Democracy Hawk In Action: Take the Win
A Case Study: How to Shape Reality
Democracy Hawk Protocol I: Shape Reality
Tactic 3: Take the Win
Momentum Is Magnetic
This is the next post in this series examining how Gavin Newsom executes the Democracy Hawk Protocols.
In the previous installments, we looked at how shaping reality begins with being a commander, not a panderer. We also saw how owning the spotlight ensures that you—not your opponent—become the center of gravity in the political fight.
Another way to shape reality is to take the win.
Winning creates momentum.
Momentum creates followership.
Followership creates power.
Because everybody wants to be on the winning team.
Project Unstoppable Movement
The third way to shape reality is to: Take the win.
Blast out your victories at every turn. Create the image of a big, bold, unstoppable movement. Make people feel they’re on the team that’s crushing it.
For the better part of this century, Republicans have treated even petty wins as conquests, while Democrats have been loath to trumpet even their transformational feats.
Why?
Democrats have nurtured a perhaps well-intentioned but politically maladaptive cult of empathy that treats celebration of progress as insensitivity to those who still suffer. For some on the left, acknowledging that things are better than they used to be practically marks you as an ally of plutocrats and bigots. What’s more, touting progress, the thinking goes, can lead to complacency.
The party’s messaging class agrees: whatever you do, do not tell people things are going great under your watch, even if they are, at least not until the polls show people are “feeling the benefits.”
Consequently, both parties join in telling us how much everyone struggles when the Democrats are in charge.
Success Makes Democrats Nervous
Democrats have grown pathologically averse to credit-claiming.
In 1993, 28 percent of children lived in poverty; by the end of Biden’s first year, 5 percent did. The improvements were the result of programs Democrats championed over Republican resistance.
Betcha didn’t know that.
In September 2024, Kamala Harris was asked whether Americans were better off than four years earlier. Unemployment hadn’t been as low for as long as it was under Biden since the late 1960s. Inflation was licked. Wage growth had outstripped it for 18 months running. The Dow was setting records.
Harris declined to answer.
Obama saved global capitalism and then presided over the fastest rise in median family income of any president on record. But David Axelrod told Obama not to “get ahead of the polls” and banished the phrase “America is Back” from the White House.
Since 1989, 49 of the 51 million jobs created in the United States have been added under Democratic presidents. If you know that, it’s probably because you heard it in a Bill Clinton speech. He is one of the few Democrats who understood the importance of taking the win, and it showed .
Research shows that people tend to believe what their leaders tell them, and they are more likely to “feel the benefits” when leaders tell them they’re feeling them. Unlike Obama and Biden, Clinton and Trump have never hesitated to claim credit for economic successes on their watch.
Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index shows confidence soaring during Clinton’s second term and Trump’s first term, and sagging under Obama and Biden. In other words, it peaked under presidents who told us the economy was cooking and dipped under those who didn’t.
But Democrats still insist: Whatever you do, don’t try to make opinion, and don’t take the win.
Newsom Takes the Win
Newsom is rehabilitating California’s national reputation. Decades of Republican treatment of California as a shrinking house despair have taken their toll, and Newsom aims to undo it.
Harris was almost bashful about her California origins; she hardly ever mentioned her state.
But California is the fourth-largest economy in the world, and Newsom repeats it like a drumbeat. We are the absolute world leader in innovation, economic dynamism, Nobel Prize laureates, higher education, and trend-setting entrepreneurs.
He also never misses a chance to add that California sends Washington far more than it gets back—unlike Texas and other welfare states. He delights in the punch line: Those welfare states are almost all red! In fact, blue districts nationwide produce almost three-quarters of the entire economy!
Newsom takes, makes, and glories in wins. That’s a big part of why he’s surging.
Next Up: Newsom Stays on Offense
In the next installment, we turn to the second protocol of dominance politics: embracing conflict.
Shaping reality and defining the fight is not enough. Winning requires staying on offense, relishing the fight, refusing to retreat, and establishing a reputation for relentless forward motion.
We’ll examine how tempo, persistence, and escalation build political strength.
Next post: Democracy Hawk in Action—Stay on Offense
A Case Study: How to Embrace Conflict