“They’re going to convict him. They’re going to absolutely try to put him in prison if they can. So, if Trump wins the primary, what’s the plan?”
I wish someone had told me that over a year ago. Yes, they did. Over and over again. But we love to lie. In fact, lies are too often the objective of our political reindeer games.
“Trump is King” may get some clicks from our supporters, but it’s not going to get enough circles on the ballot on Election Day.
For example, many of us told ourselves we would never get here because we thought this was a legal process seeking a political outcome, when in fact it was a political process seeking a legal outcome from the beginning. This distinction is crucial, because if the latter were true, there would be a lot more weighing on the front end to give the impression of a legitimate public outcome on the back end. This was Thanos’ “mercy,” and it was inevitable.
So here we are, in June 2024, about five months until Election Day, and instead of promising to show us the greatest “tricks of the trade” of all time, Donald Trump is wasting time and precious resources attacking one of the top Republican congressmen, Bob Good, over petty, childish grievances, while most of Trump’s closest supporters actually support Good in Virginia.
I don’t understand that, and I don’t want to understand it. But what I’m trying to do is lay out a plan the Trump campaign needs to follow if they really want to win. And because I love my family and their future, I have to try.
Yes, I vote for Trump. I will never be a fanboy, for a variety of reasons. But I have likened him for years to a Samson-level figure. Samson judged Israel. Samson shoved the temple of Dagon, the fish demon worshipped by the Philistines, into the ground, and killed many of the enemy soldiers. Samson protected innocent lives. Of course, he’s not someone you’d want to marry your daughter with, but you can also appreciate him as a leader for most of his time in office (before he succumbed to the fraud boom).
Oh, and by the way, he doesn’t have dementia either.
But that’s me. And I fully understand that my way of thinking is often different from the average American who will decide whether or not this contest will be won. So how do we get our message across to them going forward? The idea that if the Deep State doesn’t stop their bullshit, people will get so upset that they’ll riot in the streets and there will be civil war is complete nonsense. Remember COVID-19, the lockdowns, the masks, and the vaccinations that gave our hearts a strange flutter? Average people, comfortably numb, just couldn’t get enough of it. See the problem?
Don’t just wander into the Little Bighorn and think you’re going to have a good time. Trump’s martyrdom is a message about the past that has already captured every voter it can get. Now we need to win the votes of those who are most concerned about the future — the same concerns that, whether we like it or not, decide every presidential election.
So, for those who will listen, here is my plan.
First, don’t get your hopes up about the June 27 debate, because if Joe Biden’s body becomes immune to the Adderall and other drugs coming from the White House pharmacy and he can no longer convincingly perform “Weekend with Bernie,” Biden cronies will cancel the debate and say there’s no need to debate a convicted felon.
Second, I expect Trump will be under at least some form of house arrest, which means his campaign will soon be fighting in the air and no longer able to reach large in-person audiences, which means he’ll continue to send martyrdom messages to his supporters because they respond and you’re making a ton of money.
But we need to turn around now and spend that money while advertising rates are cheap to ask ordinary people if they are better off than they were four years ago. Let’s talk about the issues. Because when elections are about issues, Republicans tend to win. And when elections are about people, Republicans tend to lose.
Can you afford a car? Can you afford a house? How many jobs are you working right now? Are you worried that your son will come home and demand that you call him Shirley? Trump really needs to reset the core of his MAGA message because more people now understand the need to Make America Great Again than they did in 2016.
Give people a message they are willing to buy, not just what you want to sell them. These are two very different messages. “Trump is king” may get you clicks, but it won’t get enough checks on the ballot on Election Day. Now is the time to take all the money raised from Trump-as-martyr slogans and fill the airwaves with messages of prosperity and freedom.
Finally, I expect the Supreme Court to rule on Trump’s immunity from lawsuits in Washington, DC, sometime between now and June 30th. To best position himself in this news cycle, Trump will need to be ready to announce his running mate soon.
That person would essentially be a surrogate candidate, the future face of the Republican Party, with all the public appearances that an incarcerated Trump cannot. He would have to be someone who could be president on day one. He would have to be someone who would get average voters to forget all the mean tweets that failed to get Trump on his side in 2020 and be willing to turn the page now.
But before this plan, or any plan, can succeed, we need to start taking the level of threat here seriously. We need to start believing in our own ontological claims.
