Just in time for Thanksgiving 2025, the ACLU and Everytown for Gun Safety have released their dinner table talking points, for those fair-minded folks (i.e. Democrats) to use against their bull-headed relatives (i.e. Republicans) when the conversation, like the food, heats up.
First up is ACLU, which states that its goal this Thanksgiving is “countering misinformation”. To that end, it has sent around a “Holiday Conversation Guide“. The guide talks about Donald Trump‘s threats to free speech, including to TV hosts such as Jimmy Kimmel, and to student protesters. It also mentions Trump’s deployment of federal enforcement agents and military troops around the country. Then the ACLU’s guide provides some tips, such as “Emphasize the facts and shared values”. For example:
Protests against the Trump administration’s abuses and policies have been overwhelmingly peaceful. The First Amendment protects the right to organize and protest peacefully, and law enforcement can’t break up a gathering simply because a few people have broken the law.
ACLU also provides “toolkits” to get engaged and learn more about our rights. Among the items in the toolkits is the “ACLU Know Your Rights Handbook“, on sale for $10 at the ACLU Store online.
Next up is Everytown for Gun Safety, which presents its 2025 Thanksgiving talking points as a series of “gun myths” followed by facts. For example:
Myth
Criminals will always find a way to get their hands on a gun.
Fact
Laws like background checks stop gun sales to criminals every day. Since 1994, these laws have blocked more than 5 million gun sales to people who could not legally own guns.
Both of these sets of talking points are sincere and thoughtful efforts. I have made arguments like this many times. And knowing our rights is crucial. But the question becomes, are such holiday responses obsolete and maybe even naive? By now, many Americans have experienced years of Republican pig-headedness at Thanksgiving and other holiday meals. No doubt, a number of us have tried to fend off our MAGA relatives with facts, figures and arguments. I have shared such Thanksgiving talking point efforts (often from the DCCC) in years past. But we are talking about folks who not only are dead set in their ways, they now often believe in kooky conspiracy theories as well, from Pizzagate to Jade Helm 15 (remember that one?) to Jewish Space Lasers. Do we think a nice bar graph or statement about what the law is will get them to change their mind and punish Trump and the Republicans at the ballot box?
On the contrary, perhaps the best mind-changer for Republicans this year, and possible game-changer for the 2026 elections, is the unaffordability of Thanksgiving dinner itself, and that of so many other items at their grocery store and elsewhere.
[Originally published at MessagingMatters.com. Copyright 2025 Messaging Matters]
