DJ Koessler: Losing the Information War Means Losing Our Democracy
By DJ Koessler
A breaking news alert flashed on my phone: Donald Trump had just fired senior FBI leadership over the agency’s investigations into his presidential campaign and political supporters.
Within minutes, my phone was blowing up with emails and Slack messages about how to respond. While the nation watched in shock, the progressive resistance sprung into action.
That was 2017. Donald Trump had just fired the FBI director, and an energized progressive movement wasted no time striking while the iron was hot. The Trump-Russia story is one of several case studies highlighting the strength of the progressive resistance to Trump 1.0.
As the digital director at Stand Up America, I had a front-row seat to this chapter in history. Stand Up America worked alongside a coalition of partners to effectively channel outrage into action to combat Trump’s authoritarian ambitions and counter his agenda. Mobilization and rapid response strategies lifted the voices of everyday Americans to shape narratives, pressure lawmakers, and hold the administration’s feet to the fire. These strategies helped deliver the blue wave in 2018 and Biden’s win in 2020.
2025 is a different story.
Weeks into the second Trump administration, with chaos engulfing the nation and Project 2025 taking effect, the Democratic Party is stuck in disarray, and the progressive movement is struggling to find its light.
It seems like progressives have never moved slower, yet the stakes have never been higher. We’re up against an emboldened president and political movement ruling with rage and retribution, and a robust right-wing media ecosystem making it more difficult for progressives to effectively communicate, organize, and win.
Resisting Trump 2.0 will require more than the mobilization strategies that many, including myself, deployed eight years ago, as important as they may be. And it will take more than new party leadership and a new message to defend our democracy and win in 2026 and 2028. After all, Democrats didn’t just lose the last election, we’re losing the information war.
The resistance to Trump 2.0 should be powered by a proliferation of progressive media projects designed to inform, persuade, and activate the American people. That means:
– A massive investment in media infrastructure, including social media platforms, national and local news outlets, and educational programs.
– A full-scale embrace of digital creators and independent journalists at the local, state, and national levels — including efforts to source and steward new talent.
– A pivot to year-round digital persuasion campaigns targeting voters with fact-based, progressive narratives — compelling and relentless.
The right-wing media ecosystem has become an unrivaled force, shaping public perception, framing the national narrative, and persuading millions of Americans to see crises where progress exists. Without a robust counterstrategy, Democrats risk permanent disadvantage in the battle for public opinion — and the future of our democracy.
The rise of right-wing media comes as trust in traditional media reaches all-time lows, according to Gallup, and Americans’ media diets continue to change.
Republicans spent the Biden years expanding outlets like Newsmax and OANN, empowering new voices on X/Twitter, reinforcing the reach of existing outlets like Fox News, and investing in platforms like Parler and Truth Social. Conservative influencers, podcasters, and YouTube personalities fuel grassroots fundraising and rival legacy media in audience size and impact. They’ve mastered algorithmic amplification, circumventing traditional gatekeepers, and cultivating a pipeline of talent to elevate MAGA narratives into mainstream discourse.
On the other hand, Democrats spent the Biden years much like the Democratic president himself: stuck in a bygone era of political communications. The Biden White House often ceded the briefing room to Fox News and relied too heavily on traditional news outlets. Hamstrung by party leaders, progressives recycled paid media strategies and slowly but surely embraced the creator economy.
Right-wing media not only whitewashed history and defined the Democratic opposition, it also manufactured a narrative of national decline, despite historic gains across key economic and social indicators. According to a Gallup poll released shortly before Election Day, 52% of Americans believed they were worse off than four years ago — a higher proportion than in the presidential election years of 1984, 1992, 2004, 2012, or 2020.
Since his re-election and inauguration, President Trump and his allies have fortified their media efforts. The CEO of X/Twitter is acting as a shadow president, and he CEOs of Google, Meta, and TikTok had a front-row seat on Inauguration Day. They’ve either changed their policies to better suit his interests or signaled their willingness to do so. Their platforms are flooded with influencers parroting right-wing ideology to younger audiences. And Trump’s government could oversee the sale of TikTok.
Traditional news outlets, long the watchdogs of American democracy, carry the scars of 2016 and — whether through access-driven journalism or false equivalence — remain susceptible to Trump’s ability to dictate the terms of coverage. The New York Times, NBC News, NPR, and Politico recently lost their offices at the Pentagon to conservative outlets, and changes could be coming to the White House Briefing Room, too.
The bully pulpit is once again a platform for disinformation and Steve Bannon’s strategy of “muzzle velocity,” a constant barrage of chaos and news designed to protect Trump’s political allies and overwhelm the press and the progressive movement. Donald Trump is the commander in chief of a militant media machine determined to win the information war and reshape American society. There is no formidable resistance to this White House if there is no serious effort to win the information war.
But here’s the good news: The progressive movement has the resources, the supporters, the talent and creativity, and the templates (e.g. Crooked Media, Courier Newsroom, etc.) needed to build a thriving media ecosystem. We have the capacity to deliver for our base and for people we need to persuade.. We can produce culturally relevant content that speaks to people’s lived experiences in every corner of this country. We can share critical information, capture imaginations, inspire action — and shape public opinion.
We just need Democratic power brokers, wealthy donors, and lawyers to reckon with the failures of the current system. We need them to understand that the urgency of this moment demands a reimagining of the progressive playbook and how to build lasting power. Because losing the information war doesn’t just mean losing the fights ahead — it could mean losing our democracy itself.
As Trump 2.0 gets underway, I’ve been thinking a lot about this old adage: Journalism is the first rough draft of history.But what happens when the first rough draft, as consumed by millions of Americans, is written by right-wing media?
Perhaps a convicted felon gets away with gutting the FBI and the Justice Department, and reshaping the U.S. government. Perhaps that convicted felon is hailed a hero by swaths of young Americans. Perhaps we see the progressive movement scrambling to find its footing even when the truth is squarely on our side.
Whatever history holds over the next four years, digital media will write the first rough draft.
DJ Koessler is the founder of Koessler Strategies, an alum of the Clinton 2016 and Buttigieg 2020 campaigns, and an advisor to political candidates, causes, companies, and cultural figures.
