Ever heard any of the following and just froze up? 

• “I’m not racist…BUT I don’t understand why everything is about race these days. I don’t see color.” 

• “I’m fine with gay people, honestly. But I don’t get why they have to shove it in everyone’s faces all the time. Why isn’t there a Straight Pride month?”

• “My grandparents came here the right way. They followed the rules. Why do people who break the law get special treatment? What gives them the right to cut in line?” 

• “There are two genders. That’s basic biology. I’m not trying to be mean—I’m just saying, facts are facts.”

And you knew the other person was wrong, but you couldn’t figure out how to respond? 

This course will change that. Taught by an educational influencer and a former debate and public speaking coach, this class will introduce you to the fundamentals of political communication. We’ll teach you how to clearly articulate what you believe and why you believe it—without spiraling or second guessing yourself. We’ll also demystify political debates by breaking down the most common right-wing talking points and showing how they’re deployed across different issue areas. And, most critically, we’ll show you how to respond with clear, evidence based information that cuts through misleading “common sense.” 

We’ll teach this course according to two key premises. 

• First: There is a defined range of right-wing political arguments. Conservative talking points rely on a small set of logics that repeat across issues: personal responsibility, child protection, scarcity, moral deservingness, and distrust of institutions. Once you start to recognize these patterns, you no longer have to improvise under stress. And, critically, recognizing these logics makes it easier to respond with clear, evidence-based explanations that cut through violence that masquerades as “common sense.”

• Second: this isn’t debate club. Rather than stay focused on winning arguments, we’ll also teach you when to protect your energy and how to deescalate charged conversations. Progressive organizing spaces often encourage conversations with your communities about contemporary issues. However, there is little guidance about how to have those conversations and—critically—who it is worth having those conversations with. Your drunk uncle who gets off on triggering the libs, for instance? We can deescalate that and save Thanksgiving. Your daughter’s kindergarten teacher who is wavering on including books about racial injustice in her classroom’s library because she’s worried about political pushback? That’s your time to shine. 

During classes, we’ll simulate mock debates (if you want, you’ll have the chance to pretend to be someone’s drunk uncle), review common right-wing arguments, practice our responses, and discuss how one’s audience changes how persuasion operates. Each week, we’ll also provide you with a fact sheet with helpful arguments, statistics, and studies. You’ll leave with both communication skills and a political toolkit.

By the end of the class, you’ll create a small communication project—whether it be an op-ed for a local outlet, a script for a conversation, or an email to a school or local institution—that is ready to be used in the real world.

• For example, homelessness is framed as inevitable—as individual failure or economic constraint. In reality, housing people costs far less than managing homelessness through policing and emergency care. What sounds like fiscal realism is often ideological opposition to housing at all. Learning to identity moves like that–and name them clearly and calmly when they show up–is a core part of this class.