Texas Senate Democrat candidate James Talarico’s spiritual leader, the lesbian preacher Babs Miller, was recently caught on hidden camera admitting he’s lying to voters about his positions: “I can guarantee you that once he’s elected he’ll change his tune” on transgender politics, she told an undercover reporter.
Deceiving voters is Democrats’ strategy because their political extremism is unpopular. Democrats especially know they cannot win fair elections without making inroads in rural and small-town America, like the Texas areas Talarico needs to win a Senate seat. In fact, Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s campaigning in rural areas may have given him the edge in his primary against Haley Stevens.
Democrats in general, and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in particular, are paying a lot more attention to rural America these days. That’s because rural America “is the wall the American Left keeps hitting,” according to longtime DSA activist Bhaskar Sunkara.
Democrats know that their brand is toxic in rural America. So, how to get elected while bearing a toxic brand? Sunkara advocates for a strong message of “progressive populism” delivered with “rhetorical discipline.” In a word: propaganda.
For Democrats, disciplined propaganda is critical to striking a delicate balance between keeping their base motivated and appealing to small-town and rural America. For example, with allies in the corporate media, they’ve concocted the narrative of a “Farmageddon” revolt in which farmers are angry with President Trump and the GOP.
However, if the DSA is ever able to enact its platform — of abolishing the Senate, the Supreme Court, Electoral College, presidency and the Constitution itself — propaganda needn’t be very disciplined. In the meantime, the trick is to propagandize rural voters so they vote themselves into oblivion by electing socialists.
So what’s their propaganda game plan? In brief: hide, deny, re-identify, coopt, and speak “country” while selling their toxic product.
Hide: ‘This Is Not the Radical You’re Looking For’
One obvious way Democrat candidates try to hide in red districts is by using the label “independent.” For example, in Shenandoah County, Virginia, a leftist running as an independent for county supervisor lost his close 2019 race to a Republican. Then, in a hot mic Facebook post he blamed the district’s “deplorables.”
Such candidates also hide behind traditional-sounding identities like “veteran,” “small business owner,” “family man,” or, like Talarico, “religious.”
Deny: ‘Whoa, Pardner, That’s Not Me!’
El-Sayed was caught on a hot mic saying he couldn’t praise the U.S. elimination of Iran’s supreme leader without alienating “my constituency.” He now says he’s “as American as anyone else.”
El-Sayed must also tip-toe around his past antisemitic remarks and adopt an air of contrition to neutralize their potential damage. For example, six months after he suggested that a terrorist attack on the Temple Israel in Detroit was justified, he offered an apology-not-apology “to anyone who feels like my comments might have been hurtful.” Yet, even after he pronounced Jews to be “a light onto the world,” he has failed to disavow his ties to the brazen antisemite podcaster Hasan Piker.
When Talarico served in the Texas legislature, he stated that understanding the convergence of white supremacy, capitalism, and climate change will help dismantle these evil institutions. He now proclaims himself “a proud capitalist.” Like El-Sayed, Talarico is also trying to walk back his previous statements that don’t play well in Texas, such as claiming that Texas’s “dying” oil and gas industry, which he compared to the 1980s technology of cassette tapes, must be dismantled.
Likewise, Democrat Senate candidate Dan Osborne in Nebraska, said “I have people recording me, so I can’t say I want to abolish ICE …”
Re-identify: Communism in a Cowboy Hat
In 1968, people suffering under the vicious yoke of communism in Czechoslovakia pressed for “socialism with a human face,” a plea that ended with a Soviet invasion. Today we see DSA candidates pushing something like socialism with a Southern drawl.
A host of DSA-endorsed candidates are posing as normal folks with a Mamdani smile so they can centralize power. Consider how El-Sayed posted a video of himself mimicking country singing and dancing while promoting the socialism of “Medicare for all.”
This is like Democrat Michael Dukakis riding in a tank in the 1988 presidential campaign, and Pete Buttigieg campaigning in a hard hat. “Relatability” is the old/new term for the propaganda technique long known as “plain folks propaganda.” It’s reaching a new level of oddness in the cyber-age, as fringy candidates aim to project a more likeable and persuasive image.
Coopting God: Agitating for ‘Christian Socialism’
Meanwhile in Texas, woke-aholic candidate Talarico seems to be the 2026 poster boy for the leftward movement of many Christian denominations. As one DSA “rural organizer” wrote: “We believe it is important to use religion where we can to agitate for a Christian socialism.”
Talarico’s agitating consists in telling Texans that he hates Christianity. Then he argues—as a self-styled theologian—that “God is non-binary,” and the Bible has nothing to say about abortion or the transing of children.
The gospel according to James Talarico also states Christians must accept a government monopoly on health care because Jesus was “a healer.” According to the actual gospel, however, Jesus cured only one person among the multitude who sought healing at the pool of Bethsaida (John 5:1-15). Jesus also pointed out the ingratitude of nine of the ten lepers He did heal (Luke 17:17).
“Christian socialism” is nothing more than Satanic liberation theology repackaged for elections, especially in rural America. During the 1960s, leftist Catholic priests in Latin America began pushing that Jesus-as-a-Marxist trope to build popular support for communist governments there.
Can such absurd propaganda work? Maybe. A huge problem is the vast ignorance of American voters on matters of faith. They generally don’t go to church or study the Bible. The Vatican and just about every mainline Protestant denomination have been going woke for many years, with media support.
Speaking ‘Country’: ‘Think Different. Talk Different. Act Different’
But how can the Democrats and the DSA frame the very narratives that rural Americans find so insupportable? The DSA “rural organizer” cited above stated that the DSA simply “does not know how to relate to them.”
However, a DSA blog post from 2020 explains “How to Organize Rural America.” It contains lots of pointers for DSA activists, such as contacting local allies, aiming for conversation, trying to be respectful, and more. For socialists, the purpose is to use deception to establish trust in order to push a socialist agenda forward.
Ultimately, attracting rural voters after showing contempt for them boils down to pretending you’re “one of them.” The Rural Urban Bridge Initiative, an advocacy organization aligned with Democrats, tells its activists to “Think Different. Talk Different. Act Different,” with a booklet called “Talk Like a Neighbor.”
Democrats’ concerns about rural voters have spawned a laundry list of articles, analyses, studies, and websites devoted to the activism they believe is necessary to turn things around for them. One of those groups, the Center for Rural Strategies, aims to influence rural voters with messaging strategies.
These include podcasts from The Daily Yonder, which focus on Democrat talking points on issues such as housing, public education, and health care, areas they believe rural voters are most swingable. Its Rural Assembly program aims at promoting “diversity” and “storytelling” propaganda in rural America. Other programs intended to connect with hearts and minds in rural America are its Rural Faith Initiative and Living Traditions program.
Could This Possibly Succeed?
Democrats’ contempt for rural voters didn’t keep them from pulling a recent upset win in a statehouse district that voted overwhelmingly for President Trump in mostly rural Butler County, Pennsylvania. Journalist Salena Zito explained that the August 18 special election serves as a blueprint for Democrats who believe they can win more such races in deep red districts.
In sum, Democrats might have a messaging problem in rural America, but they do have a rural ground game to render traditional rural Americans irrelevant in elections. Their strategy involves a lot of propaganda and a lot of organizing, especially in races where low conservative turnout — in the Butler case, 32 percent — can be overwhelmed by highly motivated leftists.
This should be a wake-up call for rural voters. If they don’t show up at the polls, they are paving the way to be ruled by people who hate them. The lesson is that no election should be taken for granted. Ever.
