To defeat Trumpism, Democrats must speak the language of pain

Across the country, many Americans are screaming in frustration: “The rent is too high.” From Boston to New York to Florida to Michigan to California, affordable housing is increasingly difficult to find. The U.S. is in a housing crisis; rents keep rising while incomes stagnate or fall. Since 2019, home prices have surged by 60%.

Recent polls have shown the depth and breadth of economic anxiety and anger Americans are feeling about the economy. According to YouGov, for the week ending Aug. 16, 53% of Americans believe that the economy is getting worse. A majority believe the country and the economy are headed in the wrong direction under President Donald Trump’s leadership. Inflation is causing the price of many basic food and household goods to increase; in July, the consumer price index rose by 2.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This increase in costs can be attributed, at least in part, to Trump’s tariffs.

Millions of Americans are being laid off from their private sector jobs; more than 50,000 people have also been fired or furloughed from federal jobs by the Trump administration. These job losses have not been felt equally: Around 300,000 Black women have left the labor force in the last three months because of such factors as Trump’s witch hunt against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, as well as cuts to federal jobs. The latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that the administration’s mass deportation campaign, and revoking of visas for skilled workers and professionals, are also imperiling economic growth.

Trump’s Big Vile Bill is in the process of slashing trillions from the social safety net, including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other programs that support vulnerable communities. The goal? More money for the richest Americans and corporations. As winter approaches, the legislation will also cause an increase in utility bills.

On top of all this, Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told the Telegraph in June that he believes “that as much as a third of [the U.S.] economy” is effectively in a recession, citing manufacturing, construction, transportation, distribution and wholesaling. “Manufacturing is in recession. Retail is holding on by its thumbs,” he said. “The industries that are going to get nailed, they’re the kind of working class, low-to-middle income kind of job.”

If the U.S. does fall into a recession, it will largely be the result of the Trump administration’s policies. Will Democrats respond with a clear, bold plan and direct message? Or will they continue to lose the messaging and branding war to Donald Trump and the Republican party?

“Trumpflation” and a failing economy are themes Democrats can use to slow Trump and MAGA’s legislative agenda. Moreover, a compelling message about the state of the economy under Trump could resonate with a swath of voters who drifted his way in 2024 — and now find themselves disaffected. 

“Mr. Trump was re-elected on a wave of economic pessimism,” according to The Economist, “telling voters that ‘incomes will skyrocket, inflation will vanish completely, jobs will come roaring back and the middle class will prosper like never, ever before’ during his second term. So far, they have been disappointed. Ratings of his handling of the economy and inflation were net positive shortly after his inauguration. They have since fallen to strongly negative in the wake of his declarations of trade war and the ensuing response of investors.”

A July AP/NORC poll showed that almost half of Americans report that Trump’s policies have personally hurt them. But as I explained in a previous essay, individual perceptions of statistics are complicated by psychology. In this case, a person can be shown statistics about the overall health of the economy, but they will almost certainly interpret that data — accepting or rejecting it — through a personal lens. In essence, “the economy” is an abstraction that individuals and groups give meaning. 

Democrats will have to confront a cruel irony about economic conditions and the American voter. The economy consistently does better under Democratic presidents. It’s a vicious cycle of events: Republicans break things, Democrats spend years fixing them — and then the GOP takes credit for the positive outcome, all while decrying “big government” and “social engineering.” President Joe Biden’s horribly named “Inflation Reduction Act” is the most recent example.

But contrary to the facts, Americans generally believe the economy performs better under Republican presidents than Democrats. This is a result of successful messaging and branding by the GOP. At least since Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign, Republicans have spent decades branding themselves as the part of “entrepreneurs,” “free markets,” “capitalism” and being “good for the economy,” as compared to Democrats, whom they deplore as being for “big government” and “taxing and spending” to take money from “hard working Americans” to give it to “takers,” “welfare queens” and other “parasites” and “lazy” people. 

A recent series of polls show that Democrats are viewed by a plurality, if not a majority, of Americans as being out of touch with their real needs and concerns. Even more troubling is how an equal percentage of Americans now believe the GOP is “looking out for the interests of people like you.” This is a marked shift. In 2023, the Democrats enjoyed a 23% advantage over Republicans on that question. 

Democrats are not without blame for this, given that they helped to advance the neoliberal gangster capitalist economic regime of globalization, outsourcing, the financialization of everyday life and society, and a state of permanent economic precarity for the average American — specifically those who do not belong to the moneyed classes.

In a story published by the New York Times, long-time Democratic pollster John Anzalone recently diagnosed the problem Democrats are confronting. “They’re doing nothing to move their own numbers because they don’t have an economic message,” he said. “They think that this is about Trump’s numbers getting worse…They need to worry about their numbers.”

Democrats, the story continued, are perceived by many Americans as being out of touch and too focused on “identity politics.” The Times spoke with Kendall Wood, a 32-year-old Henrico County, Va., truck driver who voted for Biden in 2020 and switched to Trump in 2024. “It seemed like they were more concerned with DEI and LGBTQ issues and really just things that didn’t pertain to me or concern me at all,” Wood said. “They weren’t concerned with, really, kitchen-table issues.”

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Today’s Democrats are losing the messaging war because they are not skilled in making emotional appeals that emphasize tangible connections between policy and people’s everyday lives — and pain. In all, Democrats are too cerebral, abstract and “wonky.”

By comparison, Trump, like other authoritarian populists, is an expert in political sadism. But as historian Timothy Snyder has explained, Trumpism and MAGA actually offer their followers fake populism that does not materially improve their lives, and they serve it with a dose of cruelty against an enemy they designate as the Other.

When Democrats do talk about pain, there is a genuine ethic of care and concern, which in turn impacts their public policy and political vision. “Liberals believe in compassion toward others-they believe that subjective claims about pain ought to be taken seriously and endorse broad-minded approaches to relief,” Princeton University historian Keith Wailoo explained in a 2014 interview with The American Prospect. “Conservatives believe in stoic, grin-and-bear-it approaches to pain. They believe people should push through pain despite discomfort in order to get back to work.” 

But Democrats must learn to do better at speaking the language of pain. They need a unified message that centers on empathy — and bold policies. It should be tailored to specific issues and as straightforward as this: “Donald Trump and Republicans are causing clear and direct harm to you, your loved ones and your community. Democrats will protect you and make your life and future much better. Trump and the Republicans are hurting you.” 

Democrats also sometimes stand on their principles to their own political detriment. When COVID relief checks were sent out in 2020, Trump made the very astute decision to sign them. His action created a relationship in the minds of many voters: He cared enough about their welfare to send them “free” money. Biden had the same opportunity when his administration mailed another round of checks a year later, but he decided that signing them was tacky and beneath the office of the president. Evidence suggests that low information voters actually believed Trump would give them more money if he won the 2024 election.

That’s in the past and can’t be changed. But Democrats now have other opportunities to seize the narrative as Trump’s Big Vile Bill causes more economic misery. But will they?

In red states such as Missouri, Indiana, Oklahoma and Montana, Democrats are using bright yellow billboards to communicate how Trump and his MAGA Republicans are responsible for closing down rural hospitals. The messaging is direct and powerful: Trump and the GOP are making you sick. Democrats should expand this model of direct and transparent communication to other issues as well.

The most effective marketing and advertising wins the heart first — and only then the head and the brain. The Democrats and their consulting class, along with many others, have forgotten that first principle.  

Donald Trump and his messengers have not. This is why they keep winning, and it’s also why  Democrats have been largely ineffective at stopping them.