The Trump negative-branding campaign is up and running.
Either-Or.
Trump is not running on his record. Forget the approval/disapproval polls.
Trump is running a comparison campaign. Voters may dislike Trump, but by election day we will dislike the Democrat--any Democrat--even more.
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| Branded |
This is a preview of what is to come.
People make unpleasant choices all the time. We gargle with Listerine because we think it will kill germs. We pay the road toll to avoid congestion. We deny ourselves dessert so we won't gain weight. Trump's goal is to make the Democrat an unacceptable alternative to Trump.
On Immigration: President Trump or A MS-13 Loving Democrat
On Protecting America: President Trump or A Corrupt Democrat
On the Economy: President Trump or A Radical Socialist Democrat
On Honesty: President Trump or A Shady Democrat
The poll goes on with Democratic labels:
A High Tax Democrat,
A Delusional one,
A Sanctimonious one,
An Un-American one,
A Wacky one,
A Sleazy one,
A Lyin' one,
A Low-Energy one,
A Low-IQ one,
A Radical Socialist one.
Trump does a schoolbook example of "begging the question." He assumes as proven the point in contention. It works. By election day 2016 it was a choice between Crooked Hillary and the Trump Mystery Box, and the swing voters chose the new guy.
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| Click to see the poll |
Takeaway:
Biden, Sanders, and possibly Warren have national brands which give them some protection from counter-branding by Trump.
Biden has the familiar nice guy moderate brand. Trump can call him Sleepy and Crazy, but we already have a sense of Joe Biden, and Trump's labeling him as too old may not work. We may decide he still has tread on his tires.
Sanders has the fearless, adamant, left-wing opponent of corporate elites brand. Trump can call him a Radical Socialist but by now Bernie seems more like a spokesman for the New Deal than for communism.That question is being decided now: is Bernie a Socialist like FDR or a Socialist like Joseph Stalin?
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| Trump effort to brand Bernie |
The other seven people on the debate stage on Thursday will be labeled by Trump at least as fast as they can brand themselves.
By November, 2020, the election will not be on whether we approve of Trump. It won't be between Trump versus a sane and reasonable alternative. It will be between Trump and a corrupt, wacky, lying, un-American high-tax socialist.
That is already well in the works.
4 comments:
Trump's savant genius is to make things very simple. People do not want complex answers to complex problems; they want simple answers, and promised certainty. An election is simplicity itself: Choose one or the other. For many, Trump is simplifying that choice and many are happy to have it.
Peter, spot on analysis, IMHO. An observation: has anyone figured out that a corporation is, at least by dictionary definition, a socialist organization? Individuals in the group are marked by the overriding similarity that they are each invested in the collective well-being of their enterprise. As shareholders they invest in their collective enterprise with their dollars and therefore participate in the collective ownership of the business. They are essentially socialists who participate in market capitalism.
Andy Seles
Excellent comment about the Simple Genius. I think this especially applies to his older, Faux News loving supporters who long for "the good old days." I don't think this is ageist. I think it is about nostalgia and *some* older Americans being overwhelmed by life in the 21st century. They remember when whites had all the power, mom stayed home, etc. Same goes for his traditional, white evangelical base.
I don’t disagree — except that I suspect that most of those not already stuck on him will be “less” open to that than in 2016. And I also suspect a couple others in the race will be able to shrug off the labels in a way that will defuse them. Obviously I don’t have evidence for those thoughts. Maybe just wishful thinking.
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