Angelo Carusone:
I mean, that is the key issue here, right, is that they — that they’re playing with a very old playbook, that when they — they think that the issue here is about messaging and message discipline, and say, well, if we all just go out there and say the same thing at the same time, that will get our message out.
That model worked 20 years ago. That doesn’t work now. In fact, it feeds into the opposite. They are feeding into the story that’s being told about them, which is that they’re puppets, that they’re inauthentic, that they don’t have anything original to say. So what does that mean in practice?
Stop worrying about paid media. Ads are not going to be the solution here. Investing in storytellers — the people online that do this work day-to-day, they’re artists in a way. They’re storytellers. They’re creators. They just need the resources to continue to do what they’re doing. That will help balance out the scales.
The second is to stop being so afraid. The right has an advantage. That asymmetry doesn’t just give them the ability to project a story. It also gives their leaders comfort and confidence. If I know that I could go out there and face-plant, and I have a massive ecosystem that is going to be like sandpaper to smooth out all the edges, and not only make that face-plant look like the greatest acrobatic feat ever, but somehow turn it into a reward system for me, I have a lot more comfort. I have a lot more confidence.
