Hello and welcome to another edition of Doomscroll - your favorite newsletter covering all things digital on the right. I spent the week successfully NOT tweeting about Sydney Sweeney because I was saving all the hot takes for you guys. Lucky you. Now let’s get to some scrolling!
This week’s Doomscroll is sponsored by WinRed. Thank you!
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question about what you’d like to see more of here. I truly appreciate everyone who took the time to answer. <3
The top two responses were:
More resumes + job postings
More opinions on what works and doesn’t work
Gotcha. So I’ve been asked about resumes before. I’m all about connecting folks in our industry and helping out where I can. Do we want a Doomscroll Resume bank? Would that be helpful? I’m going to mull it over and see what makes sense there. To be honest, if I do set something up I may have to charge something for access just to cover costs - we’re not in the business of running charities over here (and by “we,” I mean “I”). BUT…whenever that does happen I’ll let you all know asap. And I’m a shit-or-get-off-the-pot kinda girl so IF I move on this it will be soon.
Also, it warms my heart to know you all love my opinions so much. Here’s what I will say: there’s more where that came from! The spice level can always be turned up.
Also: 13% of you chose more Q&A’s. I sincerely like those too, but full disclosure: I offer this as a format for sponsorship opportunities and I think I’m going to keep them there for now (contact me for deets!). So why did I include this option in the poll!?!??! Two words: Brain Malfunction. Just being real.
As for reader comments? Here’s a couple I’ll respond to.
Side note: I was disappointed in the lack of coverage in the Q2 fundraising numbers in doomscroll.
Totally fair. Maybe I just thought they were being covered so much elsewhere that I didn’t need to rehash them in Doomscroll? I don’t know. Sometimes I get in my head a little about publishing on Sundays. If something’s already been talked to death for days prior…do I really need to cover it? Still, I probably goofed here.
I think it would be fun to lean more into guest hosting of Doomscroll. Other perspectives are fun.
Interesting. Not opposed. I did use guest writers last year when I took a 4-week maternity leave and they were amazing. So…maybe? If you are interested in guest writing, shoot me a note! itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
I would love for you to open the floor to anonymous trash talking between agencies and candidates. I know you won't because you're above that and you seem like a good person, but some of us are here for the drama.
Who says I’m a good person!?!!? Lol jk jk. I am not necessarily above trash talk, but again with the full transparency: I got a good amount of negative feedback over the Winners and Losers contest I did at the end of 2024. Not a ton, but enough to make me think I probably wouldn't do it again. I don’t even remember publishing THAT much trash talk then so….eh? I don’t know? Gossip on the other hand… HELL YEAH BRING IT. That’s what the Grapevine is for. I sometimes get good stuff from you all via email or text (if you have my number consider yourself special), but this week I’ll pop in a button to a Google Form for anyone who has good beans to spill. And yes, all my Google Forms are all anonymous.
OK ENOUGH OF ALL THAT FOR NOW. This week’s One Question is about what to do in the event your digital operation makes a huge mistake. Like, for instance, misspelling “GEORGIA” in a campaign launch video. You know what I’m talking about. This week Rep. Mike Collins launched his Senate campaign with an all-around great video. It just had one glaring problem.
Now, we’ve all made mistakes. I honestly don’t know who was responsible for this video. Collins is one of Frontline’s most visible clients, but a little birdie over there assured me it was NOT them. And honestly, even if I knew who made it, I wouldn't name and shame. That’s not the goal.
I want to know what you think is the best way to recover from a mistake like this. Quickly delete, fix, re-post and not say anything? Would it have been good for the campaign to post a new version and find an engaging way to acknowledge the typo? Do you go scorched-earth and fire the sad video editor who made it? The digital director who posted it? I mean, let’s be real: videos like this usually go through so many eyeballs it’s insane no one caught it before it went live. Or maybe it WAS caught, but someone accidentally posted an old, un-fixed version? We shall never know. But still I want your takes: How would you have handled the situation?
The above quote is from an NRSC memo that went out this week, sounding the alarm over Apple’s upcoming iOS 26 update. $500M is a lot of money, and I don’t blame the committee for freaking out a bit. I, too, wonder what the update will mean for political texting. Usually, I fall into the “Good actors will be fine and bad actors will be punished” camp. But I guess time will tell…I’m not really sure how the NRSC plans to “fix this,” but I wish them the best of luck!
P.S. John Hall, Ken Mika, and Patrick Ruffini all published thoughts on this update recently. Find them here, here, and here.
