Framing Masterclass: DOGE vs. Democrats

These first weeks of the second Trump Presidency have provided tutorial in strategy, semiotics, framing, and narrative. Unfortunately, our side needs the tutoring.

Republican operative Steve Bannon’s strategy of “flooding the zone with sh*t” has been going swimmingly for his side. Democrats mostly appear to be swept away by his flood, scrambling to stay above water – seemingly without a leader,  a plan, or even a life raft. 

Thankfully, grassroots progressives are swinging into action.

Pop-up protests against DOGE spread nationwide on Monday with hundreds of spontaneous rallies on the theme of “No Kings on President’s Day,” part of a memetic movement known as as 50501. Notably, this protest movement comes on the heels of the Day without Immigrants, which also saw mass protests, closures, and walk offs from work by migrants and their allies. (These migrant movements were just as big as 50501, but not covered much in English, with the notable exception of one of my favorite new Substacks, Migrant Insider.)

Both of these movements — and others like them that are emerging daily — are gloriously grassroots. Their signs were scribbled with sharpie marker. There were no famous speakers, or gated green rooms, or polished videos published online. It just is what it is: Real people with their handmade cardboard signs and flags, who aren’t done with giving a damn.

From a messaging perspective, it’s far from perfect — but the authenticity is precisely what makes it so powerful, and that creates energy. Energy is what we need now.

As Kyle Tharp wrote today in his new newsletter Chaotic Era, “Democrats across the country are seething at what they see as a lack of energy from their leaders in Washington.” Thousands of people are making calls, stopping by offices, and waving signs outside. Even as some Democrats in Congress are apparently “pissed” about it — this upswell of energy is essential.

Any Good Story needs rising action. The plot doesn’t advance without a protagonist in motion. In any dynamic, when you’re the one generating the energy—forcing a reaction to your action — you’re the one building power.

Because this is my newsletter about messaging, I feel the need to emphasize this point: Effective messaging matches energy. When we’re down this bad, “leaderless, rudderless, and divided,” our most urgent task bigger than any one slogan or magic words. It is regenerating energy coming from our side. We have to get out of freeze, and into fight. We have to do action, not just reaction. That’s how we rebuild power in this moment. That’s how we get started on our new story.

But enough with the preamble: In today’s Good Story I’m diving into an analysis of the framing of DOGE. And as promised, I’ll include a little good news and call to action at the end, as a treat. 

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Mr. Musk: Tear Down This Wall!

Department of Government Efficiency. It would actually be kind of boring if we spelled it out. So how has DOGE become such a frame, and a force in our politics? Of course, it’s all about the story they’ve carefully crafted.

The DOGE cover story is that it is about finding fraud, and fighting corruption. Everyone is for finding fraud and fighting corruption, unless of course, you’re doing fraud and corruption! This is, quite obviously, a double-bind - that casts opposing the agenda as admitting to wrongdoing, so opponents will go along with it and provide legitimacy.

DOGE is Trump’s new sheriff in town, who will protect you from the “worms” and “left wing lunatics” at agencies like USAID that are sending your hard earned money to far away places, for stupid purposes. For this narrative to work, there needs to be some kind of proof point: a “transgender comic book” in Peru, a “DEI musical” in Ireland, Condoms for Gaza, etc. The more absurd, all the better.

Validators are also needed to provide legitimacy for the project. Unfortunately a few Democrats have willingly played that role, perhaps seeking Musk’s campaign dollars, and have gone along with the underlying premise of the cover story by agreeing that we need DOGE to fight waste and abuse. These Democrats provided early legitimacy for what is, in essence, a naked dictatorial tactic of seizing control of the government and all its money, and helped to socialize the concept of DOGE.

Once that broad underlying premise of a legitimate purpose has been well socialized and accepted, a Good Story zooms in on a central character who embodies the rising action in the narrative of change. This is the actor who defines the frame. Depending on your strategy, this central actor may be a hero, victim, or villain. (In story-based strategy, we call this “The Drama Triangle.”)

It pains me to to say it, but what Bannon and Co. achieved with their DOGE b-roll is a semiotic masterpiece:

The B-Roll of DOGE is not the billionaire on a rampage, but an everyman ripping down the edifice of the agency with his bare hands.

They have zoomed in on a hero, who is not Elon, but a humble working class warrior. Without a face, he is every man, and he is also Trump himself, taking matters into his own hands. With the rising action of the steel ladder, letter by letter he works. With each letter cast to the ground, the message is delivered that Trump has delivered, and a new day has arrived. Our working class hero is tearing down the corruption of deep state, ridding Washington of “the worms.” With his bear hands and his pocket knife, he is remaking government for the American people and putting America First.

Incredibly, this image has become the go-to Broll for the entire Elon coup exercise, the meme for the moment, an iconic image of the new Trump term, playing in a loop on one side of the split screen as Democrats stammer on the other side to even explain what USAID is and why it exists.

This isn’t new. This style of image comes from the same playbook as the highly produced “fall of the statute of Saddam Hussein” in Iraq (which we wrote about in Re:Imagining Change), or the footage of the Berlin Wall’s bricks being cast down in a joyful melee of a collapsing USSR. This is all about foreshadowing the toppling of an old regime, and start of something new and transformational, framed as giving power back to the people (of course).

There is nothing I hate to say more, but, I have to give it: 10/10. 

Unfortunately, in the dawning days of DOGE, we did not see the story of the villain that progressives want to tell: a pugnacious billionaire in black, and his teenage hacker minions grabbing our cash and personal data as they plug their sketchy hard drives into the balance sheets at the Treasury and start downloading. This focus is starting to shift, but needs more energy, for example with strategies to push back on federal contracts for SpaceX and Tesla. These are the kinds of focal points and targets that we need to aim at together now to change the story.

Also largely missing in the first days was a focus on the victims who provide a POV to bring home what is happening and why it matters: The Veteran suddenly stiffed out of his job at the VA after serving the country honorably, or the farmer facing foreclosure because his own government stiffed him on a contract to sell soybeans to USAID. Now this also is starting to shift, and cause some consternation in places like Kansas, which is a cleave in the Republican coalition that we absolutely need to focus on widening in order to slow the roll of DOGE.

The fundamental insight of the drama triangle is that, by changing our central character and casting them well, and redefining the role they play in creating rising action that advances the narrative (victim, villain, or hero), we can reframe the narrative entirely to show a different POV, and create a different power dynamic. This is the task before us.

So now let’s examine our side of this story:

Congresswoman Maxine Waters is told by this man that she cannot enter the Department of Education to examine what DOGE is doing inside. After a media scrum around this scene, the protest seemingly ended.

Democratic politicians (correctly) criticize DOGE, and Musk, and call the defunding of USAID a constitutional crisis. They mention that fraud and abuse is bad, but they say DOGE is not a real government agency, and emphasize that Elon is unelected. And they are elected. They support lawsuits. They join protests outside federal buildings, with assorted crowds of a few thousand people. They make speeches. After a few days of this, they try to enter a building where DOGE has taken over, but they are stopped by…someone - no one seems to know who he is. They are upset, and confused, but seemingly give up, and go home. 

Importantly, they are right, and the constitutional crisis is very real. However, if merely being correct with our arguments was enough to win, we wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with. We have to actually tell a Good Story, especially that can break through for the hundreds of millions people who aren’t already with us.

So what is our snapshot story, for the casual audience who doesn’t follow politics much at all? The image that speaks in rising action is our Members of Congress being denied entry by some guy, and then walking away.

What are we foreshadowing? Are we the hero? Or the victim? Maybe, we’re trying to do something? It certainly isn’t transformation, power, or a working class remaking America. It appears hapless, and gives desperate vibes.

There are a few points for energy, but sadly I have to give it: 4/10.

This contrast in narratives between the USAID edifice deconstruction, and the weird man keeping Auntie Maxine from entering the building, is driven by a differential in power - to be sure. Trump, Musk, and Bannon have it. We don’t.

But there is also a deep difference in approach to political strategy and narrative: there are those with the ambition to wage the war of ideas and narrate a broader vision and political direction for their side and POV, and inject that frame into the discourse using images, stories, and viral frames into the culture…and then there those who are convinced that what is correct is what matters, that if we tell the truth things will change, and we should focus on important (but largely illegible to the average person) battles of procedure, posturing, and insider tactics.

To win, we simply have to do both. We have to hold onto the rule of law. And we also have to win the larger war of ideas — creating meaning, providing direction, and building power.

Good Story isn’t everything, but I’m here to say it matters for all of that, and more.

Good Story Round Up (As a Treat!) 

Reframing: Laverne Cox on the View

Watch this masterclass from Ms. Cox on messaging that matches the energy: 

“At the end of the day, trans people are less than 1% of the population. And trans people are not the reason you can’t afford eggs. We’re not the reason you can’t afford healthcare. We’re not the reason that you can’t buy a house, or your rent is too high. I think they are focused on the wrong 1%. I think the other 1% is the reason for all those things.”

Call to Action: Florida Voter Registration by March 1st

My friend Zee has got rising action happening down in Florida, and she does an excellent job making her strategy clear to millions of adrift Democrats: to get in the way of Trump’s agenda, we have to take back the House asap, and so we have to win the three special elections where Trump appointees have vacated seats. Unfortunately, these are deep red districts where there are more Republicans than Democrats. But we don’t just give up on these districts! We register 10,000 more voters. We only have until March 1 to do it, so lock in.

If you can get yourself to Florida and you can help: Fill out this form to volunteer. You can also Postcard from home. You can text or phone bank (after March 1). We have to create energy where we can, and this is some energy! Stay tuned.