To Defeat Trump, Don’t Focus on Trump
Wise advice from an unlikely source
I despise Frank Luntz, longtime Republican advisor to George W. Bush, and now a pollster/pundit. He’s a master at manipulating language. He’s the one who taught Republican politicians to replace “business owners” with “job creators,” to say “economic freedom” instead of “capitalism” and when Democrats talked about “raising taxes on the rich,” he instructed Republicans to say that it’s really about “government taking money from hardworking Americans.”
Luntz is right of course, about the power of specific words, the narratives they feed, and how this shapes our thoughts and motivations. As a communications expert myself, I respect his genius; he just employs his powers in service of the Dark Side of the Force.
In a recent CNN interview, however, Luntz offered some brilliant free advice to the Harris campaign:
…what’s interesting is that with Harris focused on why she should be elected president. That’s when the numbers grew. She’s had the best 60 days of any presidential candidate in modern history. And then the moment that she turned anti-Trump and focused onto him and said, don’t vote for me, vote against him, that’s when everything froze.
And the fact is Donald Trump is defined. He’s not gaining. He’s not losing. He is…
