270 words about the year we have ahead of us.

Trying to slow down, distract, and resist Trump will take a lot of our energy. But we can’t focus only on mobilizing anti-Trump forces. We have to actively engage with the millions who voted for Trump with great reluctance. It’s not about convincing them they made a mistake. It’s about persuading them we have a more promising and hopeful path forward.

It’s not all about messaging. Working class voters feeling unheard and unseen by many Democrats over recent decades aren’t wrong. Winning back their support starts with actually fighting for economic policies that don’t stack the deck against them.

President Biden worked hard on the policy front. But he did too little to sell the impact of his legislative breakthroughs. And the Biden agenda advanced structural measures with long-term impact, not steps people could see immediately improving their lives.   

As the 2026 campaign approaches, we will need a three-pronged strategy: strong substance, smart messaging, and short-term real-life impact. 

Can we finally admit that bludgeoning our most committed supporters with fear-based messages multiple times a day is a bad idea? I get that the dollars raised were impressive. But so was the price paid in widespread frustration and lost opportunities to engage people with a compelling, uplifting campaign narrative. With a little imagination, political campaigns – and certainly cause-based nonprofits – can persuade people to donate not despite how we treat them but because of how we engage with them.