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If Trump Wins, It Won’t Be Because Of His Insults
By Geoff Blades
A top headline said, “Trump plans to insult his way to victory over Clinton.” While it is true that Donald Trump is a skilled insulter, in believing that he crushed sixteen of his GOP rivals by slapping a few labels on them, many observers fail to see the true source of his winning.
In the debate in Nevada last December, Jeb Bush said to Trump, “You’re never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency.”
Trump replied, “Well, let’s see, I’m at 42 (percent) and you’re at 3 (percent), so so far I’m doing better.” In thinking that Trump was insulting his way to the presidency, Bush failed to see how Trump was thumping him, and those who make the same mistake will keep missing Trump’s real threat to Hillary.
It is of course true that Trump is already insulting with his favorite phrase, “Crooked Hillary,” but that’s only a small part of Trump’s winning playbook, and the way that he plans to beat Hillary.
And, the truth is, like tuning into a chess match that is already half way through, most of the game has already been played, and Trumps has already made most of his winning moves. Here’s five of his most crucial ones:
1. Trump’s insults are the rifle shot:
Trump insults his rivals as a way to easily disarm their attacks on him, as well as to destroy their campaigns. Consider that by labeling Ted Cruz, “Lyin’ Ted,” no matter what Cruz would throw at Trump, including legitimate accusations, Trump simply redirected to his form of character assassination. An example being lines like, “No, no. You’re the liar. You’re the lying guy up here.”
It’s a savvy move that Trump uses exceptionally well, but his insults are merely the smoking gun in his winning campaign.
2. His campaign isn’t about his rivals:
Every time a politician focuses on attacking their rival, they fail to keep driving their own messaging.
A reason that Donald upstaged all of his rivals in the debates was that, prompted or unprompted, they kept focusing attention on him. This handed Trump what he most desperately sought: More airtime and the most potent weapon of his campaign: the mic.
Of course, with mic in hand, Donald cleverly insulted a number of his rivals out of the race, but they’ve never been the target of his winning campaign.
3. Trump targets voters:
In a boxing match, the winner is the fighter who successfully beats down their opponent, but in an election, the winner is chosen by the voters.
While one way Trump beat Jeb Bush was having voters associate him as “Low Energy,” Trump’s hasn’t built his campaign on beating down his rivals, but by offering voters a more compelling vision and message.
Trump, by far, developed the best messaging of any candidate, and won the nomination by bringing millions of voters along with his campaign.
4. It’s about America:
Whereas Jeb Bush was running based on his name, exclamation point included, and Hillary is running as a woman, Barack Obama took over the country running on a platform of “Hope,” “Change,” and “Yes we can.”
Trump has done the same. Despite having a powerful brand and personality, perhaps ironically, Trump’s campaign has never been about him, but about his rally cry to “Make America great again.”
While a number of his rivals have stood for themselves or “not Trump,” Donald stands for America, and, of course…
5. How we can be great again:
Of the many lessons to be gleaned from Barack Obama’s masterful 2008 campaign, perhaps the greatest lesson is the way in which he moved voters with his optimistic vision for the country.
Optimism sells. And beyond Trump’s attention-grabbing insults and controversial comments that he has used to masterfully hog the spotlight, Trump has built his movement the same way.
I’m told that Jeb Bush still believes that Donald thrashed him with his school yard taunting, and by failing to see that he lost because he entered the race without an optimistic vision and powerful messaging, we all fail to learn the lesson.
If Trump wins, it won’t be through insults, but because he has offered American’s something they desperately want more: A leader who can make us great again.
Geoff Blades is the author of the new book, “The Trump Presidential Playbook”. A former investment banker at Goldman Sachs and investor at the Carlyle Group, Geoff Blades is an advisor to CEOs and other leaders on all topics related to winning and getting what they want. For more information, www.geoffblades.com.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Patrik Nygren/Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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At Least Eight Women Elected To Public Office In Historic Saudi Arabian Election
Saudi Arabian women have taken another large leap forward in their path to greater equality with at least eight female candidates winning seats in Saturday’s local council elections, according to regional media. The vote marks the first time both men and women could cast their ballot in Saudi Arabia. Counting is still taking place so the… Read More
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Donald Trump, Your Idea For People To Come To Clubs With Guns Is The Dumbest Damn Thing Ever
By Nate Nkumbu
On early Sunday morning at 2 a.m., the deadliest mass shooting in American history and the deadliest attack on the LGBT community in decades happened at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. 49 people were killed and 53 others were injured.
Current presidential candidate Donald Trump said to CNN that If some people in the club had some guns, this would of never happened.
What?
As a person that has gone out with large groups of people, the last thing that you want to do is bring a gun into a club or an event.
This isn’t exactly rocket science.
Club are supposed to be places of enjoyment, where one goes to relax and have fun.
Not everybody is going to be thinking in the right state of mind.
Alcohol, drugs, hormones, etc.
Adding guns into that equation is recipe for disaster waiting to happen.
What could go wrong? Photo Credit: njaminjami/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
Clubs by nature are going to tightly pack places with bodies next to another. Often conflict will happen because of some perceived slight such as stepping on someone’s shoes, grabbing or dancing with the wrong person.
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Now add several guns into the picture.
That same situation occurs and next thing you know, you’re waking up in a hospital gown with a few bullets logged in you and your name and face on local news.
Pro-gun rights organisations like the National Rifle Association (NRA) will argue that arming the “good guys” will help to save lives in a mass shooting, but a study done by Mother Jones found that in 62 cases of mass shootings prior to the Sandy Hook shootings in 2012, none were stopped by the “good guys”.
The study even went as far as saying “Attempts by armed citizens to stop shooters are rare. At least two such attempts in recent years ended badly, with the would-be good guys gravely wounded or killed,”
All of that exist even with laws making it easier for people to carry firearms in public places and the largest influx of guns in the marketplace.
What happened in Orlando is indeed sad and has continued a heated debate about gun control, LGBT rights and terrorism.
But with the call to arm our citizens to protect themselves coming from multiple sources, I think adding guns to already over saturated market full of them and handing them out without discretion doesn’t fix the problem.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Ted Van Pelt/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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