Prostitution, politics, and privacy
Doomscroll 9.17.23
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One Question
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question about the state of GOP online fundraising! Out of everyone who responded, 60% said you have noticed significant changes in how Republicans are raising money online. Despite that, only 20% of you said you are optimistic about the state of the GOP’s small-dollar game heading into 2024. So…we see changes but we don’t necessarily love them, or we’re not convinced they’re going to actually fix anything. In terms of who’s doing things differently, Politicoin and Red Spark both got shout-outs, and Nikki Haley’s campaign got multiple high-fives. One person had this to say about changes in strategy:
With the crowded presidential primary, several campaigns have turned to non-traditional fundraising mechanisms, thinking about Burgum paying folks to donate, etc. It makes me wonder if this kind of tactic has brought in a large proportion of donors who are new to the ecosystem or just continued the same process of fishing for the same donors everyone else is.
It’s a good question and unfortunately, my guess is that it’s simply too soon to tell. And I understand the mixed bag of opinions on this right now. On one hand, I do think voters are getting extremely savvy. They know how to unsubscribe. They know when they’re being prospected. Most of them know that match promises and other so-called tried-and-true techniques are a load of lying, dog-faced pony soldiers. On the other hand, inflation is squeezing discretionary income and it still seems like the GOP base is having a hard time giving money to anyone or anything not associated with someone who’s last name rhymes with PLUMP. I have no other great words of wisdom here, except these: Plow ahead, my friends. Plow. Ahead.
This week’s One Question is very simple and straight-forward. Tim Scott made some news this week by calling on the RNC to change its debate qualification rules and put more emphasis on early-state polls. Do you agree with him? Should the RNC change its policies - yes or no?
Who’s Doing What
--The Impeachment Cash Cow
…that wasn’t? I expected to see a flood of Biden impeachment inquiry-related fundraising emails this week, but in a strange twist of events - my inbox was pretty lacking in anything mentioning the aforementioned news item from GOPers. I got an email about impeachment from the RNC, from the NRSC (signed by Ted Cruz), West Virginia Senate candidate Alex Mooney, and from Kentucky gubernatorial candidate Daniel Cameron. And ya’ll…I’m on a lot of lists. I also only got three P2P fundraising texts off impeachment - one from Ted Cruz, one from Virginia U.S. Senate candidate Hung Cao, and one from Speaker Kevin McCarthy. It seems like Republicans are slow-walking the attempts to fundraise off this.
—The Other Bernie…
…Of Ohio! The United Auto Workers went on strike this week and it was in the news - a lot. To that end, I loved seeing this face-to-camera video posted by Senate candidate Bernie Moreno. It’s good because it accomplishes a lot of things: he was able to comment on a trending news item, he was able to attack incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown, he was able to showcase his knowledge of the issue, and he was able to connect with his constituency. Bravo. This was definitely a moment when handing the iPhone over to the candidate and letting it rip was a good idea.
--E tu, NRO?
Apparently National Review is on TikTok, after previously - and strongly - criticizing the app. This news, combined with Vivek’s decision to join the platform this week had me revisiting my earlier stance on Republicans using TikTok. I’ve been pretty vocal in the past with my opinion on Republican candidates NOT using the app. And guess what? I still haven’t changed my mind. Republican candidates should not be on TikTok. I get the other side’s argument: we need to go where the young people are, etc etc etc. As a digital operative, it’s in my DNA to preach this from the rooftops: Go where the people are! What’s more, I absolutely don’t think the Republican Party should cede the youth vote, but if we can’t figure out another way to reach younger voters without using TikTok then we’re not thinking hard enough. Full stop. We can’t take a hard stance against China as a party and then post memes and dancing videos on TikTok. Sorry, not sorry. The hypocrisy is absurd.
--Mr. Smith is going to Richmond
This is a great ad by Kevin Smith, who’s running for State Senate in Virginia. That’s it. That’s the commentary.
2024 Roundup
Vivek Ramaswamy got on TikTok after spending time with influencer Jake Paul. Read about it here.
As part of his “Kitchen Cabinet,” Ramswamy’s campaign also emailed out a video from the supporter who won the contest to attend the Milwaukee debate. The email also included information about a campaign strategy “update” zoom call that anyone could register for.
Tell It Like It Is PAC released a new ad hyping Chris Christie’s experience as a leader. Watch it here.
Will Hurd released a new ad about the border. Watch it here.
Doug Burgum released an “Eras” t-shirt. Get yours here.
Tim Scott us running ads on Facebook about his Day One Agenda. See it here.
