August 4, 2024

"In the past, campaigns and official party committees, which are subject to contribution limits, generally observed a firewall that blocked information-sharing with super PACs..."

"... and nonprofits that accept unlimited contributions. Now, campaigns and outside groups are free to share messaging and exchange data. That new opportunity has allowed the Trump campaign to supplement a bare-bones in-house field program with allied programs fueled by megadonors.... By contrast, the Harris campaign and allied outside groups said they are not changing their approach in response to the FEC decision...."

From "Trump team gambles on new ground game capitalizing on loosened rules/The campaign is joining forces with outside groups such as Turning Point Action after regulators cleared the way for more coordination. But it comes with the risk of untested outfits duplicating efforts or working at cross purposes" (WaPo).

"At a Turning Point Action office in Waukesha, Wis., in June, about three dozen newly hired full-time community organizers got together with poster boards and scented markers to brainstorm techniques to meet their targeted neighbors..... [Organizers were instructed] not to come on too strong by showing up with MAGA hats and fliers. Instead, they should research their marks and start reaching out through Facebook groups, community events, or neighborly gestures such as recommending plumbers or harp teachers. They could even arrange seemingly chance encounters on coffee runs or dog walks. 'Some of these things sound like stalking,' one staffer whispered. 'Professional stalkers,' his colleague joked back. As one slide from the training implored: 'BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL.'"

79 comments:

Yancey Ward said...

Who wants to bet that "By contrast, the Harris campaign and allied outside groups said they are not changing their approach in response to the FEC decision...." really means that the Democrats were already doing what Republicans are doing and that is why the FEC loosened the rules in the first place?

TosaGuy said...

The Democrats already do this so they have nothing to change.

Steve said...

“Their marks”.

It is the post after all.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I’m sure WaPo is fairly representing Charlie Kirk’s organization. Sure. Just like they fairly represent what Trump says and does.

Mary Beth said...

These methods aren't weird or new. It's how people involved with MLMs recruit new people.

narciso said...

those anonymous quotes make it very legit, sure,

TosaGuy said...

The Democrats already do this.

n.n said...

WaPo et al will continue to assist coordination of political activities.

TosaGuy said...

The Democrats already do this.

Inga said...

“'BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL.'"

That’s weird.

narciso said...

we're back to the wonky platform

mikee said...

So no changes to how Dems are doing things? Nothing said about what they were already doing. Right, got it. Their mail-in vote harvesting apparatus was set up in 2020 and has since been refined, so no changes to operations are needed.

doctrev said...

This is a fresh reminder that the Trump campaign garnered 76 million plus legitimate votes in the last election. It really is impossible to talk about the Trump sphere without talking about WOM among the working class, meme culture, and the resilience against deplatforming.

The WaPo will remain blissfully ignorant of this, of course, but then again the left can't meme.

TosaGuy said...

“'BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL.'"

That’s weird.
————
Thanks for confirming that liberals think that normal is weird.

Jamie said...

Their marks.

I guess this is one of those "it's different when we Democrats do it" things?

It is interesting, though, to get a bit of a window into what a community organizer does. I've been wondering about that ever since it became Obama's major claim to presidential capability.

Ann Althouse said...

What slice of humanity walks around all the time with the mantra "BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL" clanging about in its head?

Are you part of this pathetic group?

It's that fear of the weird or a morbid concern for the most prosaic advancement in this world.

GRW3 said...

The FEC just ditched rules they could only enforce selectively, against non-Democrat candidates. It was becoming too obvious those things were happening and, I guess, they just got tired of answering phone calls and gaslighting the callers.

TosaGuy said...

Training people to speak to people on your behalf on something political is standard practice—be relatabl and normal.

What was definitely not normal are the actions by the Jefferson County (WI) Democrats operating their booth at the Jefferson County Fair on June 19. They cheered openly when they heard that someone tried to kill President Trump.

stlcdr said...

Following on what has already been said [democrats already do this], are they really trying to demonize people going out and canvassing people to get them to donate and/or vote?

Likewise, there are millions of people who have legitimate reasons for mail in or early voting (I was one). What is not legitimate is pushing that everybody vote by mail with lax control of how those votes are monitored.

Having said that, it might be a good idea to make voting day a national holiday (I’m sure there are pros and cons) but it certainly reduces the requirement for early or mail in voting, and those rules could be tightened.

doctrev said...

