Let’s talk about Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement earlier this week that Facebook would be ending its fact-checking program, and embracing community notes and politics in the algorithm (yay!). It doesn’t matter what Facebook does, someone’s going to be mad. For the last few years, it’s been the right. Now it’s the left. Big deal. Zuckerberg’s sudden embrace of free speech may seem opportunistic, but who cares what his motivation is at this point? Ditching the fact-checking model is a good thing, and better late than never, IMO.
My biggest gripe with Facebook right now is how effing hard they make every_single_thing. A sitting public official I work with recently vented to me that it took an “Act of Congress” just to get his page verified. Preach! It takes a billion different steps to take over a page. Or set up an ad account. Or do literally ANYTHING on Facebook. Support is a joke (sorry, just being honest), and the ad blackout periods were ridiculous. I’ve always believed in the power of Facebook as a useful tool in the digital kit, but holy moly. The user experience for those of us who spend money on that platform has been abysmal lately.
One last thing: While I believe these changes are a good thing for us digital operatives, let’s not forget that with great power comes great responsibility. That- AND the cynic in my wonders if this isn’t a bit of a trap. Remember the old days? Remember the criticism that right-leaning Facebook pages were amassing power only by posting insane, hair-on-fire content that ruined the public discourse? Let’s not play into that hand again - especially if our stuff is going to get seen more. The left would love nothing more than to be able to shit-talk our posts/ads on Facebook for a whole cycle. “Those crazy, unhinged Republicans!” And the media will gladly play along. This is my PSA and I’m sticking to it! Let’s keep our content CREATIVE, LEGIT, and SMART.
My final thought for now: Facebook is going to continue to roll out changes (ahem). This is nothing new. It’s our job to pay attention, roll with it, and adapt. So keep calm and carry on, my friends!
2025-2026 Watch
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is getting ready for 2026…as any smart politician would.
Jack Ciattarelli has raised nearly $3 million for his gubernatorial campaign in New Jersey. Read more here.
Governor Matt Gaetz? ::gulp:: Read more here.
Or Governor Byron Donalds? He’s not being very subtle.
Rep. Cory Mills is planning a Senate run in Florida.
The Grapevine
Congrats to Cooper Reeves for taking over as Digital Director at the NRSC! The committee is in good hands!
Congrats to Push Digital’s Wes Donehue for his big announcement this week about Sandbox! Sounds cool. I’d encourage everyone to listen to his podcast episode about it here.
Chris Wilson has a new job as CEO of EyesOver. (Recall he was fired from WPA Intelligence last month amid some…interesting allegations)
Frontline Government Relations has arrived! Read the announcement here.
Chris LaCivita trash-talking RAGA on X is not something I expected to see…
C&E published some predictions for 2025 - including two from Powers Interactive’s Jordan Lieberman and Politicoin’s Quinn Huckeba. Read them here.
Anyone planning to attend the Marketing Politics Conference on January 16? Some friends of Doomscroll are slated to speak!
Last but certainly not least, Launchpad Strategies is hiring! Here’s one job posting, but a friend tells me they’ll be adding more senior-level positions shortly.
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:
The left really loves its “slice-and-dice, everyone-read-this-script-like-the-celebrities-do” video format! You guys know what I’m talking about. Is there a technical term for these? 😆😆😆 Anyway, Senate Democrats got into the game this week with their own video! Feast your eyes:
I’m shaking in my boots.
From the other side of the tracks:
I know these kinds of lists are a dime a dozen right now, but I’m always interested in how marketers/advertisers in the corporate world approach their branding strategies. Read some of them here. Nice food for thought.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!