PAIN and Ugh - Merry Christmas!
Doomscroll 12.17.2023
Happy Sunday and welcome to another week of Doomscrolling! I hope everyone who attended Campaign Tech in D.C. came away smarter, brighter-eyed, and bushier-tailed.
A tiny bit of housekeeping: I’m taking a break for the holidays (Christmas Eve is in one week OMG). We will return to regular programming on Sunday, January 7. I promise the next couple of weeks will fly by. And if any of you also have a toddler who demands “Last Christmas” by Wham! on repeat, HMU over email so we can relate.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
One Question
Thanks to everyone who participated in last week’s One Question: my 2024 presidential straw poll. Out of everyone who responded, 46% of you said Nikki Haley should be the GOP nominee. Not bad, but not exactly an overwhelming majority. 33% said Ron DeSantis, and 13% said Donald Trump. Shout-out to the one Vivek voter in the group. So only 13% of you said you wanted Trump to be the nominee, but 73% said you expect him to be the nominee nonetheless. Blah. What a world. Here are some of my favorite comments:
DC people overestimate Nikki’s appeal in the GOP. She’s hit a ceiling.
Win or lose next year, this is Trump's last ride. For 2028, I hope and pray we get a fresh slate of candidates, who are natural, authentic and relatable—not a rehash of the 2024 also-rans so we can do another round of who is or isn't wearing lifts in their boots....
Will be damn interesting to see who if any of the current candidates find a spot on Trump's cabinet.
Why can't we ever have nice things?
PAIN
Ugh
To the commenters who wrote “PAIN” and “Ugh” - I think I’m picking up what you’re putting down.
This week’s One Question is something that I think is fitting for the end of the year: I want you all to air your grievances. The sky’s the limit. Nothing’s too sacred or too safe. Mad at one of your vendors? Air it. Pissed at the committees? Air it. Angry about your budget? You know what to do! If it’s decent and vent-worthy and fairly PG, I’ll print it in the New Year. This isn’t about taking swipes, pushing gossip or pissing anyone off; I’m just a firm believer in the healthy venting of frustrations. And I KNOW we all have them. So let’s get it all out there and start 2024 with a clean slate, shall we? And just to reiterate - all answers to the One Question are completely anonymous - even to me. I couldn’t reveal your identities even if I wanted to! So have at it.
Who’s Doing What
Putting the FUN in Fundraising
I get lots of fundraising emails (I’m on a lot of lists, yo), and there’s not many that stand out to me these days. But a campaign from Sam Brown in Nevada piqued my interest recently. Maybe I’ve been living under a rock, but I’ve never seen this before and I’m really digging it: a fundraising “contest” between Sam and his wife Amy. Check it out:
Pure Michigan. Pure Pensler.
The Republican primary field to replace retiring Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow is CROWDED. By my count, there’s 10 Republicans in the field - including former Rep. Mike Rogers - and it just got an 11th: Sandy Pensler. Now, I don’t know much about Pensler, but when I saw his announcement video and his website, I knew it was Doomscroll material. Feast your eyes:
OK. This guy needs a good salt-water gargle, but OTHER THAN THAT, I love it. Yes, it’s a little long, but I love the honesty. I love that it’s different. I love that it mocks campaign videos (and I’m someone who’s a total sucker for announcement videos) It also covers all the GOP voter highlights: the border crisis, men playing in women’s sports, crime, inflation…he uses words like it’s “wrong, evil, and immoral.” And I’m here for it. Don’t pull any punches! Say what you will about the man himself, but his video stands out from the pack - which is what you want. His website stands out too…although not in a good way. Sorry, Sandy, but it had to be said. I appreciate the simplicity, but we gotta get this website into the 21st century. Have your people call my people, Sandy! Help me help you!
Trump For The Win?
PBS did its own look at how Trump is showing up at sporting events to, as they say, “connect with sports fans.” Here’s more:
While Trump has spent less time campaigning in early-voting states than many of his Republican primary rivals, his campaign has been filling his schedule with appearances at major sporting events including Saturday’s UFC fight in Las Vegas. Videos of his appearances routinely rack up hundreds of thousands of views across social media, particularly on non-political outlets, including popular online sports channels and fan sites. And they are far easier and cheaper to produce than campaign rallies.
