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For the past decade, Democrats have brought policy papers to a knife fight. Somewhere along the way, the party of Roosevelt and Kennedy forgot how to inspire Americans, retreating into the false belief that if they just explained the plan one more time, voters would come home. But data shows that voters don’t want the kindest, smartest, or even most experienced person in the room. Leaders need to be perceived as dominant: strong, courageous, and patriotically obsessed with the promise of the United States. Trump understood this, throwing punches, wrapping himself in the flag, and upending the story of America. He projected dominance—and won.
Strength isn’t the opposite of goodness. It’s what goodness needs to survive.
M. Steven Fish has spent his career studying how strongmen seize power; Laila Aghaie is an expert in communication strategy. Knife Fight is their bold, no-holds-barred book that shows fed-up Democrats how to mobilize voters and inspire loyalty by telling the rousing, beautiful, and true story of what America is and can be. It is the playbook for taking back the country.
With sharp prose and cutting-edge data, Knife Fight identifies the three virtues that win—strength, courage, and patriotism—and lays out fifteen protocols to put them to work and concrete steps to build a winning narrative. Knife Fight is nothing less than Don’t Think of An Elephant for our times: a battle plan to restore the promise of our nation.
M. Steven Fish is a comparative political scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in democracy and authoritarianism. He has appeared as a commentator on the BBC, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera, CNN, CNA, and CNBC and has published commentary in The American Interest, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, CNN.com, and Foreign Policy. The co-author (with Laila M. Aghaie) of Knife Fight: How to Slay MAGA, Seize Our Flag, and Save Democracy, he lives in Berkeley, California.
Laila M. Aghaie is an education consultant specializing in the development of community forums, speaker events, writing programs, and arts curricula in collaboration with school districts, government agencies, and community-based organizations. The co-author (with M. Steven Fish) of Knife Fight: How to Slay MAGA, Seize Our Flag, and Save Democracy, she lives in Berkeley, California.