MEMORANDUM

TO: Interested Parties

FROM: Priorities USA
DATE: March 1, 2017
RE: 10 Keys To Exposing Trumps Betrayal of Working Class Voters

President Trumps record-low approval rating is not guaranteed to last forever. Following his
address to Congress Tuesday that pundits graded as his most presidential moment to date, we
cannot sit back and assume his numbers will stay dismal on their own all the way through 2018.

Indeed, even as Trump courted unprecedented levels of controversy in his presidencys opening
weeks, most Trump voters have yet to show signs of any buyers remorse. And the style points
Trump earned Tuesday night may now cause some voters who had soured on him to give him a
second look. Further, according to focus groups conducted by Priorities in Florida, Michigan,
and Wisconsin, many millennials and African Americans who voted in 2012 but not in 2016 do
not regret their decision to sit out the last election.

The bottom line: if Democrats are going to reenergize base voters who did not turn out at all
last year and win persuadable swing voters in key battleground districts and states, they cannot
just hope Donald Trump remains his own worst enemy. We must drive sharp contrasts that
make clear to voters that Democrats are looking out for themand that Trump, for all his
rhetoric, isnt.

The reality is, while Trump may have shifted his tone Tuesday, he did not shift his policies
nearly all of which a majority of Americans oppose, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll. The
broad agenda outlined by Trump Tuesday night sets the stage for a series of upcoming
legislative battles in the months ahead. Democrats should lean into these fights as a unique
chance to define Trump as betraying the populism he pretends to tout. On one issue after
anotherfrom jobs to tax reform to health careTrumps alignment with Speaker Paul Ryan
and the House Republicans will enable Democrats to drive a wedge between Trump and voters
we need to persuade and excite in order to win again.

To help seize this opportunity, below is a suggested, 10-point checklist for framing the
economic argument against Trump and highlighting his broken promises to middle-class
Americans. This guidance is drawn from initial surveys involving both swing and base voters
that were conducted for Priorities USA by Global Strategy Group and Garin Hart Yang Research.

10 KEYS TO EXPOSING TRUMPS BETRAYAL OF WORKING CLASS VOTERS

 1. DO EMPHASIZE TRUMPS TAX REFORM PLAN AS AN UNFAIR SHIFTING OF THE TAX
BURDEN ONTO THE MIDDLE CLASS. Trumps protectionist stance on trade covered up a
lot of warts for him during the campaignincluding a tax plan that amounted to a
massive giveaway to the ultra-rich. As Trump seeks to maintain his populist credentials
as President, he has perhaps no bigger vulnerability than that tax plan. Trump doubled
down on the proposal again Tuesday night, and Republicans are aiming to enact it on a
party-line vote later this year. But how Democrats talk about Trumps tax plan matters;
the best way to criticize it is in terms of how it will negatively impact middle-class
Americans, not simply in terms of the benefits it will lavish on others. A January survey
by Global Strategy Group found that base and swing voters alike responded more
negatively to the idea that the plan would shift the burden to them than the fact that
millionaires will get a tax cut. As Congress begins to take up budget negotiations,
Democrats should further highlight how Trumps plan will eliminate programs that
improve the lives of middle-class Americans while offering no new ideas about how to
raise wages and protect the social safety net. Radical

2. DO NOT RELENT IN DEFENDING THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT AGAINST REPEAL. A
plurality of both swing and base voters say Trump and the Republicans should not
repeal the Affordable Care Act without a plan to truly replace it. Despite having seven
years to come up with such a replacement, Republicans still have not unified around an
actual proposal; conservative hard-liners in the House just this week rejected Paul
Ryans most recent draft. Despite these struggles, Trump renewed his commitment to
repealing the law on Tuesday night. In doing so, he noticeably seemed to retreat from
his previous pledge that a replacement will not reduce the number of uninsured.
Democrats should highlight that broken promise as they continue to mount the defense
of a law that has never been more popular.

3. DO MAKE TRUMP OWN HILL REPUBLICANS CONTINUED TALK OF PRIVATIZING
MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY. The top shared concern among both swing and base
voters is the possibility that Trump and the Republicans will pursue cuts to entitlements.
Despite his campaign pledge to protect Medicare and Social Security against cuts, House
Republicans are openly predicting they will succeed in convincing Trump to go along
with their plans to privatize the programs. Trumps OMB Director, Rep. Mick Mulvaney,
was a leading architect of such privatization schemes in the House, and Paul Ryan is
committing that these ideas will again be contained in the House Republicans budget.
Democrats should not hesitate to marry Trump to these efforts.

4. DO NOT LET TRUMP WIN THE BATTLE TO DEFINE THE BORDER ADJUSTMENT TAX. On
Tuesday, Trump flirted with an outright endorsement of Paul Ryans controversial
proposal to tax imported goods in order to raise $1 trillion over 10 years. Ryan is eyeing
the proposal as a means to fund his tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy, but the border-
adjustment tax would largely be borne by middle-class consumers who would pay more
for all kinds of household goods, from groceries to their kids sneakers. Fully 68 percent
of Obama-Trump voters identify this tax proposal as concerning. Democrats should be
 prepared to pounce on this concept as yet another way the Trump tax plan will harm
working families, not let him spin it as a fair-trade policy that will make America more
competitive.

