This Column Explains Why People Who Know How Bad Trump Is Are Still Going To Vote For Him
It’s the difference between how terrific is the thing you’re going to get vs. how terrible is the person who’s going to give it to you
By David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website)
It’s The Headline, Not The Story
Here is where smart people go wrong about politics: They think everybody cares about the same things that smart people care about — plans, details, explanations and comprehensive policies. But they’re wrong.
Millions of presidential votes are based on what the person thinks a presidential candidate is going to do for them which, in turn, is based on the candidate’s slogan and message, not his/her character.
For these people, everything else is just blah, blah, blah that they don’t have the time, energy or intellect to deal with.
Millions of voters barely understand the headline. They don’t even read, leastwise understand, the story.
Trump’s Slogan & Message
Every politician tells voters what s/he’s going to do for them through their slogan, their message and their plan. If the politician gets the slogan and the message right, the plan doesn’t much matter.
Trump has done a great job with his slogan and his message
Trump’s Slogan: Make America Great Again
Trump’s Message: Democrats hate America. Democrats are destroying America. I will immediately stop them and I will quickly make America Great Again.
Trump’s Plan: I will use the national guard to round up illegals and immediately deport them and I will arrest the bad Democrats
Trump’s slogan says to them, “Yes, I agree with you that the country is not operating the way it should, that your life is not going the way it should, and I will fix that.”
Trump’s message says, “I have a simple, quick, and easy remedy for everything that is going wrong. Just vote for me and I will fix it all immediately. I will give a bunch of orders to the paper pushers, sign a few documents, and everything will be perfect again just the way you want it.”
If you’re not making as much money as you think you should, if you’re afraid you’re going to lose your job, if you think immigrants and criminals and lazy bums who want a free ride on your taxes are everywhere, if you think prices are too high, if you think that America isn’t running the world the way it should, then that message sounds great to you.
For Many People Elections Are Transactional
Lots of people, many of them simple-minded people, apathetic people, dumb people, and lazy people, see elections as transactional. They give the politician their vote and in return s/he promises to give them some legislation/policy/benefit they want.
For them, the politician is merely a mechanism for getting what they want out of the government.
Harris keeps telling voters how bad Trump is and they keep telling her, “We don’t care how bad he is as long as he is going to give us what we want.”
Lots of people know how truly horrible Trump is, but they will still vote for him because they like what his message promises that he will do for them. His character is disconnected from his promised performance.
They believe: I just need to mark one little piece of paper and this guy will fix everything. Easy peasy. Sure, he’s a liar, a demagogue and a crook, but sometimes it takes a real prick to get a tough job done.
Put differently, it doesn’t matter to the board of directors how much of a prick their CEO is so long as he promises to deliver big-time profits by the end of the fiscal year. Character does NOT matter.
It’s All About The Result
Look, you’re dying of cancer. Your doctor has told you that maybe, maybe you will survive if you undergo a long and painful series of treatments. Then some other doctor who you know is a lying jerk comes along and promises you that he can cure you with a simple pill.
Sure, your current doctor seems like decent enough person, and this new doctor looks and acts like a real asshole, but toxic drugs and radiation on the one hand and a few pills on the other? It’s no contest.
Of course (if you’re stupid) you’re going to run down to Mexico, give Dr. Prick all your money and take his magic pills.
These Trump-leaning voters don’t like lots of things about how their lives are going. They want to have a simple reason why things aren’t going the way they think they should. They want a simple, easy plan that will turn everything around.
And that’s what Trump is offering them:
- (1) A clear villain;
- (2) a simple explanation of who’s responsible; and
- (3) an easy solution.
Magic pills. Of course they’re willing to close their eyes to what a horrible human being he is. Who he is doesn’t matter to them. What he’s going to do for them is what counts.
Harris’ Slogan & Message
To get these voters on her side, Harris will have to come up with a message that is at least as attractive as Trump’s.
What is the nice Ms. Harris offering these voters?
Harris’s Slogan: We’re Not Going Back
Harris’s Message: I will help the middle class
Harris’s Plan: I will give tax breaks to new parents and new small businesses
The Trump-leaning voter says, “What does ‘We won’t go back?’ mean for me? How exactly is that going to make the country better or make my life better? How is that going to fix everything that seems to me to be wrong?”
The Trump-leaning voter says, “‘I’m going to help the middle class’ is not a bad thing. I’d like to see that happen, but is that as attractive to me as stopping the bad people who are wrecking the country and fixing everything that has gone wrong?”
There is no contest here. Harris’ slogan and message do not even come close to being attractive enough to lure the transactional, simple-minded people, apathetic people, dumb people, and lazy people away from Trump.
In order to get the votes of the simple-minded people, apathetic people, dumb people, and lazy people Harris needs a slogan and a message that will resonate with them at least as powerfully as Trump’s, powerful enough to motivate the simple-minded transactional voters to switch sides. How about this:
Slogan: No to Wall Street, Yes to Main Street
Message: Billionaires, mega corporations, investment banks and hedge funds are keeping you poor to make themselves rich. I will force them to lower prices, increase wages and pay the taxes that they have forced onto you.
Details Are A Distraction
Trump has proven that you don’t need realistic, workable plans. All you need is a simple, attractive message, a concept. Details are for the eggheads to work out later.
The transactional voters go for an attractive strategy. Once elected, the candidate’s staff will work out the tactics.
Trump has a strategy — Get rid of the immigrants, the Democrats who enable them, and the rest of the bad guys who are whomever you think they are.
Harris needs a strategy — Reverse Wall Street’s impoverishment of the middle class?
Infinitely better than, “I want to help the middle class.”
One thing is sure: hating Donald Trump will not cause millions and millions of people to vote against him.
Harris needs to give the voters who hate Trump a message that’s so powerful that it makes them vote for her.
— David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website)
