How to Help Clinton Win

I know several people - especially Bernie supporters - who are trying to figure out how they can help the Clinton campaign, in order to stave off a Trump presidency.

I'd strongly suggest against volunteering, contributing to, or otherwise joining up with her campaign. Clinton's been around for a while; people's opinions are fixed. Your support will only project Clinton's voice more prominently/widely, and that won't change many minds. It's not what's needed.

There's very little Clinton and her campaign can and will do to increase the odds of victory. All she can do is screw it up, which is why I won't send them a dime. What will help elect Clinton is if modern, articulate, and creative people work to expose Trump in fresh ways (e.g. not hollering "Donald Trump is a racist!" or any other self-evident statement which assumes your listener shares your values and aesthetics, in which case there's no reason to be hollering in the first place).

It's got to be done grassroots, ad-hoc, de-centralized, and one-on-one, addressing good people attracted to Trump due to foggy thinking or misdirected frustration. Also: urge people to register to vote, especially in states like New York which are normally so predictably partisan that majority voters get lazy. Remind everyone - again and again! - of the shock non-voting Brits felt the morning after that referendum.

If you see Hillary Clinton on television telling people what a pill Donald Trump is, and feel like she's really moving the needle and kickin' ass, then disregard my words. By all means, send her some money so she can "get her voice out there."

But if you agree that she and her campaign are far too tin-eared for this task (she's struggled in two consecutive elections which launched with sharp leads against weak-seeming opponents), then reject her stale juggernaut and do it yourself, in fresh ways that actually speak to people. Even if you're lousy at it, you're better than she is.