Hello and welcome to another edition of Doomscroll, your favorite newsletter covering all things digital on the right. There was a lot happening on the internet this week, not gonna lie. And all I’m gonna say is this: Kinda chic to spend $20 on a burrito. 🙃
Let’s get to some scrolling.
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Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question about invoicing and chasing down payment. It was a little bit of an unusual topic for us, I realize that, but I appreciate everyone who humored me. Of those who answered the question about how long you’ve waited for an invoice to be paid…43% of you said 6 months and counting, while a whopping 57% said “it’s never getting paid.” Guys… That’s INSANE to me. More than half of us are resigned to the idea of losing money we’re owed? No bueno. 57% of you ALSO said that your largest outstanding invoice amount is more than $100,000. Again. INSANE. I’m pissed off on your behalf. 28% of you said it was in the 25K-$50K range and 14% said $50K-$75K. Just over half of you said you’ve taken legal action to try and get yo money. A couple comments:
Campaigns don’t pay vendors, vendors don’t pay other vendors, it’s a brutal world. Contracts don’t seem to matter to half of these people and unless you’re willing to litigate you have to eat your losses.
Winning campaigns are much more reliable than losing ones. Have usually been able to settle without getting lawyers involved.
I mean…I guess I don’t really know what I was expecting with this question. Yes, it’s a brutal world out there, but candidates need to pay their bills - win or lose. And that’s just a fact. And while I’m not saying it’s time to start naming and shaming, I’m not NOT saying that either, so if you feel led by the Good Lord to use that gossip button a little farther down, I’m certainly not going to stop you. Pay. Your. Invoices.
Ok this week’s One Question is about someone I’m usually loath to bring up in any conversation. And not just because I had the pleasure(?) of working for him as my first job out of college (true story). Yes I’m talking about Tucker Carlson. The dude has released a manifesto of sorts. Some are egging him to run for president in 2028. And so my question is this: Do you think he runs and if he does, what does that mean for the GOP campaign ecosystem? Does he have a movement that will translate into real grassroots support? Will he hurt the Republican ticket? Is he a legit threat and how would his candidacy upend the current campaign playbook? Phew, that’s a lot. Me? I don’t think he runs and I have my reasons why. But I enjoy a good thought experiment every now and then. So join me and put on your strategist hats!
The above quote comes from a fascinating essay Katie Harbath wrote this week about how Trump and Harris voters under the age of 35 reported whether or not they’d ever had their mind changed by a content creator or influencer. The headline focuses on how 35% of Trump voters under 35 reported being persuaded, but that number falls to 19% among Harris voters. Harbath spends much of the rest of her essay hypothesizing why that disparity exists and if you haven’t read it yet, you really should. But the reason the above quote jumped out at me so much is because it gets at what’s coming down the road: Mainly, whether - or how - AI content will start to influence young voters online. And also ::dun dun dunnnn:: does it matter? If creators have this much sway among this block of voters, what happens when the creator shifts from being the fitness instructor in Reno to a AI-run bot that’s mining our digital footprints? Just a thought!
—Ready, Set Rogers!
Mike Rogers is stepping it up these days - and not a moment too soon now that the Senate race in the Great Lakes State is officially set. First, I’ve been a little hyper-fixated lately on custom WinRed pages and this one from Team Rogers has all the bells and whistles. It may even be TOO over the top, but I bet it’s converting. What’s more, it’s not just WinRed pages that I’ve noticed are getting a lot of design tweaks. Emails are too. The Mike Rogers email that links to the aforementioned WinRed page looks like it was built by someone who studied graphic design at SCAD and I mean that with all due respect. The copy is a little out there (“Please, click the link above and read what we've outlined before they shut down our ability to warn you.” Um, ok!). But man is it a nice-looking email.
Before we move on, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also give Mr. Rogers a shout-out for the video appeal he posted for normie Dems this week. It’s no burger video (scroll down), but it IS a good example of a candidate with pretty good instincts. I wish it were a little less staged. And (don’t kill me) I don’t understand why you’d put a spouse on camera if they’re not going to say anything (wives aren’t props!), but it’s a really good message and getting out there right after the primary was a solid move.
—The news that’s fit to print!
Lefty journo Judd Legum blew the door wide open on Senate Republican’s network of “fake” news sites. One Nation, it seems, has launched six websites in six key states: Georgia, Alaska, Ohio, New Hampshire, and Maine. I mean, aside from the fact that this tactic is giving me major 2018 RGA vibes (IYKYK), BOTH sides have done stuff like this. And I say…if you have the money and resources, why the heck not? They’re websites with information. They’ll probably be used to run ads. Again: if we’re outraged over this and NOT outraged over the Courier “News” Network…you’ve got problems.
—Baggage Claims
Speaking of Michigan…everyone knows I love a good attack site. Earlier this week someone flagged PerryJohnsonFacts.com for me and I have to say…it ain’t bad. In fact, it’s pretty good. Almost too good. Almost like…a lot of effort went into a site to attack someone who was consistently down 10 points in the polls? I don’t know. I wasn’t following the Michigan gubernatorial primary enough to know why Mission Michigan would put this much effort into a website attacking Perry Johnson. It’s pretty slick, but ALMOST veers towards overly complicated. That’s always the danger with sites like this. Throwing an entire oppo book onto a website isn’t always the most effective - even if it’s designed well. If I can’t tell you the biggest takeaway after scrolling for 10 seconds, the site misses the mark. This comes close. I think a few design tweaks would have helped this site communicate more effectively to its intended audience, but it’s still better than most so I’m giving it an A-.
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Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch has joined the race for governor
Ty Masterson has secured the GOP nomination for governor in Kansas.
John James is officially the GOP nominee for governor in Michigan.
