Vibes, Lies, and Billionaires Fries: The Useless Art of Political Messaging
An eye-opening excerpt of a political strategists' meeting offers a raw look at messaging strategy and voter engagement dynamics and unveils the role of vibes in political success and public opinion
Conversation opened. One unread message. As if salvation lives inside the inbox. The illusionary search for the “best message” is the first trap, the honey-laced cage. Candidates hire consultants to craft it, pollsters to test it, focus groups to nod or grimace. A giant factory of nothing. The truth? No message saves you. People hear what they want, and if they want you, any grunt, slogan, or slip will do. If they don’t, all the words in the English language won’t shift them an inch.
One message is a waste of time. So is ten. The search for The Line That Lands is about as useful as trying to light a cigar underwater. The voters aren’t listening that carefully. They’re sniffing for vibes. Fighting vibe, working-guy vibe, governing vibe. Vibes are the new policies. That’s the dirty little secret. You don’t win on Medicare Part B clause 42; you win on whether you look like the sort of bastard who’d pick a fight in the bar for someone else’s honour.
The party? Forget the party. Parties are old brands in a market that’s already moved to knock-off TikTok logos. Voters don’t care about donkeys or elephants - they care about who looks alive. Rehab the party? That’s boiling the ocean while the kitchen burns down. The Tories are trying to cosplay Thatcher in a Sunak suit. Labour keeps sanding down its rough edges until nothing’s left but a beige silhouette. America’s Democrats still imagine voters are grading essays. They aren’t. They’re sniffing for force.
A candidate should do what they do best. If they’re good at yelling, then yell. If they’re good at governing, then govern. If they’re good at symbolic posturing - perfect. Posture until the lights go out.
America’s Republicans understood this decades ago. They built a system on compliance, uniformity, sameness. After the ’60s, one race, one tribe, one drumbeat. And compliance, once drilled in, became reflex. Trump didn’t invent the feral weakness; he just sniffed it out, sank his teeth in, and shook until the bones cracked. You don’t negotiate with a terrorist. You don’t compromise with extremism. You either match force with force, or you kneel.
Democrats? Their weakness is also their only asset. They’re all different. Different faces, different stories, different beats. It’s chaos, but chaos is alive. The mistake is pretending they can sand that down into a single “message.” No. They should be a storm - different fronts clashing, but still moving forward, overwhelming, destructive. Once you win, you start to win. Winning is the only message that matters.
And class war - don’t dodge it, own it. Voters aren’t blind. They see Medicare gutted so billionaires can tack on another yacht. They see SNAP cut so hedge fund managers can buy another estate in the Hamptons. Macron raising the retirement age while Paris burns. Britain cutting welfare while MPs expense floating duck pond islands. Italy’s “patriots” auctioning sovereignty to oligarchs. The maths isn’t hard: the rich are bleeding you dry.
Say it out loud: wealth tax, ten percent on anyone worth more than half a billion. It’s not radical. It’s slightly disruptive. But it’s arithmetic. Republicans are already nationalising industries for their donors; why shouldn’t Democrats nationalise morality?
The unreported story: Did Russia bend the Republican Party into its plaything. Not metaphorical, not symbolic - but real? The GOP now runs interference for Putin while pretending to wave the flag. Call it what it is: evil. Evil with a grin and a campaign ad. Stop hesitating. Attack them for what they are: Putin’s hand-puppets, selling out a country they claim to defend. And he's everywhere. Putin policy: why roll tanks when you can buy parties? He bankrolls Le Pen, whispers to AfD, and fuels chaos in Italy. It’s not conspiracy. It’s bookkeeping.
So how do you handle the moment? Stop looking for the perfect message. Start swinging. Voters respect force, not nuance. They respect the fighter, not the philosopher. The best message is winning. Everything else is decoration.
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