First off, the tweet itself is just unbelievable — and I mean that in the most literal way possible. No one in their right mind thinks that there are gaggles of Donald Trump supporters from across the Commonwealth calling into the state Democratic Party headquarters and apologizing.

Secondly, the phrase “you are welcome to vote for a Democrat next time” is incredibly condescending. Winning over folks who voted for Donald Trump by telling them essentially “sorry you voted wrong, you’re welcome to support us if you want” is potentially the most ineffective way to persuade someone.

It’s clear from the endless press coverage, that Trump got some of his votes by speaking to people who felt (justifiably) left behind. My friend Ivy wrote a beautiful piece about this issue. I don’t think it is good practice to begin relationships with people by being condescending to them.

Many are irritated because they don’t feel represented — and they weren’t! (Still aren’t.) By saying “you are welcome to vote for a Democrat next time”, you are immediately dismissing the concerns that these folks had. It makes it sound like you think their views are invalid — and it makes the Democratic party sound prideful. That’s not a good look for us, we’ve tried it.

Lastly, you talk about getting people involved.

So, let’s say that this tweet was super effective (it isn’t); and let’s say that I am a disaffected Trump supporter (I’m not). I would probably want to know what the Kentucky Democratic Party’s priorities are before I decided to jump ship, right?

Let me show you what happens when I try to find out what the Kentucky Democratic Party stands for:

Step One

Open browser and google “Kentucky Democratic Party”.

Step Two

Click on the website.

Step Three

There is no step three, because nowhere on the Kentucky Democratic Party’s landing page does it say anything about the KDP’s platform.

Let’s take a look.

What are you thinking, folks? Putting some words on your website is the easiest way to tell people what you stand for — and yet, there’s not much there. This also exists on the “About” page:

Do you feel like this is helpful for clarifying what the mission and values of the KDP are?

I do not see my values reflected by my party — which tells me that you don’t stand for my values.

I’m not the only one that feels this way either.

Let me show you what happened when I posted a screenshot of your tweet on my Facebook profile.

I want to tell you who these people are.

Joshua is a physical therapy technician and father who went to Asbury.

Jon went to EKU and is a videographer and works in media.

David is an artist, musician, and an information security professional.

Heather is a transplant from Memphis that worked in food policy for 7 years, and now works in Lexington in community development.

Samantha is a mother of a super cool son, and works tirelessly to make her neighborhood a more inclusive place.

Chase went to Centre, and now works in New York in the art world.

Liz is a small business owner that lives in Lousiville.

Jon is a small business owner in Northern KY who chose to manufacture his products in KY instead of overseas.

Gregory is a native Kentuckian with over 30 years PR experience.

Drew is from Eastern KY, currently living in Lexington, and is a community organizer that works everyday on issues of food insecurity.

Olivia is a community organizer that has worked against domestic violence issues and is working on a graduate degree in anthropology from UK.