Laugh Or Cry? It Is A False Choice. November 22, 2019November 22, 2019 As in: you will surely do both. And once you’ve regained your composure, please note how this three-minute clip underscores that 2020 will be about turn-out, not persuasion. Organizing, not advertising. Granted, the folks Jimmy Kimmel found are not representative of all Trump loyalists. I know Trumpists who would never have fallen for this — but their minds are equally closed. So the way we win is by turning out our voters, not converting theirs.* Organizing, not advertising. And with organizing, the leverage comes from starting early. It’s like a snowball. Organizers who start now have 10 months to engage and recruit volunteers . . . . . . who have 9 months to engage more volunteers . . . . . . who have 8 months to — you get the idea. All the while, this growing snowball of organizers works to register new voters. And please note: The organizers we hire and train don’t get paid a lot. The volunteers they “hire” get paid nothing. They’re not looking to make money, they’re looking to help save the world. So the leverage is enormous . . . yet diminishes with every passing day. An investment NOW gets the snowball rolling from near the top of the hill. The same cash next fall — while welcome — starts the snowball rolling from the bottom of the hill . . . or pays for TV ads that persuade few people to register or turn out to vote — let alone switch tribes. Hiring and training organizers isn’t the only thing the DNC will do with your investment, it’s just the easiest to describe. Other crucial efforts include maintaining/enhancing the voter files and tech support on which virtually all our candidates and state parties rely. (The DNC has greatly upped its tech game since 2016.) And fighting voter suppression in states where, absent court orders, Republicans arrange to make registration and voting as difficult as possible for Democrats. So if you can afford to do it, now is the time to dazzle MasterCard with your patriotism and help save the world. As always: if you do, I’ll see it right away to say thanks. *We’ll try, of course; not least in the Presidential debates and in every news cycle. But that part’s free.