🧩 BND Motif Index · M394
Fighting the last war
A group keeps using tactics learned from the last conflict or campaign without realizing the battle or contest has changed and those tactics are no longer effective.
- 6claims filed under it
- 5left shows it came up on
- 1center show it came up on
⚠️ A story people tell, not a claim that it's true.
A motif is the shape of a story as its tellers tell it, named the way a folklorist names a tale type, so the same story told about other people, by the other side or in another year lands in the same place. Some of the claims below are true, many are false. Arguing against a story is often a story of its own, its answer (Voter fraud is answered by Voter suppression, Lawfare by No one is above the law), and we file it there; where no answer has a motif yet, the arguments against a story sit with its tellings.
🪜 Its family
what it rests on, what rests on it, and the motifs that answer it
🔗 goes with: 🧩 Out of touch
🎙️ Who it came up with
the shows we follow where its claims came up, by the show's lean
🫏 left 5
🎙️ David Pakman Show (podcast) 🎙️ Know Your Enemy 🎙️ The Bulwark Podcast 🎙️ The David Frum Show 🎙️ The MeidasTouch Podcast
⚖️ center 1
🐘 right 0
🦗 none of our right shows, so far
"Came up on" means one of its claims was heard on the show: told, reported or argued against. We don't yet mark which. Show leans are our own grouping of the shows we transcribe.
🧶 Its claims
what's been told in this shape, newest first, in our words, with where each was heard
- 2026-10-09 “Democrats want candidates who focus on democratic issues and economic populism, not just fighting Trump.” 🗳️ voters in The Focus Group
- 2026-10-07 “The Trump Defense Department is failing to adapt to new technological realities like drone warfare.”
🎙️ The David Frum Show 🎙️ The MeidasTouch Podcast - 2026-10-06 “Democrats lack a coherent alternative vision for the current era.”
🎙️ Know Your Enemy 🎙️ David Pakman Show (podcast) - 2026-10-05 “The Republican strategy of labeling Democrats as radicals or socialists is failing to resonate with voters.”
🎙️ The Bulwark Podcast 🎙️ WSJ What's News - 2026-08-22 “The Democratic strategy of focusing on Trump is outdated and ineffective.” 🗳️ voters in The Focus Group
- 2026-08-22 “Trump's victory shows he wasn't an aberration, so Democrats need fresh approaches.” 🗳️ voters in The Focus Group
M394 · first seen 2026-10-05 · last 2026-10-24 · what this is · how the index works