Parkland survivor David Hogg looked into the camera on national television and devastated the NRA with one question.
Video of David Hogg on ABC’s This Week:
.@davidhogg111 on #ThisWeek asked NRA members the one question that the NRA doesn't want them to think about. Does the NRA really speak for them? https://t.co/fZ04uDDoa0 pic.twitter.com/HNZjmuUW1O
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) February 25, 2018
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Hogg said, “It’s something where we’re going to have to look and look really hard into what the foundation of this country is and ask ourselves, is that what we’re actually are becoming? And to the members of the NRA, I want to say this, listen to Dana, is she really speaking to you guys, is she trying to fight for you guys, or is she actually trying to fight for the gun lobby? She seems — everything she was saying seems like spectacle. Is it just her tone, or is it what she’s actually saying?”
David Hogg questioned the NRA’s credibility to its own members
The NRA’s soft underbelly is a growing belief by gun owners that the organization doesn’t represent them. A 2017 poll as reported on by Politico found, “Sixty-seven percent of gun owners polled said they either strongly or somewhat agree that the NRA has shifted from an organization dedicated to gun safety to one ‘overtaken by lobbyists and the interests of gun manufacturers and lost its original purpose and mission.'”
The NRA spends massive amounts of money lobbying and media to project an image bigger than what they are. Gun owners are not all unified behind the NRA, and Hogg’s comments hit the organization right in its weak spot. The NRA is reeling. They can’t win a fight with children. Their usual tactics of distraction and stalling aren’t working. The NRA has come up against an opposition that is more technologically and social media savvy that understands messaging to the broader country outside of the conservative bubble better than they do.
The Parkland survivors may not win the fight quickly, but they aren’t going away, and David Hogg showed that they know how to hit the NRA where it hurts the most.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