Rep. Andy Ogles lost to primary challenger Charlie Hatcher this week, despite having Trump’s endorsement (although the president came out for Hatcher after his win).
And Marsha Blackburn officially became the GOP nominee for governor in Tennessee.
Anyone else see this bizarre story? Thomas Smith won the nomination in Michigan’s 8th congressional district this week despite suspending his campaign last month.
Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan is out with a new ad about how he fights for Alaska and his opponent, Mary Peltola, was handpicked by the radical left.
Security is Strength, the Super PAC backing Darline Graham in South Carolina put out an attack ad against Rep. Russel Fry this week. It’s not bad…but I doubt it’ll stick.
Rep. Andy Biggs, who’s running for governor in Arizona, is out with a new spot contrasting his record with incumbent Dem. Governor Katie Hobbs. One new poll, however, has him trailing Hobbs 52-44.
Some interesting polling out of Iowa this week: Democrat Rob Sand has the lead in the gov race, but Republican Ashley Hinson is ahead in the Senate race.
Ok, this is a little unusual for us, but this interview with LTK co-founder Amber Venz Box (yes, that’s her real name) caught my attention this week. For those who don’t know, LTK is a platform that allows content creators to share affiliate links and earn commission (if you’re a female and over the age of 21 I guarantee you’ve clicked on a LTK link more than once). In other words: it’s an extremely successful tech company.
Anyway, the interview is about how LTK is entering a new era, evolving its business model, etc etc, but this is the snippet that I thought was worth flagging. At the end, Box is asked about where she thinks the creator economy is heading. Here’s what she has to say:
I think creators are starting to realize this, but the broader industry I don’t think has yet: the deep importance of an owned audience. Over the last year, every platform has now moved from a core following feed to an interest-led, algorithmic feed. You overlay that with AI, and ultimately that turns creators into content machines for platforms.
You have to realize that as a creator, your job is to get that customer out of that platform so you can build a relationship with them. The smartest creators are realizing that, but the broader industry is just awakening to the revenue that they gain from creators who are social-only creators is what I describe as at-risk revenue.
As a brand, if you’re making investments in someone who only has a social media audience, I don’t think of it as a long-term investment…One algorithm change can take their business, and therefore take the investments that you’ve been making in them as a partner. This concept of owned audiences and algorithmic audiences is, for elite creators, becoming a very important topic.
Ya’ll. This is maybe one area where politics has been ahead of the corporate world? I give major kudos to Box for pointing this out, but I know many of us were preaching this 2 and 3 cycles ago. Owned audiences are everything. Revenue that relies on social-only creators is “at-risk revenue,” says Box. The same thing applies to us - which is why I’m constantly beating the lead-generation drum and am not willing to just give up that focus because of inboxing problems or whathaveyou. I know I’m largely preaching to the choir here, but what can I say? I’m just a girl, standing here, begging you to collect leads and own your audience.
Also relevant? You don’t even have to have a massive following to get into the. The WSJ reported this week that brands are starting to cultivate relationships with creators who have as few as 500 followers.
From an anonymous commenter:
Has anyone noticed a bunch of digital agencies are throwing some of their folks on tv lately? TW Arrighi at Push, Gorman at TV, Hahn at Frontline, I know Tag had Erin Maguire back in the day...etc. What is the goal of this? Just notoriety? Is it worth a smaller agency doing this too or do you need a big agency name to make it work?
Why yes. Yes, I have noticed this. Back when I was coming up in the professional world, unless you were the GC on a major presidential campaign, consultants mainly stayed in the background- and that’s the way everyone wanted it. Obviously things have changed. 1) There’s so much more programming out there, I think producers are willing to book almost anyone. 2) I could see this being part of a firm’s marketing or business development strategy. Get your people to be viewed as THE experts and maybe you snag the high-profile campaigns? Just a theory. But! I think it’s still worth remembering that clients can and will see every media appearance. And if I’m a candidate struggling to raise money and I see my account rep on Newsmax TV every other day, I may start to have questions.
If anyone reading this feels like weighing in, let me know: itsthedoomscoll@gmail.com
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From the other side of the tracks:
Another day, another story about how marketers are embracing nostalgia. This time - specifically for the millennial woman. Look, I am this audience. And yes, I’m getting a kick out of seeing Chad Michael Murray and Hillary Duff get some new life into their careers. Good for them! But is there a play here for politics? I’m not saying we should try and get Sabrina the Teenage Witch to film a campaign ad, but I AM wondering if there’s a nostalgia angle for….the Mike Rogerses and Michael Whatleys of this cycle. Honestly? I’m leaning toward no at the moment. As a consumer, it’s easy to understand how a product like Bubly water can help me make an emotional connection between flavored water and the carefree days of my youth. But in politics? Progress looks forward - not back. You could certainly make a splash with a nostalgia-driven ad if done right, but I just don’t know many voters who are clamoring to go back to 2006.
From the other side of the aisle:
I’ll be honest. I probably paid attention to the Michigan democrat senate primary race way less than most of you. But I did sit up and pay attention when one of the lefty Substacks I subscribe to - Grace Weinstein’s Who Broke It - published an interview she conducted with Abdul el-Sayed back in April on Wednesday. In it, El-Sayed brags about loving the online hate he gets from the right, which fits what little I know about his personality, tbh. But here’s what I thought was interesting. When Weinstein asks him if he’d ever been told that a video of his changed someone’s mind, he immediately said the burger video:
I mean, say what you will about El-Sayed and his insane politics, but this is good content. And he published it almost a whole year before primary election day. And out of all the content he’s posted since, that’s what he immediately went back to. I’m not surprised. You guys: this is someone who understands content and storytelling. We need people on the right who are this invested in creating good, persuasive content.
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wow thank you for the shout!