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Phraseology for the fight: #SquanderingAmericasGreatness and #TheRawDeal [1]

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Date: 2025-03-04

[after reading, please share your choices through the poll at the end]

Parroted phrases across MAGA did their job, unifying while simultaneously deflecting any critical thought.

But our words can be stronger. They can encourage thought, challenge us to apply them to our chosen issues like #ProSTRIFE. Mass firings and ending insulin price protections qualify for that term as does denying abortions to women with ectopic pregnancies. Popularize this one enough and when people hear “pro-life” the #ProSTRIFE rebuttal will be conjured up in minds as well.

But the big one is #TheRawDeal.

This should be on all our lips as the tariff wars hit home, while billionaires rake in chunks of the US budget that should’ve gone to the social safety nets that we all paid into.

And every Republican who sits on his hands and does nothing as those protections wither must be labeled as an #FTR:

#FinalTermRepublican

A critical point is near for them, beyond which they will not survive their next general election. So being primaried out by Trump’s decree and Musk’s dark money isn’t much of a threat. Only if they stand up to #DonaldDuce now will House members from suburban districts be viable candidates next year. And being the early-birds in dumping Trump, they may rise to prominence above the ashes of MAGA.

There is a playbook for how these Republicans can survive this moment. I’ll share the link to how this might play out below. But if a few members of the #SecretSaneGOPCaucus rise up now, before more damage is done, they can be seen as heroes all around the globe, delivering a planetary sigh of relief just by declaring themselves Independent and caucusing with Dems in the House.

In an agreement with Dems, they can work on #PresidentialCensure with the threat of #Impeachment3 over Trump’s head if he doesn’t comply with stipulations like un-firing workers and ditching DOGE and Musk with it. Here’s how and why this could work: www.dailykos.com/…

Any Republicans that don’t choose this path, riding it out on Trump’s lead coattails are #NeroCons, fiddling away while America burns in the dumpster fire Donald has created. They aren’t conservative; they are #CORPservative — serving only their corporate and billionaire donors. They are pious with a corporate bias, with populist rhetoric only yielding more kleptocratic opportunities.

They have been leaning towards #RepubloFascism for decades, and now they seem willing to elbow aside democracy itself to entrench it. Time to bring in the shame.

And if you’re inclined to point out to your MAGA acquaintances that they’ve been played for fools all along, here’s a meme and themes to lay on them:

Of course if the red-hat set are friends and family, a more delicate approach may be required. The more rabid the Trumper, the more their entire identity has been swept into the MAGA culture. Admitting they’re wrong not only takes away a chunk of who they present themselves to be, they may not like the notion of returning to insignificance.

One way of easing them out of the brainwashed fervor may be to appeal to their religious side. You can point out where the hypocrisies lie, and that to be a consistent Christian they should care for the welfare of a baby after it can actually cry. The choice not to do so through Dem-supported policies like six weeks of paid maternal leave and government subsidized, low-cost daycare shows that GOP hypocrisy is based on preventing even small costs to be institutionalized or debited from billionaires’ bottom lines..

That’s how you can show that the “family values” party doesn’t care that much for families without a seven-digit bank account. We are all suffering the same. And they get nothing for all that passionate support, only lip service.

And that’s when you can bring up what Dems really are for, not the lies and misrepresentations about elites who do nothing. Our rallying cry to show our true vision should be:

#FamiliesFirst

Our platforms prove that to be the priority of most Democrats and all progressives. We use #22ndCenturyThinking. We’re the only party courageous enough to stand up to massive corporations and industries to do the hard work of mitigating the effects of our climate crisis in ways that help regular people rather than just billionaires. We’re the ones who understand that without equality and compassion, humanity can’t reach the year 2100 with civilization intact and thriving.

All these memes and hashtags in bold are my own creations. I’ve been trying to be the Frank Luntz of the left, adding key phraseology to the progressive fight for two decades now.

Let me introduce myself officially. I am Todd Telford, and Achieving Honorable Democracy is the vehicle with which I try to popularize these ideas. That’s also the name I use for my Substack presence where you’ll find my other long-form articles and opinion pieces, as well as notes which sometimes share links or posts by folks like Robert Reich and Roy-Ann Reid, now that she’s there after a stunning dismissal by MSNBC.

Like many I’m now on Bluesky, there under the same name, #AchievingHonorableDemocracy, but with @progtoddnorcal as my handle. And all these memes may be copied and reused to support your causes. No attribution is necessary for the ones without the logo, but of course encouraged. You can even crop out the AHD branding if you like. But please know that the Inclusion Mobius logo and supporting key for the segments are my property and cannot be monetized or coopted.

Now…the fun part. This poll has many of my unique hashtags and phrases. I’d like to hear which ones you like best, and in the comments please add your own unique ideas

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