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.
There is nothing new under the sun. Something adolescents don't understand is they are not feeling or thinking anything that every adult for the last 5000 years has not felt or thought when they were the same age.
It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.
Seneca c 4 BC-AD 65
There is no such thing as an original thought, it is only a question of who acts on it first.
I hear these discussions, I have them out loud. Trump is the lightning rod, he is the context, but Biden is the unspoken other side of the coin. I want to vote for a candidate, not against a candidate.
I think this is a solid strategy. Attacking Trump" is a polarizing approach and is divisive for conservatives. Trump on his poor day is so much more desirable than Biden that the last thing we need to do is bash Trump. Erick's outline makes sense to me but I would add two more things. Regardless of party affiliation, the US deserves leaders that are not 80 years old! Even in good health (Trump, maybe?) isn't good but when they can't even work every day or need 16 weeks of vacation a year, it is a national security concern! Secondly, the last Republican president showed what America First, leading from the front and effective international presence looks like. We need another Republican that can produce those same type of results and have the health and energy to do it with professionalism, respect and integrity to lead us forward.
Saw some of DeSantis’ trip to Japan. Really? I like the guy and think he’s doing a good job in FL. But he seemed totally out of sorts in Japan. Like a deer in headlights. Given what is happening in Eurasia, he’s totally not right for this. Hate to say this, but there are bigger issues than the GOP establishment getting rid of Trump. Trump can go head to head with Putin and Xi. The GOP needs to put ego aside and get behind Trump and tell a better story. We’re on the brink of a third world war!
The only remedy to establishment Republican hand-wringing over Trump is to put forth a better candidate. Otherwise establishment Republicans are doing the work of Democrats to defeat their opposition.
Where is that better candidate? DeSantis is apparently attractive to some establishment Republicans. But like Trump he is being shredded by the corporate media Democrat political spin machine (aka, the mainstream media)... and some of the same establishment Republicans influenced by their media feeds have tuned on him too... or will do so before the election.
There is no upside for Republicans to attack Trump as a strategy to help Republicans. Where are the alternatives with a stated platform that everyone can get behind? Until and unless that materializes, Republicans that participate in negative branding of Trump are no better than Democrats doing the same.
You are not giving any other candidate a chance. DeSantis is not even a candidate. What about Haley, Pence?
This is not an attack on Trump. Saying you don't like something is not attacking it. I don't like strawberry ice cream, it's ok if you do. But if you don't, you're not alone. If you like chocolate more it is ok to not be pressured into strawberry.
Maybe Trump beats Biden. When I was a kid I would eat brussel sprouts soaked in vinegar, but I would eat carrots raw.
I want to vote for a candidate, not against a candidate.
This is essentially a very similar conversation that my wife and I had with our best friends that were visiting from FL. Trump did some outstanding things during his term in office while fighting off the progressive news media and all those connected to the deep state. However, he can't let it go. He's attacking Republican's rather than Biden. The constant smart ass remarks and tweets are stale. I voted for him twice, I won't vote for him again no matter the circumstances. Trump also cost us the Senatorial elections in 2020 and 2022. My feeling is that Trump was the reason we lost what was supposed to be the Red Wave last November by him announcing that he was going to run for President again in 2024 causing the swing voter, Democrat or Republican, said Heck No!!
The only way Trump can win is if the economy is in the crapper and it effects are strong and deep almost a depression I for one don’t want that if that happens my wife might consider voting for Trump other wise she won’t vote period
This was an effective post. Much of Trump's recent comments do not bode well for 2024. From my perspective, everything will go according to a plan. Yet "we the people" must exercise our responsibilities. In my past, I have not hired people who demonstrated real talent or experience because the simply had "too much baggage" which would negatively impact the company or their long-term ability to do the job. Trump had good policies--this is a past-tense statement. Those "most Republicans" who want and like Trump are those "most" who were polled. Statistical analysis will need to change to reflect reality. Sampling criteria must also change. Look at Biden today. He wasn't much different in 2020, only those perceived weaknesses are now worse. Conservatives must quit making excuses for those who they like. We must accept what is being presented. This is true for Biden; it's more "true" for Trump. No "yeah buts," no "they're out to get hims." Anytime your enemy likes your choice you are in a world of hurt and disappointment ....
