Apparently, people believe that Julia Stratton’s come from behind victory for the Illinois Democratic Senate nomination was at least somewhat based on that ad. Dan Pfeiffer asks whether that’s something that should be replicated in order campaigns:
I ask the question — Is Fuck Trump a good message for Democrats?
1. Desperately Seeking Attention
Attention is the mother’s milk of politics in 2026. Every politician needs it and it’s never been harder to get. The old formula for putting your face in front of voters was two-fold. First, get the news media to cover you. This was never easy, but it was possible. You make “news” by announcing a new policy, launching a new effort, or saying something interesting in front of a TV camera. In state and local campaigns, that meant talking to the local press. Unfortunately, the local press is a shell of its former self. There are fewer outlets, and many of the ones that still exist do not have the resources to cover politics the same way.
The second way to get attention was to buy it. Campaigns would spend millions of dollars to run ads during the television programs most watched by their target viewers. While they still spend millions, those ads reach far fewer people in a world where streaming video is the norm and large platforms like Netflix don’t allow political ads.
Stratton ran this ad because she needed attention. She needed something that went viral online, generated conversation, and ensured that people knew who she was and considered voting for her.
Getting attention often means courting controversy — saying and doing edgy things that will get people talking. To get attention, you also need to be willing to piss some people off. The algorithms that distribute political news value engagement. An angry comment is worth as much as a positive one.
Running an ad with a bunch of Illinoisans saying “Fuck Trump” will get people paying attention. Many more people saw the ad on social media or through news coverage than when it ran as a commercial.
Getting attention is important. How you use that attention once you have it is even more important.
2. Why This Ad Worked for Stratton
When the ad was first posted, there was a lot of agitation among Stratton supporters and other Democrats that she had gone too far. People worried the ad seemed too desperate and would elicit backlash.
I was less worried.
“Fuck Trump” is a clever way to capture the rage that Democratic voters have — not just at Trump, but also at Democratic leadership, the media, corporations, and everyone else they believe has failed to respond to the threat he poses.
There was little worry about backlash within the Democratic electorate about being too anti-Trump, even with the profanity. Stratton was running in a Democratic primary in Illinois, a state Kamala Harris won by 11 points in 2024. There is no serious Republican running. So even if the ad was too much for some Independents and disenchanted Republicans, it wouldn’t hurt her in the general election.
The part of the ad that worked for me — and this is the lesson for other Democrats — is that once Stratton had your attention, she used it to tell the viewer about her biography, her policy stances, and that popular Democratic politicians like Governor J.B. Pritzker and Senator Tammy Duckworth were backing her candidacy.
Unlike so much of the viral slop churned out by various political actors these days, Stratton’s ad is attention-getting with a purpose.
3. What About the Profanity?
Just a few years ago, the idea of a politician running an ad with the F word in it would have seemed insane. Politicians never swore in public, and certainly not in ads and videos.
This is one of the many things that have changed since Trump came down the escalator 11 years ago. Our political culture has coarsened, and perhaps more importantly, politicians can now communicate with voters in ways other than broadcast television networks regulated by the FCC and their profanity standards.
Politicians are swearing all the time now. They call “bullshit” and add a “fucking” for emphasis to their tweets and other posts.
Look, I have no problem with profanity. If you listen to Pod Save America, you may think I have a profanity problem, because I swear more than I should (apologies to those who listen to the podcast in the car or at home with their kids around). There are limits — notably, Stratton and Pritzker don’t actually say “Fuck Trump” in the ad (although Duckworth does).
Even so, the bigger issue is that too many politicians see profanity as a proxy for authenticity. Adding the F word to your focus-grouped statement doesn’t change how voters see you. It just makes you look even more like a phony.
4. Can You Be Too Anti-Trump?
There are very few fresh ideas in political ad-making, so it’s likely that a lot of ad makers will see the success of the “Fuck Trump” ad and try to come up with their own off-brand version.
The biggest question raised is whether there is a danger in being too anti-Trump.
In the 2026 Democratic primaries and the 2028 presidential primaries, you can see Democrats being incentivized to follow the same path Stratton did — with or without a primary. Turn the contest into a question of which Democrat is the most anti-Trump. The good news for Democrats in 2026 is that there are no contested primaries in most of the critical Senate races in the red states we need to win a majority. While anti-Trump sentiment crosses party lines these days, there are limits to the efficacy of a “Fuck Trump” message when you need to persuade a significant number of Trump voters to win.
With a midterm electorate in this political environment — and Trump’s poll numbers where they are — I’m not really worried about Democrats being too anti-Trump. This will differ based on the partisanship of the district and state, but I just don’t foresee an anti-anti-Trump backlash.
In 2028, a huge number of Democrats will be competing for attention and grassroots donations. Being vehemently anti-Trump is a great way to acquire both of those precious commodities. Gavin Newsom has used this exact strategy to jump to the top of the hypothetical 2028 polls.
That may be a great way to win the primary, but it may not be the most compelling message in the general election. I don’t say this because there will be some fondness in the electorate for Trump, or nostalgia for the Trump era, as it comes to an end. It’s more that I think voters are going to be bored and tired of Trump. He will be old news. They are going to be desperate to turn the page on the Trump era and will be looking for someone who has a vision for what comes next.
In summary, Fuck Trump is a fine message. There is no need to pearl-clutch about it — but it won’t be sufficient to build the governing majority we need.
There’s no reason you can’t do both. And if one of his henchmen like Vance or Rubio gets the nomination in 28, “fuck Trump and his little dog too” will be perfectly serviceable. The rage will not have abated. But yes, by then people are going to want to hear some good news about the future. But I would caution that part of that really needs to include accountability. If we let this go again it’s inevitable that it’s going to come back in full force whenever the Republicans gain some political power again, something I think is entirely possible if the Democrats fail to deal with what’s happened.