Ann Althouse said...
What slice of humanity walks around all the time with the mantra "BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL" clanging about in its head?

Are you part of this pathetic group?

8/4/24, 11:23 AM

The kind of monomaniacs most likely to volunteer (as in unpaid) for a political campaign are the people most in need of this advice.

I realize that some people think they're too posh to know why that is important, but that's why Donald Trump will be the 47th President and the "smart set" does not even have a candidate.

narciso said...

considering how act blue operates in 'laundering' unvetted campaign contributions they have some nerve,

Jamie said...

What slice of humanity walks around all the time with the mantra "BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL" clanging about in its head?

I'm going to say "the slice of humanity that pretty much wants to live and let live, be left alone and leave others alone, but that, to advance what it is rather surprised to find it believes is a higher cause, must now act in ways not typical to it."

In other words, ISTM that "community organizing" doesn't come naturally to a lot of conservatives, because part of their conservatism is minding their own business and not trying to influence others. It feels weird. But these new community organizers, who themselves wouldn't appreciate being messed with, now have to set aside that feeling and do what progressives have been doing forever: get in other people's faces, hopefully without raising the other people's ire (as they know theirs would have been raised).

Peachy said...

100%

Dave Begley said...

Harp teachers are the ticket.

Jersey Fled said...

WAPO apparently never heard of ActBlue, which at last count was being investigated by four state attorneys general.

RCOCEAN II said...

So the WaPO is now going to pretend they care about campaign finance laws after refusing to cover the Democrat party corruption in "Actblue" and a 100 other things?

mccullough said...

Harp Teachers for Trump

Inga said...

It’s also weird when Trumpists call themselves “normies”. Cringe.

Michael K said...

Blogger Inga said...

It’s also weird when Trumpists call themselves “normies”. Cringe.


The Sam Brinton fan cringes.

imTay said...

No Inga, that's not what "normie" means. It comes as no surprise that you can't follow the conversation here, though. I guess though, that as a normie, that's what is to be expected from you.

Inga said...

“The Sam Brinton fan cringes.”

I’ve only ever heard the name Sam Brinton (had to Google him) from the doc, seems he mentions him several times a week, oddly.

narciso said...

well he was only in charge of nuclear waste disposal, lol levine is only the surgeon general,

n.n said...

Weird may be queer, but queer is not always weird, or is it? The ancient secular religions certainly thought it was, and they do again.

Leland said...

Will Trump supportive PACs all use "weird" in their messaging?

narciso said...

and he stole women's luggage, the other guy shoved covid patients into nursing homes,

John henry said...


narciso said...
considering how act blue and winredoperates in 'laundering' unvetted campaign contributions

FIFY

I am very disappointed in the Trump campaign not providing any alternative to Winred for donations.

I send postal money orders, with a letter including my info to president trump at Mar A Lago. I have no idea whether he gets it or not but I have found no alternative.

I will NOT contribute a penny via WinRed.

Marjorie Taylor Greene at least had an official po box to send checks to.

John Henry

imTay said...

"Normie" is an insult. Nobody calls themselves a "normie."

loudogblog said...

The part that annoys me about one sided articles like this is that we all know that both sides do this, not just the Republicans.

My facebook feed is filled with "sponsored" content claiming to be a "concerned" person or a small, "non partisan," organization and 95% of it is anti-Trump. I suspect that these anti-Trump posts are all funded by Democratic dark money.

John henry said...

Postal money orders because I don't want my bank knowing I am a president trump supporter.

Ditto mastercard

John Henry

Drago said...

"I’ve only ever heard the name Sam Brinton (had to Google him) from the doc, seems he mentions him several times a week, oddly."

LOL

Sure, sure.

Well, have you heard the name Joe Biden?

He showered with and sexualized his own 12 year old daughter....but I'm sure it was in an appropriate non-cringe New Soviet Democratical way.

Right Inga?

n.n said...

The Fourth Estate pounces on its prey in a pride parade. Who will follow in close coordination?

n.n said...

Biden showered with and sexualized his own 12 year old daughter

It and other queer sexual orientations are
a traditional rite in progressive sects of the pre- and post-classical religions exercised with liberal license. Human rites, too.

narciso said...

joe biden 'i don't know who that is, better check the cables'

so like robert malley who ran an iranian influence ring inside the government,

Harun said...

If he becomes the first gentleman, and then he bangs the prime minister of Finland, what happens?

Eva Marie said...

Ann Althouse said...
“What slice of humanity walks around all the time with the mantra "BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL" clanging about in its head?
Are you part of this pathetic group?
It's that fear of the weird or a morbid concern for the most prosaic advancement in this world.”
I’m very surprised to read this. I thought that was what you were looking for in a Presidential candidate.

Harun said...

Man, Democrats and the media, but I repeat myself, really want to gaslight people into thinking the other side is weird.

Kamala Harris weird speaking style, laughing at weird times...sleeping with a 60 year old man for promotions...NOT WEIRD AT ALL.

Has anyone stopped for a second and wondered about Kamala Harris and foreign policy?

I have no idea how she would react to Taiwan being invaded, or Ukraine, etc.

Original Mike said...

"I’ve only ever heard the name Sam Brinton (had to Google him) from the doc,…"

An intelligent person would realize she's only been reading half the news.

narciso said...

yes shes at best a nexus 3, and her staff all want to stab themselve with a sharp object to make the pain stop,

narciso said...

admittedly if you read just the local gannett or tribune paper, or watch the local paper, you're gonna know nearly nothing, you have to go samizdat, to fox and newsmax

Yancey Ward said...

"He showered with and sexualized his own 12 year old daughter....but I'm sure it was in an appropriate non-cringe New Soviet Democratical way."

Inga hasn't heard that story either and, even if she had, that diary was Russian disinformation that people were arrested because they allegedly stole it from Ashley Biden.

narciso said...

I didn't think much of it, until they had the person who recovered the diary arrested, but the ones who leak trump's taxes, they get a front seat on maddow, (admittedly thats not all that)

Michael K said...

I’ve only ever heard the name Sam Brinton (had to Google him) from the doc, seems he mentions him several times a week, oddly.

Come out of your cave once in a while.

If you prefer, we can talk about the Soviet educated nominee, for currency controller. Even the NY Times mentioned her communist background.

The Surgeon General isn't the only one.

narciso said...

Remember waukesha was where that chisholm freed maniac, mowed down a christmas parade

narciso said...

I can't remember every psycho,

Inga said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rabel said...

“What slice of humanity walks around all the time with the mantra "BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL" clanging about in its head?

I would guess that just about everybody who attends an open air production of Shakespeare in Madison, whether they are internally vocalizing it or not. Norms are what they are and most will abide.

I wouldn't call y'all pathetic though. It's normal human response to peer pressure.

Witness said...

what a weird thing to have to put on repeat

Leora said...

I'm old enough to remember "Clean for Gene" imploring the dirty hippies to cut their hair and look normal to campaign.

Tina Trent said...

Yancey Ward is right.

I spent ten years as a centrist who had to work for a living, thus not a limousine/Victorian mansion commie, thus someone hired to attend their far more radical election trainings and be subjected to them, often over my objections of their flagrant breaking of election laws. And yes, after I left the movement, I did bring specific evidence to the AJC, Channel 11 Atlanta and even WSB. And they ignored me.

The Democrats pionered ignoring modern-day election laws. They have thousands of nonprofits in place. Many trainings to which I have been subjected use clearly illegal tactics (walk-around money is the very least of it-- it's mundane muddling of PAC work with c-3 and c-4s). Others use openly Maoist re-education to creat their troops, and that is weird. And yeah, it's good press to highlight the egregious examples, but the real power lies with that mundane, daily, drip, drip, drip use of sophisticated but reputable-seeming organizations, like Foreign aid or VISTA or public grade schools or also Planned Parenthood (don't gasp -- that is middle of their road), using taxpayer dollars to sell body parts to launder cash from an aborted 26-week old baby's liver to their 501c-3 to the c-4, then the PAC.

The gay groups are extraordinarily notorious for vacuuming up public health and "AIDS education" money for organizing election campaigns. So is Blue-Green coalition, run by ex-Weather bomber and Obama confidant Jeff Jones, with hundreds of sub-organizations.

The worst offenders are in the tech and finance industries. The Robin Hood Foundation is so bad about their tactics for creating paid platoons of activists on the public dime that even the few decent leftists revile their tactics.