This is exactly what must happen. Trump does not understand that he really doesn't have as solid of a a base of support as he thinks. He does not understand just how many people were holding their nose and voting for him because the alternative was such a start contrast in 2016. Then less stark as time has gone by.
After the fact people wondered what we were going to get and were very pleasantly surprised with the results. Probably more shocked in fact. Happy with what came in policies and unhappy with the Swamp Republican Failure-Caucus and sidelined grifter class obstruction that prevented making the most of those first two years. Those failures plus Trump's inner demons becoming unleashed in frustration, led to the rising of the Pelosi impeachment brigades being unleashed on the country.
Not to mention the embarrassment of the expert, academic class as every prediction of doom and nuclear war in response to their advice going unheeded, and then the policy succeeding. Its the whole Jim Kramer phenomenon. Listen to the advice, do the opposite, then come out further ahead. The swamp and others in the expert class could not allow that to stand nor have they.
Trump response was just to be more petulant. More combative. More woe is me. Hee Haw Trump sitting w/ Grandpa Joe on the porch singing, "Gloom, despair, and agony on me..."
Only it wasn't just him. That pox was unleashed on the country. Trump lost to a dementia addled house plant who didn't campaign. Just said I'm not Trump. Then two years of abject disaster and 2022 came around. Looked like houses should have been cleaned and come back to sanity. But the petulant continued to scream about how they were being treated unfairly. Trump comes out as Don Quixote with a legion of Sancho Panza sidekick candidates. Other consultant class characters play along with and exploit the Don's madness and suck up his money, but Sancho often lives in and adores the madness, getting caught up in it. Up rises Kari Lake and her compatriots enraptured by the madness who follow suit in losing to houseplants of their own (Fetterman, Hobbs, et al).
So here we are now. The Don wants to climb back onto his horse surrounded by the grifters who have no problem losing so long as they get paid. They will be fine to weather this storm that is intensifying. They have their money and are part of the expert, credentialed class who can be tolerated and allowed to sit on the back bench.
It is time for the common sense class of people who get things done to kick them all to the curb.
Your last two lines: "Everyone is having those conversations already. Bring them out into the open." Which is exactly why I suggest we not make it an "us against them" conversation.
Well scripted, but I think you are missing the real point. This is not about Trump, but all about Brandon.
With Brandon in the bunker, it’s unlikely his handlers will let him say or do anything that demonstrates his dementia on the global stage.
With the press complicit we shouldn’t look for them to suddenly get religion and report the obvious.
At this point, even if he were comatose (echoes of Woodrow Wilson), they would use newly created video using AI to fight the campaign. YEP, I believe AI will play a prominent part of Brandon’s campaign.
We do need a Thelma & Louise moment, or a Clara Peller “where’s the Beef” parody that voters talk about at the water cooler. We need something to go viral and force POTUS to stand and present himself on the internet stage where most voters now live.
Ok, I'm having trouble keeping up now. In the last two weeks, Erick has told us Trump is 1) irreligious, 2) evil-rich, 3) mentally incapacitated, 4) a criminal (yesterday), and now 5) unaccomplished and unelectable (today), in that order. To that Ill add that Trump is 6) self-aggrandizing, 7) combative and 8) petulant and immature. And yet, at this moment, despite all of that and more, in the polling Trump is far and away the national and Georgia state front runner - among all candidates right and left - for President of the United States in 2024. Erick, is there anything at all that you can think of that could possibly explain such a phenomenon?! And how is it that no one is listening to our constant criticism of Trump? Could there be a much deeper explanation? Something we are missing, or refuse to accept, or refuse to address? Is there a 400 lb. gorilla in the corner that we are ignoring? Could it have nothing to do with Trump? Could it have to do with the Republican Party itself? I don't know. Think about it ...
9) Ran the country well. So well that many people could overlook his shortcomings.
Isn't that how politics works? Some egomaniac runs for president, has all sorts of personality faults, but runs X in such a way that enough people vote for the person again.
It is like most things: if you win/succeed/entertain, people will overlook your faults until you don't win/succeed/entertain.
I think covid combined with endless social medial rambling did Trump in.
Really, I think his endless social media rambling did him in, but covid didn't help.
Just make certain that the guy who gets eight years truly has "undoing the damage" as his or her goal. "Won't get fooled again", to quote a line from The Who.
