Dem launching ‘war room’ focused on Trump policies, local communities: report

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) plans to target small- and mid-sized communities with a campaign highlighting promises it says President Trump has failed to keep, according to NBC News.

The effort, which is slated to launch Thursday and will focus on the effect of White House policies on local communities, comes in response to claims that Democrats’ 2016 messaging focused too heavily on Trump’s personality and temperament, NBC reported, citing officials who briefed the network.

{mosads}A team of DNC staffers has reportedly compiled thousands of documents from local news and Freedom of Information Act requests that the committee plans to use to “put a human face” on Trump’s campaign promises and their results.

The DNC did not disclose how much it will spend on the effort, but is zeroing in on demographics including welders and pipefitters in Newtown, Penn. and Virginia Beach, Va. and seniors in Reno, Nev. who have seen steep price increases for their medications, according to NBC. 

While the effort will target states that made up Trump’s 2016 margin of victory, like Florida, Michigan, Arizona and Georgia, the DNC has reportedly compiled a database including every rally he held in 2016.

“Wherever the president goes, we’re going to hold him accountable on a local level for the ramifications of his policies,” Democratic media consultant Saul Shorr told the network. “People have absorbed the fact that he isn’t truthful. The real question here is ‘have they benefited or not?’”

The DNC reportedly sees an opening in what it perceives as a contradiction between Trump’s rhetoric about America’s “forgotten men and women” and on-the-ground realities, such as his concession that he won’t have a replacement health care plan by 2020 and polling indicating only 17 percent Americans believe they’ll see a tax cut from the 2017 tax reform bill.

“The rich are getting richer, corporate profits are soaring, but the rest of us are still just running in place,” Adrienne Watson, director of the “war room” effort, told NBC. “Trump has made the system more rigged than ever.”