According to mainstream media, one might think the Democratic Party is dominating politics and Republican President Donald J. Trump is having his personal jet fueled for the short flight back to New York City after he turns over the keys to the White House. Wait...not so fast.
DNC fundraising badly trails RNC
To the contrary, as media and Democrats continue to focus their energies on a Trump coup and coming up with racial protest identity slanders like “white nationalists” and “neo-Nazis”, it is the Republicans who are raking in far more campaign cash and winning the messaging war, according to a report by The Hill published Saturday.
With Tom Perez - a virtually unknown Obama appointee - running the DNC, assisted by Keith Ellison, the only message that has stuck so far is that pro-life Democrats have no place in the Democratic Party. Beyond that, the Democrats' message seems to be that they don’t have a message, except they really hate Trump and Confederate statues - messages that don't play as well outside of the Beltway.
Democratic Party faces backlash from identity politics
Perhaps the American people are just confused about who the counter-protesters are, and exactly what it is they are protesting since they are often the only protesters in sight. Whatever the reason, the DNC’s massive fundraising deficit increased greatly in July.
To that end, the DNC raised a paltry $3.8 million in July compared to $10.2 million by the RNC last month. What’s worse for Democrats is that the GOP has zero debt while the Democrats' owe $3.4 million, almost as much as the total amount the party managed to raise that month. The Hills’ RNC report was obtained from the RNC and the DNC posted its figures on Friday.
Democrats' 'messaging' problem
Despite being in debt and having poor fundraising prospects, the Democratic Party hasn’t been able to clearly articulate a message to win over straying Democrats and independents, let alone Republicans. At the same time, the funding problem for Democrats is not limited to July’s effort. The RNC raised $86.5 million in 2017 as of July compared to $42 million raised by the DNC.
But the Democrats' funding problems do not stop there; while the GOP has $47.1 million on hand for fundraising activities, the DNC has $6.7 million. For recent perspective, July was the worse month for fundraising the DNC has had in a decade.
Meanwhile, Democratic Party leaders are increasingly frustrated by Chairman Tom Perez's tenure at the DNC helm. Outside of the state of California, Democrats have not been able to put in place a populist message or messenger capable of pumping up its cash flow - even as the 2018 election season draws near. Political analysts and some Democrats are beginning to grumble out loud that Perez lacks the energy to run the DNC. Still more say it's the Democrats' use of identity politics against individuals and groups of Americans that are creating a voter backlash and in turn filling Republican campaign coffers.
