Communicating in an Anti-Conservative World

by Lil Tuttle

Washington Times columnist Mercedes Schlapp discussed effective communication in a world of feminist name-calling, hyper-partisanship, and President Trump – among many other things – at the April Conservative Women’s Network luncheon.

A first generation Cuban-American, Mercedes (or Mercy, as she is known to her friends) said her parents, who fled Fidel Castro’s Cuba, inspired in her a love for the conservative values of faith, family, freedom and America from a very young age. She grew up with a clear understanding of the need to protect freedom and democracy in the United States and elsewhere.

Mercedes told the audience she gained insight into effective communications early in her career through debate appearances on the PBS show, “To the Contrary.” We need to understand our conservative positions well, she said, but we also need to understand where liberals are in order to develop logical arguments to persuade them to our side.

Feminists, she noted, claims to speak for all women and try to dictate what womanhood means. But if challenged, liberals turn into a sort of ‘Mean Girls Club’, calling women names and tearing them down.  What sane woman wants to be labeled “nasty”?  It’s not a persuasive way to draw women.

Mercedes served as the Director of Specialty Media for President George W. Bush in the White House, and she has appeared in a variety of print, radio and television media venues, including Univision and Telemundo. She is currently a FOX News Contributor, and the co-host, with her husband ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp, of a weekly radio show CPAC 365 on Sirius XM Patriot radio.

Her presentation at the April 2017 Conservative Women’s Network luncheon, which is co-sponsored by CBLPI and The Heritage Foundation, covered a variety of current issues, from campus ‘safe space’ vs. Freedom of speech issue to President Trump, his Cabinet, his policies, and the world environment that he faces.

You can view her full remarks in the video below: