#160) AOC Does Something Democrats Aren’t Good At: “Advancing the Narrative”

This is how you actually defeat Trump in a permanent way.  Not by endlessly, angrily whining about things not being fair, and chasing after his narrative (meaning MAGA), but by advancing your own narrative — meaning The Green New Deal.  You advance the new idea, and when the ankle-biters start pointing out that you haven’t worked out every detail or that some of it is unrealistic, you explain back that movements have to start in the gut with intuition before the analytical folks can move things to the head with consistent, logical explanations.   Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a true leader — something the Democratic party has lacked since Obama.

FROM THE NEW YORKER TODAY

 

OCCUPY THE PLANET

Occupy Wall Street began in September, 2011 as a vague notion that the time had come to address income inequality.

It was soundly criticized, not just by the rich, but by the over-thinking eggheads of the progressive left who said it wasn’t “well thought out” or “realistic” or didn’t have a clear “plan of action.”

They were right — indeed it wasn’t well thought out or realistic, but it sowed the seeds of a movement that eventually found their candidate in Bernie Sanders who has taken the demands from marginal pipe dream to mainstream agenda. These things have to start in the gut with intuition, then eventually move to the head for the more specific, analytical elements.

Now the same thing is happening with the recently introduced “Green New Deal.” Rising Democratic party superstar Alexandria Octavio-Cortez has locked onto it. She is being criticized from both sides, but it doesn’t matter. She is also commanding all the attention right now, and that’s what is important in the “attention economy.”

More importantly, instead of burning up countless hours being incredulous over the lies Trump tells, she is moving forward with the Green New Deal. That is the eventual path to victory. You have to be the one who is advancing the narrative — that is what draws attention and support.

#158) Trump’s Embattled Rose Garden Speech vs Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (His Narrative Match)

As could have been predicted, in his defensive/combative speech last Thursday about invoking a national emergency, President Trump scored a Narrative Index (BUT/AND x 100) of 30.  He then stepped up the combativeness another level for the Q&A.  But he’d better watch out — AOC is his narrative match.

TRUMP SLUGS AWAY AT REPORTERS AND FAKE NEWS.  Almost nobody scores over 30 for the Narrative Index.  It reflects his rage.

 

THE CAGED ANIMAL

President Donald Trump last Thursday gave a speech in the Rose Garden defending his decision to declare a state of emergency on the border.  It was predictably combative, which means I would predict heavy use of the word “but” and a Narrative Index of over 30.

His speech scored exactly 30, but the Q&A — where the beast gets poked and prodded by the journalists bringing out even more combativeness — scored 36.

I put a high degree of confidence in those two numbers.  Both texts were over 4,000 words.  I usually say you need about 1,000 words to feel like the score is reliable.

I’ve also got his AF (AND Frequency –  the percentage of all words that are the word “and”) scores above.  There’s an established baseline of 2.5% for well edited material.  His speech was a tiny bit flabby at 3.0%, but once he came under fire, his brain (or whatever reasonable facsimile that he possesses) tightened it up to 2.6%.

For comparison, speeches almost never score above 25 for the Narrative Index.  Elizabeth Warren gave four speeches last fall that I was able to find the transcripts for and analyze using the Narrative Index (But/And x 100).  Her scores were 17, 18, 21, 23.  

Bernie Sanders State of the Union reply was 18.  His speech in Burlington in November was 22. 

Also, the two speeches I found for Amy Klobuchar (DNC speech and recent announcement of presidential candidacy) scored 14 and 15 for the NI, 3.5 and 3.4 for the AF (yawn).

But here’s a ray of hope … last fall, just after her election victory, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez scored a 38 in her very lengthy interview (over 4,000 words) with Jacobin Magazine with an AF of 2.0.  And in a shorter interview with Chris Hayes of MSNBC she scored NI: 32, AF: 2.3. 

Those are Trump level scores.  She’s the real deal.