We've seen Democrats successfully Do The Thing before but where they usually get hung up is feeling that The Thing is not working right away so they stop doing it when what you need to do is continue talking about until everyone is sick of hearing about it.
They usually stop when they are sick of talking about it, which is well, well short of "everyone is sick of hearing about it." Keep going. Don't shut up about it until people on the street are automatically filling in the next three words when you say "convicted..."
A way you'll be able to tell this is working by the way is that someone like Brett Stephens or Jon Chait will write a column like "I'm worried that Joe Biden doesn't seem to have a message beyond saying 'convicted felon Donald Trump' over and over." That means you're drawing blood. Keep going!
I've given this some thought, and I think the optimal configuration is always saying "Convicted ____ Donald Trump" and varying the second word between "felon" "criminal" "fraudster" "rapist" etc. Gives you a chance to reinforce and repeat while also adding flexibility. bsky.app/profile/pwna...
So you might say "Convicted Fraudster Donald Trump" in a post about his upper class tax cuts while saying "Convicted Rapist Donald Trump" in a post about abortion, while reverting to "Convicted Felon" in general interest posts or off-hand mentions
Ya add in some "reach" descriptors that are technically wrong to see if you can get them spreading them by whining about them. "Convicted traitor" or "convicted insurrectionist" or whatever. "Oh he's merely an ALLEGED traitor how dare you" thats good for you too bsky.app/profile/brad...
No, “convicted fraud.”
The sweet spot is when you get chiding fact check coverage “Joe Biden keeps calling Donald Trump a convicted fraud. Actually his fraud trial was civil, while his criminal convictions were for falsifying business records”
i don't disagree but prob best for the biden team to not get cocky and try to time the market when just getting the meme into the public consciousness at all is an unsure proposition. don't overthink it and just go as hard as you can for as long as you can bsky.app/profile/bord...
My only suggestion would be maybe to keep it warm but on the backburner and slowly bring it to a full boil about 3 weeks before the RNC and maybe turn the whole thing into a debate about whether he needs to be replaced.
Yeah, if they're having to lecture on the nuance of his rape trial they've already lost. It's like a libertarian being really specific about ephebophilia vs pedo.
And they are constantly doing a version of this to us, just with straight up lies.
Even better is to pick one that is wrong, and let the Republicans/centrists start arguing that it was election fraud not business fraud that got him convicted, and the sexual assault was a different case entirely.
I think convicted felon or criminal are best because that’s just a fact about him now and it carries enormous negative connotations.
I’d hammer away at the other ones as well, but it seems like they carry less weight to people because they’re civil as opposed to criminal findings.