A plan titled “Democracy Matters: Strategic Plan for Action” found its way into the public domain some months ago, and is currently getting quite a bit of attention. It is a fundraising document created on behalf of four left-wing organizations: Media Matters, American Bridge, CREW and Shareblue. All four organizations were founded by David Brock, and it is likely that he wrote the “strategic plan.”

The document appears to have been written around the time of President Trump’s inauguration, and may have been prepared for use at this Democratic donor conference. It sets out a plan to destroy the Trump administration and return Democrats to power. The document is embedded in its entirety at the end of this post, so you can read it and draw your own conclusions.

Not surprisingly, these four groups do not accept the legitimacy of Trump’s administration and claim to have a “mandate” to resist anything he tries to do. (In all cases, click to enlarge.):

As a fundraising pitch, the proposal is full of bold plans and threats. It also reflects the still-fresh horror that Democrats felt after the election. It conveys a sense that the Left saw itself as beleaguered and on the defensive. This is the introductory description of how Media Matters and American Bridge will oppose the Trump administration and Republicans:

A few observations:

1) The document reflects, throughout, an obsession with “fake news.” If you didn’t know better, you might think leftists actually believe that that the 2016 election was swayed by, as this proposal says at one point, “teenagers in Macedonia.” A common theme is that Democrats control the “mainstream” press, but conservatives dominate in the digital space, including social media. The former is certainly true, but the latter strikes me as delusional. Here is another example of this theme, from a later portion of the document:

2) These organizations are confident of their ability to influence Facebook and Google to the detriment of the right. More on this later.

3) The irony of these organizations referring to conservatives trying to “silence dissent” is apparently unintentional.

4) Not surprisingly, these groups were already talking about impeaching President Trump by the time he was inaugurated.

Next, CREW and Shareblue:

1) CREW’s claim to be “nonpartisan” is risible.

2) Shareblue is more candid, pledging to “take back social media for Democrats” and “delegitimize Trump’s presidency.”

Media Matters claims to have a lot of influence with Facebook and Google. Unfortunately, I know of no reason to doubt that this is true:

Media Matters also brags of its ability to influence mainstream news sources, so as to “punish” “even the slightest bit of normalization of Trump.”

Media Matters says it has five issue-specific teams that deal with “the key progressive topics of our time.” But check out the list: with the exception of a general reference to the economy, these are not the issues that drove the Trump revolt or that promise to bring power back to the Democrats:

American Bridge pledges to stand in the way of President Trump’s appointments via extreme vetting:

CREW says it will enlist a “pro bono army” of liberal lawyers. Sadly, I suspect this project could succeed:

Shareblue anticipates that it will receive information via “leaks and intel from Democrats on House and Senate committees,” and vows to “weaponize oppo research.”

On the whole, the “Democracy Matters” plan doesn’t contain any surprises, but provides a valuable glimpse into the mindset and strategies of some of the Left’s more important organizations. Completely absent from the document is any understanding of why the Democratic Party has been steadily losing influence, or what issues and concerns drove President Trump’s 2016 victory.

Here is the “Democracy Matters” plan in its entirety:

337535680 Full David Brock Confidential Memo on Fighting Trump by John Hinderaker on Scribd