Chris Hayes: The Democrats’ Main Problem Isn’t Their Message

This essay is the third installment in a series on the thinkers, upstarts and ideologues battling for control of the Democratic Party.

During the first night of the recent government shutdown, congressional Democrats organized a livestream on YouTube featuring members of Congress, streamers and influencers to hammer home their message about the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies and the impending spike in health insurance premiums. At its peak, it attracted just 1,000 viewers to watch the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries. At other times during the 24-hour session, the viewers dwindled to a few dozen.

Ever since the dawn of modern media and Teddy Roosevelt’s coinage of the term “bully pulpit,” political parties that don’t control the White House have struggled to match the agenda-setting power of the presidency. We’re living through an asymmetry that seems more daunting and profound than ever. President Trump has a feral, almost pathological genius for getting people to talk about him, and to a degree that his supporters find thrilling and his opponents find suffocating, he dominates the nation’s and the world’s attention.

Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.