Merch Shout-out
This week’s merch shout-out goes to Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves for his “tater tot” t-shirt. These are so corny and hilarious, I love it. Get yours here.
Who’s Spending Where
From September 6 - 12, Americans for Prosperity was the top conservative spender of ads on Facebook, with around $122,000 on ads trashing “Bidenomics.” AFP Action spent just over $105,000 on some anti-Trump ads that argue Democats will win in 2024 unless Republicans pick a new leader. The Daily Wire came in third place with $63,227 in ad spend, with Ron DeSantis for President a very close fourth with $63,070. The Daily Wire/Jordan Peterson round out the top 5 this week with $48,851.
On Google during that same time, AFP Action was the top conservative spender, with $117,000 in ad spend. Kentucky Values PAC came in second place with $35,000 on ads attacking Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. The Blaze came in third with $32,000, while Maine Affordable Energy spent $28,000 on ads urging Mainers to vote no on Question 3.
P2P
Industry Watch
Couple things right off the bat:
Per CNN, we’re expected to spend more than $10 billion on political ads in 2024! Go us.
Twitter has reportedly been throttling New York Times links. Boooo. Can we just stop this already? Censorship is bad all the time in all cases, anywhere.
Now onto the meat: The antitrust lawsuit between Google and the DOJ wrapped up its first week. Here’s the crux of the DOJ’s case, according to NBC News:
In opening statements Tuesday, the DOJ argued that Google started illegally maintaining a monopoly in the search engine space as early as 2010, according to Reuters. The DOJ's case, which is joined by eleven state attorneys general, argued that Google closed off competition by securing exclusive deals with major tech platforms (including Apple’s iPhone and web browsers like Safari) or via its owned-and-operated properties (the Google Chrome web browser), according to its initial complaint filed in October 2020.
“Defaults are powerful, scale matters,” said Kenneth Dintzer, who is spearheading the DOJ’s case on this trial, according to Reuters.
The DOJ claimed the tech giant spends more than $10 billion annually to situate itself as the default search engine on devices, The Associated Press reported. “Google’s contracts ensure that rivals cannot match the search quality ad monetization, especially on phones,” Dintzer said, according to the AP.
Google, on the other hand, says its search dominance is a result of success in market competition.
I’m solidifying my opinion on this case, just fyi.
The Grapevine
The Data Trust unveiled a new portal this week, powered by Numinar. Read about it here.
WinRed rolled out password-protected pages, in part thanks to this study from IMGE. Love the love. Read about it here. Good stuff.
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Fav meme? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
What so it’s like, WRONG to star in your own porno(s) and run for political office? Says who?? Not Virginia Democrat Susanna Gibson, that’s who, and yes - I’m considering this Doomscroll material because the internet was involved in this rather amazing news story.
I find the argument that Gibson is the real victim here fascinating. Digital operatives, it’s time to tell your principals: if you film yourself having sex with your spouse and you put it on the internet IT’S FAIR GAME. Also, fwiw, you could potentially be charged with prostitution so maybe DON’T do it? It’s not like they were in a private library stored on her private computer and it was hacked and the videos were leaked that way. She literally posted them for_other_people_to_see, and the internet lives forever. We know this, and if Gibson doesn’t then she probably shouldn’t be serving in the state Senate, is all I’m saying.
What’s actually worse to me, is that the Democrat leader of the Virginia state Senate told people to donate to Gibson after accusing Governor Glenn Youngkin of being involved - totally without evidence.
Am I crazy? HMU in an email if you think I’m taking crazy pills: itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com.
P.S. How insane is it that the AP had the story, tipped her off, and then didn’t run it? #Journalism.
From the other side of the tracks:
I enjoyed this little case study about how Domino’s embraced the start-up mentality to turn the ship around. This nugget, especially, stood out:
There were two really important factors that led to this change in perception: Domino’s embraced their crappy pizza, and they embraced digital channels to connect with their customers about it. The idea of “owning up” to how terrible their pizza was and atoning for the bad taste was central in all of their new marketing campaigns from this time. They won back customers’ trust. By leaning into the fact that their old pizza was really bad, Domino’s had new opportunities to be funny and creative. In one campaign, they created hyper-personalized ads that instructed specific individuals to try their new pizza.
I think there’s a lot of lessons in there for politicos working on the campaign trail for a principal who’s had a personal setback, transgression, change of heart, etc etc. Candidates should own up to past mistakes, be honest, implement whatever change is required, and then communicate it all - aggressively. It’s what the people want!
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!