The Way to Stop Trump Ross Douthat 23 January 2016 New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/opinion/sunday/the-way-to-stop-trump.html?_r=0
Main Idea: “To attack [Trump] effectively, you have to go after the things that people like about him. You have to flip his brand.”
GOP race is over:
Bob Dole and Sarah Palin endorsements
Voting is “a mere technicality […] let the people have their fun”
If opposing candidate wishes to prevail, here’s an approach.
Trump has faced two main attacks.
1 – Unserious creep who’s temperamentally unsuited for the presidency.
2 – Not a real conservative: Lacks Reaganite faith & commitment to the right-wing catechism.
Attacks fail
Not offered all that often
Only by candidates in single digits.
New approach may succeed
Ex: Trump rival Chris Christie once presumptive Republican front-runner.
Christie’s appeal:
“He was a jerk, but he was your jerk.”
“He was rude — but to people who deserved it.”
“He was an S.O.B. — the S.O.B. the country needed.”
“Bridgegate” scandal upset image.
Not because petty political payback is the worst thing in the world.
Not because Christie wasn’t a “true conservative.”
It “flipped his brand.”
- Instead of jerk who looks out for avg. Joe, he became jerk who sticks it commuters
- Instead of tough guy fighting for you, he became tough guy screwing avg. Joe’s commute over “pointless little feud.”
Apply this model to inevitable nominee.
Calling Trump creep, jerk, self-promoter fails.
Voters prefer candidate with business exp + “middle-finger-first attitude”
To attack effectively, “flip his brand.”
Don’t discuss inability to differentiate Kurds and the Quds Force. (Voters can’t either)
Undercut “self-made genius” character on TV.
Point to money inherited from daddy.
Point to bailouts that saved him from ruin.
Point to his failed companies.
Locate people who suffered as a result
workers laid off following his bankruptcies
homeowners who bought through Trump Mortgage
people who ponied up for sham degrees from Trump University.
Visit Atlantic City
Don’t “get mired in philosophical arguments about big government and crony capitalism.”
Find people hurt by Trump’s attempts to exploit eminent domain
Widow whose boarding house he wanted to demolish to make room for limo parking lot
Small businessmen whose livelihoods he wanted to redevelop out of existence
Approach engenders subtle difference from precedent
Romney = numbers guy “caricatured as a cruel Scrooge.”
Trump appeal based on perception as successful salesman
Persuade people that he’s a con artist, and they’re his marks.