5. DO USE OPPOSITION TO CUTTING MEDICAID AGAINST TRUMP. While conventional
wisdom tends to consider voters less protective of Medicaid than Medicare or Social
Security, polling suggests Medicaid is a similarly unpopular target for cuts. A recent
Politico-Morning Consult poll showed 65 percent of voters oppose reductions in
Medicaid spending. The Houses likely repeal vehicle rolls back the Medicaid expansion
provision that helps insure millions across the country. The provision is extremely
popular among many Republican governors who accepted the expansionsuch as
Nevadas Brian Sandoval and Ohios John Kasich. This provides an opportunity for
Democrats to spotlight another Trump broken promisesince he promised to protect
Medicaid during the campaignand utilize members of his own party, as well as those
who are harmed by the cuts such as those with family members in nursing homes, as
validators in making this criticism.

6. DO NOT LET TRUMP GET AWAY WITH DISTORTING REALITY ABOUT THE OBAMA
ECONOMY. Once again last night, Trump tried to claim that he inherited a mess and
once again, he pointed to indicators like the recent rise in the Dow to suggest his
election has marked an economic turnaround. The reality is, despite facing a historic
recession in 2009, President Obama has left Trump with one of the best economies in
decadesmarked by 4.7 unemployment, 75 months of consecutive job growth, rising
home values and consumer confidence, and even, in 2015, a record jump in income
growth for middle-class workers. Trump is starting his Presidency on third base and
acting like he hit a triple. If Democrats are ever going to disrupt voters perceptions of
Trump as good on the economy, we cannot allow him to claim the favorable trends he
inherited are the product of his own policies.

7. DO HOLD TRUMP ACCOUNTABLE FOR PUTTING INFRASTRUCTURE ON THE BACK
BURNER. During the campaign, Trump promised to massively invest in infrastructure as
one of his top job creation ideas. But while Trump briefly name-checked the idea
Tuesday night, media reports suggest the administration and Hill Republicans plan to
punt any action on it until next year, as they prioritize more controversial items like
Obamacare repeal and tax reform. Democrats should hold Trumps feet to the fire for
not prioritizing the issue and should resist all efforts to turn the any legislation into a
giveaway to the rich and corporations.

8. DO NOT LET TRUMP SEIZE CREDIT FOR JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS BY LIKES OF CARRIER
WITHOUT SHARING BLAME FOR CONTINUED LAYOFFS AND OUTSOURCING BY OTHER
COMPANIES. In his speech Tuesday, Trump rattled off a list of companies that he claims
have made decisions to reinvest in America following his election. Fact checkers have
unpacked how many of these jobs claims are exaggerated or were planned prior to
Trumps election; Democrats should promote the truth about these job announcements
 in order to blunt Trumps attempts to take credit. But in general, if Trump wants voters
to associate him with corporate jobs announcements when the news is good,
Democrats should make him own the downside, too. For every Carrier that announces it
will keep some jobs in the United States, other companieslike Rexnord, Caterpillar,
and Nucorare quietly proceeding with plans to outsource jobs to Mexico. Democrats
should work to give these stories added attention, and force Trump to answer for them.

9. DO EMPHASIZE HOW TRUMP IS BREAKING HIS PROMISE TO PUT PEOPLE FIRST, AND
INSTEAD LOOKING OUT FOR BIG CORPORATIONS WITH DEREGULATION AND TAX
CUTS. Trumps heavy focus Tuesday night on removing vital protections for American
families and allowing big business to run amok is out of step with what swing voters
believe will actually help improve their lives. Among Trumps early executive actions was
a fiduciary rule rollback that sides with stock brokers over the working Americans whose
retirement savings they manage. The more Trump dwells on these priorities going
forward, the easier it will be for Democrats to argue to middle-class voters that Trumps
focus is on powerful, corporate interests, not them.

10. DO NOT FOCUS ON HOW TRUMPS BUSINESS CONFLICTS PERSONALLY ENRICH HIM;
INSTEAD, POINT TO HOW IT MAKES AN ALREADY RIGGED SYSTEM WORSE. Trumps
remarks Tuesday that he had made good on his promise to drain the swamp in
Washington prompted laughter in the House chamber. Voters are aware that Trump has
refused to divest his holdings or release his tax returns, but to make this issue resonate,
it is important to convey its impact on real people and Trumps decision-making in the
Oval Office. Decrying how foreign governments patronizing Trumps hotels further
enriches him is not sufficient to spur outrage. Better instead to call attention to how it is
clouding Trumps judgement and further rigging the system they believe is already
working against their interests. In Global Strategy Groups January survey of swing
voters, 62 percent said they were most concerned about Trumps conflicts of interest
because they thought it make an already corrupt system even worse.