It’s a strategy that, aides say, puts him in front of potential voters who may not closely follow politics or engage with traditional news sources. And it is part of a broader effort to expand Trump’s appeal with young people and minority voters, particularly Latino and Black men, that the campaign hopes to win over in greater numbers after gains in 2020. UFC’s fanbase in particular is overwhelmingly male.
…
They have also tried to harness the power of social media by creating their own viral moments. His team realized early on that video of Trump interacting with supporters had particular traction, and now often organizes stops where he has passed out Blizzards at Dairy Queen or tossed autographed footballs into the crowd at a frat house in Iowa.
The scenes have also provided a contrast, first with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, once seen as Trump’s leading primary rival, who is often criticized for seeming wooden and awkward at public events, and now with President Joe Biden as both men gear up for a widely expected general election rematch. Biden has largely eschewed campaign events, holding just a single rally, his campaign launch event.
TCN is here, but my ornament is not
What kind of Republican digital connoisseur would I be if I didn’t at least mention the Tucker Carlson Network, unveiled this week to much fanfare??? To start, I was first emailed about an imminent announcement on December 9. The email asked me to become a “Founding Member” of Tucker’s new streaming platform and said that if I signed up, I’d get the opportunity to buy his official 2023 Christmas ornament. Ok, that piqued my interest (I’m a sucker for merch, after all). What kind of ornament would Tucker be selling? An American flag? A fly fishing rod? A red pill? I had to find out, so I clicked on the button. The landing page it took me to had NO ORNAMENT. Just a form. I filled it out hoping the ornament would be on the confirmation page. No such luck. To this day, I’ve clicked on every email and seen no actual Christmas ornament. Am I blind? Digitally illiterate? Unable to follow simple instructions? Who knows. Will I be spending $9 a month to watch gobs of Tucker content? Hard pass for me, though I’m sure many Americans will. It is a sleek shrine, I mean website, for Tucker, and I have no doubt he’s already reeling in those hard-earned dollars. If I have one tip at all it’s this: follow through with those merch promises, PLEASE.
2024 Roundup
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu endorsed Nikki Haley, and Haley camp spent the week talking about nothing else (makes sense). See one of the bazillion tweets from Haley touting his endorsement here.
Chris Christie released an ad slamming Haley and DeSantis for not taking on Trump. Watch it here.
Some are questioning whether the DeSantis campaign and Never Back Down are a little too cozy with each other. Read the AP story here.
Looks like both Haley and DeSantis will participate in a CNN debate in Iowa on January 10. Read more about it here.
Speaking of DeSantis and Haley, they are going at each other’s THROATS. Team DeSantis even spent much of the week calling her a Dem. Sick Burn. See example here.
Vivek Ramaswamy was caught on a hot mic going to the bathroom during a Twitter Live event. Listen to the audio here. Indulge me for a moment: This got like, 30 minutes worth of attention this week. That’s it. Are we really all just going to move on and pretend like this never happened???? Like we didn’t just hear a major presidential candidate go weewee in the potty because he was too careless to mute his mic?? I, for one, am scandalized. To anyone who’s like, “hey, we’ve all been there,” Um, No, no we have not.
Did I miss anything good? If so, drop me a line: itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Merch Shout-out
I’ve been keeping an eye out for good holiday-themed merch and this week I want to throw some love to Rep. Mike Lawler and Sen. Bill Cassidy. Ten points each for creativity! Get your gear here and here.
Who’s Spending Where
From December 7 - 13, Americans for Prosperity was the top conservative spender on Facebook ads, with about $261,000. AFP Action came in second with about $192,000 on ads supporting Nikki Haley, Sam Brown in Nevada, Erika Booth in Florida, and others. Third and fourth place go to The Daily Wire ($138,000) and PragerU ($90,000). Rounding out the top 5 is a group called the Liberty Defender Group, which spent about $86,000 on ads that said things like “take this 10-second poll and get a free Trump flag!”