—North Cackalacky Watch
Former NC Governor Roy Cooper officially launched his Senate campaign this week, and boy do you gotta hand it to the SLF for being up and READY. As Exhibit A, I present to you: RadicalRoy.org
I love a good microsite. And this is a good one. It’s clean but cool. Straightforward and to the point. The 60-second ad is excellent and makes it clear: Cooper’s “aw shucks” attitude is all a facade. This dude is about as lefty as it gets. Love it. The group was also up right out of the gate with ads on X, including an awesome takeover ad targeting DC and NC. Seriously, kudos. The only question is, will this messaging work? When I was at the RGA and Cooper was running for re-election, we ran this same basic playbook and it ::checks notes:: failed. However, things are different today. For starters, the Democrat Party is in a completely different place, with approval ratings in the toilet. They’re out of touch and North Carolinians know it. Second, Republicans have a much stronger candidate going up against Cooper this time. That’s gonna help. Anyway, I can’t wait to see how this race unfolds. But good job, SLF.
—Next comes…
First there were DOGE checks. Now there’s…Tariff checks? This week I got emails from the House Conservative Victory Fund, someone named Alex Butler, Burgess Owens, the RNC, and many others talking about tariff checks. This must be the new DOGE check, and it’s gotta be working. I know tariff rebate checks have been talked about in the news, so this isn’t coming out of nowhere. AND most of the copywriting I read was pretty ok. Most of these emails are written as polls (“would you like to get a tariff rebate check?”) that (of course) link to a WinRed donation page. But there’s still a general air of “vote so we can add your name to the list of people getting tariff checks!” to it. I’m not super against it, but I don’t love it. There’s still something scammy about making people think they’re going to get checks from the government if they just give your campaign $5. I don’t know.
Some quick hits this week.
🙋♀️ How LinkedIn became a break-out platform for content creators.
💻 Buffer has a new blog post about what type of content does best on each platform.
😎 X is going to start penalizing ads with emojis
📣 YouTube is going to help you create Shorts with AI
✂️ This looks like it could be very handy for turning those podcast episodes into short-form content
Bill Cassidy has a new primary challenger in Public Service Commission Eric Skrmetta.
State Sen. Shelley Hughes has joined a rather crowded primary field for governor of Alaska.
Mike Lindell is still mulling a bid for Minnesota governor.
Nancy Mace is making a “special announcement” on August 4th.
Apparently Rep. Tom Tiffany will decide in the next month or two if he’ll run for governor of Wisconsin.
Parler founder Ryan Rhodes is running for Congress in Iowa.
Project 25 architect Paul Dans is challenging Lindsery Graham for the Senate in South Carolina. That makes him Graham’s third primary challenger (not that I’m keeping track).
Lots of people are waiting to see if Harriet Hageman is going to run for governor in Wyoming.
State Rep. Houston Gaines is running for Congress in Georgia
Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull is running for governor of New Mexico
SC State Sen. Wes Climer is running to replace Ralph Norman in Congress
The Texas Senate primary drama continues…I didn’t realize Wesley Hunt was angling this hard.
The team at IMGE put CTV through an “8-figure stress test.” Read their report here.
A+++ SLF and One Nation
You’re invited:
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
From the other side of the aisle:
Who else was hit upside the head this week with Liam Elkind’s campaign video? I mean, look: here we have all the telltale signs of someone intending to run a very *online* campaign. His video is vertical. It has some fancy jump-cuts. He’s speaking into one of those tiny hand-held mics. He’s getting on the subway! But pounding away at old people, and then talking about how you served old people during COVID, and then asking Rep. Jerry Nadler to retire so you can be handed his seat without working for it is the most Gen Z thing I’ve ever seen. And I’m not even quite sure this guy is Gen Z. Keep up the good work, Liam!
From the other side of the tracks:
Here are my hot takes about the Sydney Sweeney / American Eagle controversy:
This was no accident. American Eagle AND Sweeney knew what they were doing and they did it on purpose. I mean, good for them. After years and years of brands bowing to the woke left, it’s nice to see a company throw caution to the wind and have the backbone to follow through.
The backlash is insane and will work to further alienate the Democratic Party from the average American.
I’m a little bit surprised I didn’t see some MAGA-y, super conservative candidate (think Nancy Mace or Anna Paulina Luna) post a selfie on social in jeans with a caption like “I love my jeans too” just to capitalize off this. Maybe it happened and I missed it.
That is all!
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