I agree. Just like your fictional characters I tell my friends that I loved Trump’s policies, and gravitas’s. He fought for America. That said, I know if he gets the nomination he will lose. There are too many votes that will go against him or left on the table. Please please let’s not nominate him, our country cannot take Biden/Harris for another bitter dose of a second term.
This is Excellent. Watching Laura Ingraham last night with Newt Ginrich(whom I am not really a fan) talk about this and how the Republicans basically use the same campaign strategies from 20 years ago because the consultants find it easy and they make a ton of money. They really don’t care about winning. I have to agree with that. Every ad I have seen from the Republicans in the last few election cycles is about how Republicans are not them and the Democrats are socialists. There has to be a better message but I presume they don’t want to have to think about, just line their pockets.
There is nothing new under the sun. Something adolescents don't understand is they are not feeling or thinking anything that every adult for the last 5000 years has not felt or thought when they were the same age.
It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.
Seneca c 4 BC-AD 65
There is no such thing as an original thought, it is only a question of who acts on it first.
I hear these discussions, I have them out loud. Trump is the lightning rod, he is the context, but Biden is the unspoken other side of the coin. I want to vote for a candidate, not against a candidate.
I think this is a solid strategy. Attacking Trump" is a polarizing approach and is divisive for conservatives. Trump on his poor day is so much more desirable than Biden that the last thing we need to do is bash Trump. Erick's outline makes sense to me but I would add two more things. Regardless of party affiliation, the US deserves leaders that are not 80 years old! Even in good health (Trump, maybe?) isn't good but when they can't even work every day or need 16 weeks of vacation a year, it is a national security concern! Secondly, the last Republican president showed what America First, leading from the front and effective international presence looks like. We need another Republican that can produce those same type of results and have the health and energy to do it with professionalism, respect and integrity to lead us forward.
Saw some of DeSantis’ trip to Japan. Really? I like the guy and think he’s doing a good job in FL. But he seemed totally out of sorts in Japan. Like a deer in headlights. Given what is happening in Eurasia, he’s totally not right for this. Hate to say this, but there are bigger issues than the GOP establishment getting rid of Trump. Trump can go head to head with Putin and Xi. The GOP needs to put ego aside and get behind Trump and tell a better story. We’re on the brink of a third world war!
The only remedy to establishment Republican hand-wringing over Trump is to put forth a better candidate. Otherwise establishment Republicans are doing the work of Democrats to defeat their opposition.
Where is that better candidate? DeSantis is apparently attractive to some establishment Republicans. But like Trump he is being shredded by the corporate media Democrat political spin machine (aka, the mainstream media)... and some of the same establishment Republicans influenced by their media feeds have tuned on him too... or will do so before the election.
There is no upside for Republicans to attack Trump as a strategy to help Republicans. Where are the alternatives with a stated platform that everyone can get behind? Until and unless that materializes, Republicans that participate in negative branding of Trump are no better than Democrats doing the same.
You are not giving any other candidate a chance. DeSantis is not even a candidate. What about Haley, Pence?
This is not an attack on Trump. Saying you don't like something is not attacking it. I don't like strawberry ice cream, it's ok if you do. But if you don't, you're not alone. If you like chocolate more it is ok to not be pressured into strawberry.
Maybe Trump beats Biden. When I was a kid I would eat brussel sprouts soaked in vinegar, but I would eat carrots raw.
I want to vote for a candidate, not against a candidate.
Could not agree with you more. GOP leaders need to stop living in fear of Trump and take a stand.
This is essentially a very similar conversation that my wife and I had with our best friends that were visiting from FL. Trump did some outstanding things during his term in office while fighting off the progressive news media and all those connected to the deep state. However, he can't let it go. He's attacking Republican's rather than Biden. The constant smart ass remarks and tweets are stale. I voted for him twice, I won't vote for him again no matter the circumstances. Trump also cost us the Senatorial elections in 2020 and 2022. My feeling is that Trump was the reason we lost what was supposed to be the Red Wave last November by him announcing that he was going to run for President again in 2024 causing the swing voter, Democrat or Republican, said Heck No!!
