Political strategist Rachel Bitecofer pointed out what Americans can expect from a second Trump regime, as outlined in Project 2025:
- A national abortion ban.
- Fundamentalist Christianity will be the state religion.
- Mass firings and defunding of the FBI, IRS, and Departments of Justice, Education, Commerce and Homeland Security.
- No water, and nationwide weather calamities because of inaction on climate change.
- Immigration made illegal, a walled-off border, and mass deportation of asylum seekers.
- An absolute leader with dementia, on the TV everywhere, all the time.
Democrats have to point out the extremist politics of the Republican Party, said Bitecofer, author of the new book Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game.
She spoke at the packed February 27, 2024, meeting of the Legislative District 18 Democrats, a powerhouse blue district in Tucson.
“We can definitely brand them. We have to brand them with fascism. We have to make people afraid of it, whatever it might mean to them. And the only way to do that is repetition and widespread use,” she said.
Holding Republicans accountable
“I call this strategy’ negative partisanship.’ We are all Democrats for good reasons, like we love equality, education and good government,” she said. “But we also have a two-party system. We must call up negative emotions about the opponent, the opposite side. It is about fear and threats. If the electorate does not know about the Republican Party’s extremism, then it becomes the campaign’s job to make sure that they know,” she said.
Bitecofer said Republicans have ruled the roost in Arizona for a very long time, and “It’s really a terrible record. This is an existential fight for the survival of Democracy.”
Nancy Gutierrez, an LD18 state representative, said that Arizona Republicans are trying to jam fundamentalist Christianity into government. Republicans in the Arizona legislature have introduced bills to teach Christianity in public schools, display the 10 Commandments in schools and ban ‘satanic displays.’
“When we talk about separation of church and state, our Republican members say, ‘but the constitution was divinely written, and so the founding fathers didn’t mean to separate church and state,’” she said.
Name the villain
Republicans wickedly use slurs against Democrats. “The other side says every Democrat is a socialist who wants to steal your guns. Democrats are crazy. They are socialists. They are going to turn your boy children into girls,” Bitecofer said.
She urged Democrats to flip the narrative and name the Republican villains. “You can use that as an opportunity to talk about their obstruction on gun violence. Make it clear that the reason there’s no action on guns is because the Republican Party won’t vote for it. So clearly naming that villain and pointing people right to that is very important,” she said.
If Republicans use a slur, Bitecofer said the best response is a “pivot and attack.” “We want to make sure that we’re talking about the stuff that benefits us and hurts them. Force them to go on defense by going on offense.”
So if a Republican questions Biden’s age, a Democrat should respond by saying it’s not really an issue voters care about because Trump has repeatedly demonstrated his dementia and nonsense ramblings.
Then, a Democrat can pivot, saying, “The big issue voters care about is access to abortion rights. Democrats are working to put reproductive rights into the Arizona Constitution. Women had this right since the 1970s, and Republicans took it away.”
Bitecofer said, “I’m a woman, and now I have half of my constitutional rights. I’m going to take the fight to the Republican Party.”
Don’t assume voters know.
“We assume the electorate knows more about what’s happening around it than it does,” she said. “Oh, and if Donald Trump wins, they will enact radical changes in the federal government. They’re going to consolidate power. They’re going to pass a national abortion ban. They’re going to do mass deportations.”
America has had the worst do-nothing Congress since Harry Truman was president. The US House of Representatives passed a mere 27 pieces of legislation—the lowest output in a century. It has wasted time on sideshows like Hunter Biden, impeaching Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security, prohibiting research on climate change, ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and banning Pride Flags.
Republicans whine endlessly about the border. But when presented with a bipartisan Senate border security bill that would add border patrol agents, asylum officers, and immigration judges – the House Republicans scuttled months of negotiations. They voted against the bill on February 5, 2024.
Righteous anger stops voter fatigue.
“We have a voter fatigue issue, at least according to public opinion data,” she said. “But we’re not seeing that when we run a campaign face to face against MAGA. When we define them as an extremist threat to people, voters are showing up and voting against MAGA. We won every election ever since we started running this kind of campaign in 2022.”
“But voters have impressions, and they’ll say, oh, what parties good on education? They’ll say, Democrats. And then, what parties are good for health care? Democrats. What parties are good for the economy? Democrats,” she said. “Republicans did their whole voodoo economics experiment, destroyed the American middle class, and decimated rural America. Let’s push that angst, use this righteous anger to put it where it belongs — on the people who did it to them.”
“We’re going to get radical change from the Republican party,” she said. “You’re not going to have some mild inconvenience. We’re talking about radical change. We’re going to be in a one-part state autocracy.”
You Have Influence
Turning to LD18’s volunteers and precinct committee people, she said, “You guys are the most important people. You’re the elbow grease. Nothing happens without you. The fact is you have influence. Everyone is an influencer, and the most important influences people have are peer-to-peer and people who know you. In your network, if you start telling them, hey, we are under existential threat, this is what’s happening. It will make a big difference.”