During that same period, AFP Action was the top spender on Google, with about $188,000. “Nicholas Perhai” spent $91,000 slinging gold Trump bars, and someday I’m going to do a deep dive into who this person is. CCAGW PAC spent $60,000 on a 30-second spot that is truly mystifying to me. It spends the entire half minute slamming…Bernie Sanders….(super relevant right now) on government intervention in healthcare. (Ok.) It ends with a message that says “Call today and tell them to oppose a government takeover of pharmacy benefits,” and then lists the Capitol switchboard number. Umm, ok? Interesting use of funds, but maybe I’m missing something. The ad does target 9 different cities in the south and midwest, so I guess I don’t know what I don’t know! (Like why are you basically running an anti-Bernie spot right now?) SFA Inc ($32,000) and More Jobs Less Government (Tim Sheehy group) ($23,000) round out the top five.
P2P
Industry Watch
A lot of ink has been spilled lately about Meta’s decision to allow ads that deny the 2020 election. Professional progressives on the internet are appalled, obviously, but as someone who likes to err on the side of being pro-free speech, this rationale in ABC News resonates. Take a look:
Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta and a top decision-maker on the election-denial ad policy, viewed the prevalence of 2020 election denial among Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, as a political reality beyond the purview of ad restrictions at Meta, a person who says they heard him share his views at the time, told ABC News.
Clegg wanted to responsibly police content without interfering with a political position that played a sizable role in the campaign at the time, the person said, adding that Clegg believed denial of the 2020 election should be adjudicated by a democratically accountable institution rather than a private entity.
Clegg also weighed free-speech concerns tied to the election-denial ad policy, believing that Meta should ban ads claiming ongoing and future elections were rigged because such content posed a risk of immediate harm to voters who could in turn forgo participation in an election or lose faith in its results, the source told ABC News.
Political ads challenging the legitimacy of previous elections did not threaten direct harm because the elections had been completed, Clegg thought, and he supported putting the ads beyond Meta's role as an arbiter of paid content, the source added.
The Grapevine
Politicoin is hiring a Political Director and an Associate.
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Fav Christmas carol? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
A couple things caught my eye from the Dems this week. For starters, as reported by FWIW, the Biden Administration hosted a Christmas party recently for…you guessed it…INFLUENCERS. Before you groan like I did, this is actually pretty brilliant. Biden needs the influencers, so why not wine and dine them - especially since, according to Kyle, the combined following of the influencers in attendance approached 100 million. Read it and weep.
Secondly, did anyone else read this Washington Post piece about how Dems are keeping the Twitter ad business afloat? Here’s a snippet:
Advertisers are fleeing Elon Musk’s X amid rising concerns that the social media site and its owner are amplifying antisemitic and hateful material.
But an unlikely group of holdouts has continued to pump ad dollars into the embattled platform: Democrats running for office.
Democrats have spent over a million dollars to run thousands of political ads on X, formerly known as Twitter, since the platform lifted its ban on such messages earlier this year under Musk, according to an analysis by The Washington Post of ad disclosure data provided by the company. The group includes some of Musk’s most outspoken critics on the left, such as Reps. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) and Daniel S. Goldman (D-N.Y.), who last month accused X of “profiting off” of “terrorist propaganda.”
The flurry of ads, taken out by more than 50 Democratic candidates, campaigns and party organizations across federal, state and local elections, suggests many liberal politicians have been willing to overlook party leaders’ qualms with Musk to pay his company to reach potential voters and donors on X, which is still viewed as an important campaign messaging tool.
If you, like me, were initially confused (I thought Elon was destroying democracy!!!!!) don’t be. Dems’ biggest constituency - the mainstream media - can’t break their Twitter habits so of course left-leaning candidates would advertise there. It does make a certain kind of sense, even if some of them are also publicly bashing the company while using it to amplify their campaigns. Consistency, integrity….those are all just buzzwords, my friends! Ain’t no one got time for that.
From the other side of the tracks:
This is super random, yes, but also: Who else kind of loves the Nike SB Dunk Low Pro x Powerpuff Girls ad that’s running on Instagram and TikTok? It doesn’t even show the shoes…nonetheless it has everything I want from an ad: nostalgia, creativity…the ability to make me even forget that I’m watching an ad in the first place…There are lessons to be drawn from this, people! Watch it here.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!