Tell a better story “The best arguments in the world won’t change a person’s mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story.” ― Richard Powers, The Overstory Actor Robert De Niro appeared Tuesday with retired Capitol Police officers Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone, Jan. 6 combat veterans, outside the Manhattan courthouse where closing arguments were underway in Donald Trump’s falsified business records trial. The Ink explains why the stunt was significant: When we spoke with writer and policy wonk Heather McGhee earlier this month, she pointed out that Democrats have a serious “meaning making” problem. Which is to say, Trump understands what Democratic leaders tend not to: that in today’s media environment and attention economy, an effective candidate needs not only to seek votes but also, crucially, to be an active, vigorous participant in the cultural process through which voters construct meaning. Voting is downstream; meaning making is upstream. Authoritarian leaders tend to be deft at working at both points of the river. And pro-democracy leaders are often at risk of earnestly seeking votes downstream and ignoring the sense-making part. A trial, for example, doesn’t explain itself, as obvious a situation as it may appear to be. A trial is a thousand fragments of reality. It needs to be arrayed into a story in people’s minds to gain meaning. That meaning could be “Donald Trump is relentlessly persecuted by the powerful elite because he fights for people like me,” or it could be “Donald Trump is a lifelong charlatan who…