Summary of Hit 'Em Where It Hurts by Rachel Bitecofer: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game

By Justin Reese

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This book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book.

 

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Rachel Bitecofer's book, Hit 'Em Where It Hurts, offers a radical plan for the Democratic Party to win elections in the upcoming 2024 election cycle. Bitecofer argues that Democrats often struggle to win voters due to the GOP's tactics of fear and anger, and that they can develop new winning political strategies. She suggests that Democrats should present themselves as "brand ambassadors for freedom, health, wealth, safety, and common sense," the opposite of the extremist, freedom-fearing Right. This is a last-ditch effort to armor democracy against hijacking by a small minority of ideologues. The book is a lifeline for Democrats who have faced challenges in swaying voters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: jUSTIN REESE
• Release date: Feb 10, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224598380

Book preview

Introduction

The Dirtiest Word in America

Hit 'Em Where It Hurts is a book about politics, the dirtiest word in America, and its importance for America's fragile democracy. The author explains that the Midterm Effect, which is the tendency of Americans to vote against members of the in party, has been a significant issue in the US since the election of Donald Trump in 2020. In 2022, with Joe Biden as president and Democrats barely controlling both chambers of Congress, the Midterm Effect suggested that Democrats would be slaughtered again.

The author also highlights the importance of winning the so-called Blue Wall of governorships in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan to guarantee a free and fair 2024 presidential election. However, Democrats managed to flip control of the House of Representatives to Republicans, even though they needed only five seats to do so. This victory was not a Red Tsunami, but a small red puddle, and Democrats gained a seat in the Senate, several governorships, and won all three of the Blue Wall states.

The author warns that the Midterm Effect is real and demands an electoral strategy to deal with it head-on to survive Election Day 2022. He urges the party to restructure its paid advertising and campaign messaging as a referendum on the Republicans, as they pose a new national crisis: the Republican Party, the most dangerous threat to freedom, health, wealth, and safety.

The author emphasizes that voters need to believe this election is a choice for America as they confront a new national crisis: the Republican Party, which plans to pass a national abortion ban, guttify Medicare, destroy Obamacare, raise taxes on working families, and steal a lifetime of Social Security money. The main challenge for 2022 was to tap into negative partisanship and convince Democrats that despite their status as the in party, they could not afford to sit this one out.

In 2022, the extreme modern Republicans' actions disrupted the Midterm Effect and helped Democrats in the race. The news cycle focused on Republican corruption, insurrection, and the extreme agenda of MAGA wackadoos. However, the real game changer happened on May 2, 2022, when the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision was leaked, revealing that Republicans had taken away freedom of health autonomy for millions of Americans. This event became a concrete reality, highlighting the national crisis of Republicanism.

Democratic candidates used two different campaign strategies: pretending their candidates were not Democrats by deemphasizing their party affiliation and trying to get Republicans to vote for them. This strategy did not disrupt the Midterm Effect and met with epic failure in previous midterms. In 2022, Democrats in Ohio, North Carolina, and Florida stuck with the old strategy, which led to bad Democratic candidates losing winnable races to dangerous Republican ones.

The second strategy, which Democrats in Michigan and Arizona used with stunning effect, is about being a brand ambassador for freedom, health, wealth, safety, and common sense. This requires stronger and smarter political messaging, focusing less on identity politics and intellectual debates and more on meeting Republicans on their pitch. Democrats in this camp leaned hard into the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and built their campaigns around the threat to American democracy.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm that usually plagues the in party in a Midterm Election, Democrats managed to win the election by giving voters bigger things to worry about. The GOP believed the Midterm Effect would deliver huge Republican majorities in Congress and state capitols across the country, and many Democratic insiders, known as Team Status Quo, were openly wringing their hands over Team Reform's emphasis on the existential threat to democracy instead of playing defense against the GOP's preferred messaging on inflation and crime.

Democrats managed to defeat the Midterm Effect in 2022 through strategic partisanship and a well-planned strategy. To continue saving democracy, Democrats need to reinvent their communication with voters and personalize what it means to live under the control of Republicans. The GOP's agenda includes stripping women of their autonomy, empowering rapists to force births on their victims, ending free and fair elections, banning books, and passing anti-freedom cultural and religious laws. Democrats must frame the stakes and make the abstract concrete, branding Republicans as a bad product.

The American electorate is neither informed nor engaged in politics, and Democrats must connect the dots for voters who don't connect dots on their own. The overturning of Roe v. Wade provided Democrats momentum and clarity, but America's democracy is out of time for Band-Aids and security blankets. As a political science professor, data analyst, elections forecaster, pollster, media commentator, and strategist, the author aims to provide illumination and light the way for a bold new strategy that aims to save democracy by winning elections and beating Republicans at their own game.

The book explores the trends, behaviors, and civic culture of the American electorate, using political science fundamentals and a new theory about voter behavior to predict election outcomes. It aims to provide a bold new strategy that saves democracy by winning elections and beating Republicans at their own game, starting by sharing hard lessons political scientists already know about