Althouse, it is naive to gripe about people pleading with the new activists on the right who are being trained to door-knock to "not seem weird." Because they are under professional, highly-skilled, media approved infiltration and relentless, dehumanizing attack.

Why don't you attend a couple of DSA or Food Not Bombs trainings to see what happens there? But they're professionals -- they'll know you and either behave or refuse to let you in. If you do get in, just try being contrary, or even cruelly neutral. Get ready for some infantile screaming, chants, and even being physically constrained in the middle of a circle of critics to break you down, all paid very well by the high-up Democrats' election training borg. But I seriously doubt they would treat a public figure like you that way. You'll have to invent a persona and wear a disguise to really see how the little people recruits are recruited -- and ideally spend another 12 - 18 years in public school being worn down to an idiot nub first.

If you go, don't eat the beans.

Josephbleau said...

“What slice of humanity walks around all the time with the mantra "BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL" clanging about in its head?”

Every citizen of a dictatorship, you can’t afford to stand out. Every citizen of a society that has a cancel culture, you must conform.

MadTownGuy said...

"At a Turning Point Action office in Waukesha, Wis., in June, about three dozen newly hired full-time community organizers got together with poster boards and scented markers to brainstorm techniques to meet their targeted neighbors..... [Organizers were instructed] not to come on too strong by showing up with MAGA hats and fliers. Instead, they should research their marks and start reaching out through Facebook groups, community events, or neighborly gestures such as recommending plumbers or harp teachers. They could even arrange seemingly chance encounters on coffee runs or dog walks. 'Some of these things sound like stalking,' one staffer whispered."

Nothing, compared to the Obama Campaign in 2012:
Former Obama campaign director reveals Facebook knowingly let them mine users’ data

MadTownGuy said...

Then, there's 'Catalyst.'

Excerpt:

"Catalist is an example of the consultant, profit-driven culture of the GOP being beaten by the messianic crusader culture of the left.

Next: two examples demonstrate the power of the institutional left’s data tools.

During the 2012 election, a producer for a conservative news network received a knock at his door in a key swing state. Two neighbors were standing on his stoop campaigning for Obama. They weren’t there to talk to him — they were there to talk to his wife. They knew that she was employed in a profession which the Obama campaign had decided to microtarget: folks who deliver services to special needs children. The two neighbors were already armed with this personalized information. The Obama campaign didn’t just send a direct mail piece to the target or make a telephone call. Instead, the campaign matched a microtargeted demographic (special needs service providers) with a highly motivated Obama volunteer in close neighborly proximity to the target. Then they armed the neighbor/volunteer with data to visit the target.

[Snip]

The second example involves a recent statewide election. In a state where one Democrat and one Republican must be appointed to run each precinct, an election official described for me a problem encountered with the Democratic Party. It seems the Democrat she nominated to run the polls wasn’t sufficiently ideologically pure. What evidence did the party have to object to her bona fides? A response to a telephone survey many years earlier in which the nominated poll official wasn’t supporting the Democratic nominee for United States Senate.

Republicans don’t have anything even close to this sort of data, where answers to poll questions in years past could be employed in future fights.

The development and use of Catalist by the left has serious political consequences for Republicans in Congress, consequences I fear consultants, candidates, and strategists haven’t even begun to contemplate. Consider the course charted by some GOP leaders: while they have sought to steer a middle course between Democrats and the Tea Party, Catalist is rendering moderation obsolete.
"

Creepy.

MadTownGuy said...

Yeah, I know, 'Catalist.' Autoincorrect strikes again.

Mikey NTH said...

Those Trump People are Everywhere! Citizens! Stay Alert! If You See a Trumpist Say Something!

Remember! Stay Alert! Nod Pleasently! Move Away Carefully on an Oblique Angle so They can't Follow You! And then Report!

Only by independent and coordinated action can the Trumpist Threat beDefeated!

Mikey NTH said...

Althouse: How about "Clean for Gene"?

Fred Drinkwater said...

San Brinton? Who cares?

It was only in charge of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy for the Harris/Biden administration.

So no worries.

narciso said...

not personally weird but ideologically strange was Bishop Garrison's Austin's ideological commissar at the Pentagon

Narr said...

What's normal? What's normal? What's normal?

tommyesq said...

