Republican Strategists, Remember Harry and Louise

Back in the 90’s, Harry and Louise destroyed Hillarycare, the Democrats’ plan for universal healthcare. Harry and Louise were characters in an ad campaign.

They were effective and moved the needle. Some enterprising Republican strategist should consider trotting out their own Harry and Louise to deal with the Trump phenomenon — a transplanted couple to Florida who voted for Trump twice and are now ready to move on.

Harry: Gosh this is frustrating. I love the guy. But how can he badmouth Florida?

Louise: My sister’s shop in New York went out of business because of Trump’s lockdowns and were it not for DeSantis ignoring Fauci here, we might be out of business.

Harry: I voted for the guy twice, but I just don’t think we can take the chance on his against Biden this time. I love him. But the rest of the country doesn’t.

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Louise: Harry, did you see President Trump last night? He back on the 2020 stuff.

Harry: Well, he’s right about it, but how is that helpful? Did he not see what happened in 2022? We’ve got to stop living in the past.

Louise: Harry, I don’t think we can take a chance on him. If 2020 was stolen with Trump in the White House, how can he keep Biden from doing it now with Biden in the White House?

Harry: Maybe it’s hopeless and no one can win.

Louise: But Harry, we need to try. We should give someone else without all the baggage a chance. We can’t give up, but we can find someone new.

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Harry: Did you hear that Tucker Carlson texted a friend about Trump’s presidency, “We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest. But come on. There really isn’t an upside to Trump.”

Louise: What? How could he say that?

Harry: We got tax cuts. We stopped Hillary. But we got Biden and Pelosi and Schumer too and they undid so much.

Louise: And if Trump runs again, he could only get another four years. Maybe we need someone who could get eight years. It’s going to take that long to undo the damage.

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Louise: Harry, I’m worried. We love Trump. All our friends love Trump. But I just know more and more people who don’t and won’t vote for him.

Harry: (sighs) I was at the barber shop yesterday and Frank said his wife will just not vote for Trump no matter what. He says she’s just exhausted by him. He’s kinda upset about it, but he understands.

Louise: Barbara, in small group, said she voted for him twice and she’s just so tired of it all. She hates Biden. She hates Trump. She’s just ready to not vote too.

Harry: Louise, we’ve got to get 2024 right and there are just too many Americans who are too turned off.

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These are the conversations so many people are having. They are not attacks on Trump, really. They are not attacks on his base. They are the conversations they are either having internally or not aware that others are having. They are the conversations of subtle persuasion into an echo chamber of doubt.

Essentially, someone needs to make the case that it is time to move on from Trump. Do it not in attacks but in the same conversations on TV that all of us are already having behind the scenes.

That was the genius of the Harry and Louise ads in the nineties. Everyone was already having the same conversations. It didn’t come across as an attack. It reinforced that you were not alone in having the same concerns and conversations.

Trump is going to have a hard time against Biden. The American people do not like him, even if most Republicans do. Everyone is having those conversations already. Bring them out into the open.