Shorter headline - Trump Campaign Complies with Existing Laws.

narciso said...

How dare he?

Kakistocracy said...

You can’t fund a solid ground game, and abscond with most of the donations for yourself and legal bills at the same time.

Mason G said...

"Shorter headline - Trump Campaign Complies with Existing Laws."

So- when will he be indicted?

Mutaman said...

Its all so unfair.

Gospace said...

Harun said
...
I have no idea how she would react to Taiwan being invaded, or Ukraine, etc.


Don't feel bad about that. She doesn't know either.

Narciso- I assume you're referring to samizdata.net I saw your mention and realized I haven't seen a link to them in quite some while. Lots of sites with samizdat in their name...

And as far as normies go, a lot of the people I hang with on the internet refer to themselves as "odds", and use the term normies to refer, we'll, to normal people. And they're not using it as an insult in any way.

And since Inga is a regular here- she's flat out lying about not knowing who Sam Brinton was until looking him up. From Google advanced search his first appearance of many on this blog was 12 Feb 2022.

But then, Inga has proudly had multiple covid shots and boosters... and those pesky clots might be interfering with memory...

Kakistocracy said...

A new page in foreign and national security policy is needed to advance what is working and change direction where it is not. The Democratic party has a deep bench of foreign policy talent and can easily field a competent team to put new talent on task. Continuity and change are required; Trumpian disruption would put the US in the swamp of intractable crises made worse by a crumbling international economic position precipitated by protectionism. Throwing protection at China when China is outcompeting you in much of the rest of the world is futile.

Relative to ... and on dynamic, growing parts of the world like south-east Asia and Africa. The current US foreign policy is going to undermine US credibility and capability across the Global South for years to come. The racist behavior of Israel towards Muslims is a giant dog whistle setting off massive concern across the 1.8 billion person Muslim world. The US is fast going radioactive. Consternation among democratic allies is growing rapidly. The Biden foreign policy in the Middle East is off-track. Using US foreign policy to propitiate an irredentist settler movement's desire for annexation of once Biblical territories into a new Promised Land deeply violates the spirit of the First Amendment's injunction not to pass laws supporting the establishment of religion.

The Global South is also the economic arena where the US must up its competitive game because today China is outcompeting the US in third country competition almost everywhere. The US faces a choice in international economics of either competing or protecting. Too often the Biden administration makes the wrong choice. If the Ukrainian war is entering some 1952-like pre-truce talk phase of the Korean War, then the US needs to reinforce its position in support of the Ukraine to achieve hard-headed results. Most likely such talks will not achieve satisfactory results unless the allies deploy credible force in support of the Ukraine.

Rusty said...

Rich said...
"A new page in foreign and national security policy is needed to advance what is working and change direction where it is not. The Democratic party has a deep bench of foreign policy talent and can easily field a competent team to put new talent on task. Continuity and change are required; Trumpian disruption would put the US in the swamp of intractable crises made worse by a crumbling international economic position precipitated by protectionism. Throwing protection at China when China is outcompeting you in much of the rest of the world is futile"

You're not smart enought to have written this on your own.Who did you steal it from?
Tell us, in your own words, what were Trumps foreign policy failures?

Rusty said...

Mutaman said...
"Its all so unfair."
Get used to it.

Kakistocracy said...

Rusty: Go on and spoil yourself. Put on the buffalo horns and talk about the Deep State.

The Democrats are split between an Internationalist wing dating from Truman-Acheson committed to Nato and the security of the global democratic alliance and a pro-Israel wing committed to maximalist territorial goals in Palestine. The pro-Israel wing is willing to shred US international credibility to display unwavering support for Israeli blood-and-soil nationalism. The befuddlement of top US foreign policy leadership is becoming clearer by the day as warnings of the coming Big War in the Middle East keep coming. Read Dexter Filkins in last week's New Yorker about the prelude to the coming war in Lebanon. The three most dangerous months in the last half century are coming up. When the 2,000 pound bombs start going off in Lebanon, so will end the Biden administration.

Rusty said...

Rich said...
Pay attention, dumbass.
Prior to the istallation of you're Democrat dumbass leaders the Unitied States was not in a proxy war with Russia. China was not making threats aginst Taiwan and Trump made inroads on peace in the middle east.

Will no one rid me of these stupid leftists.