The only way Trump can win is if the economy is in the crapper and it effects are strong and deep almost a depression I for one don’t want that if that happens my wife might consider voting for Trump other wise she won’t vote period
This was an effective post. Much of Trump's recent comments do not bode well for 2024. From my perspective, everything will go according to a plan. Yet "we the people" must exercise our responsibilities. In my past, I have not hired people who demonstrated real talent or experience because the simply had "too much baggage" which would negatively impact the company or their long-term ability to do the job. Trump had good policies--this is a past-tense statement. Those "most Republicans" who want and like Trump are those "most" who were polled. Statistical analysis will need to change to reflect reality. Sampling criteria must also change. Look at Biden today. He wasn't much different in 2020, only those perceived weaknesses are now worse. Conservatives must quit making excuses for those who they like. We must accept what is being presented. This is true for Biden; it's more "true" for Trump. No "yeah buts," no "they're out to get hims." Anytime your enemy likes your choice you are in a world of hurt and disappointment ....
This is exactly what must happen. Trump does not understand that he really doesn't have as solid of a a base of support as he thinks. He does not understand just how many people were holding their nose and voting for him because the alternative was such a start contrast in 2016. Then less stark as time has gone by.
After the fact people wondered what we were going to get and were very pleasantly surprised with the results. Probably more shocked in fact. Happy with what came in policies and unhappy with the Swamp Republican Failure-Caucus and sidelined grifter class obstruction that prevented making the most of those first two years. Those failures plus Trump's inner demons becoming unleashed in frustration, led to the rising of the Pelosi impeachment brigades being unleashed on the country.
Not to mention the embarrassment of the expert, academic class as every prediction of doom and nuclear war in response to their advice going unheeded, and then the policy succeeding. Its the whole Jim Kramer phenomenon. Listen to the advice, do the opposite, then come out further ahead. The swamp and others in the expert class could not allow that to stand nor have they.
Trump response was just to be more petulant. More combative. More woe is me. Hee Haw Trump sitting w/ Grandpa Joe on the porch singing, "Gloom, despair, and agony on me..."
Only it wasn't just him. That pox was unleashed on the country. Trump lost to a dementia addled house plant who didn't campaign. Just said I'm not Trump. Then two years of abject disaster and 2022 came around. Looked like houses should have been cleaned and come back to sanity. But the petulant continued to scream about how they were being treated unfairly. Trump comes out as Don Quixote with a legion of Sancho Panza sidekick candidates. Other consultant class characters play along with and exploit the Don's madness and suck up his money, but Sancho often lives in and adores the madness, getting caught up in it. Up rises Kari Lake and her compatriots enraptured by the madness who follow suit in losing to houseplants of their own (Fetterman, Hobbs, et al).
So here we are now. The Don wants to climb back onto his horse surrounded by the grifters who have no problem losing so long as they get paid. They will be fine to weather this storm that is intensifying. They have their money and are part of the expert, credentialed class who can be tolerated and allowed to sit on the back bench.
It is time for the common sense class of people who get things done to kick them all to the curb.
Your last two lines: "Everyone is having those conversations already. Bring them out into the open." Which is exactly why I suggest we not make it an "us against them" conversation.
Erick,
Well scripted, but I think you are missing the real point. This is not about Trump, but all about Brandon.
With Brandon in the bunker, it’s unlikely his handlers will let him say or do anything that demonstrates his dementia on the global stage.
With the press complicit we shouldn’t look for them to suddenly get religion and report the obvious.
At this point, even if he were comatose (echoes of Woodrow Wilson), they would use newly created video using AI to fight the campaign. YEP, I believe AI will play a prominent part of Brandon’s campaign.
We do need a Thelma & Louise moment, or a Clara Peller “where’s the Beef” parody that voters talk about at the water cooler. We need something to go viral and force POTUS to stand and present himself on the internet stage where most voters now live.
Cheers
Ok, I'm having trouble keeping up now. In the last two weeks, Erick has told us Trump is 1) irreligious, 2) evil-rich, 3) mentally incapacitated, 4) a criminal (yesterday), and now 5) unaccomplished and unelectable (today), in that order. To that Ill add that Trump is 6) self-aggrandizing, 7) combative and 8) petulant and immature. And yet, at this moment, despite all of that and more, in the polling Trump is far and away the national and Georgia state front runner - among all candidates right and left - for President of the United States in 2024. Erick, is there anything at all that you can think of that could possibly explain such a phenomenon?! And how is it that no one is listening to our constant criticism of Trump? Could there be a much deeper explanation? Something we are missing, or refuse to accept, or refuse to address? Is there a 400 lb. gorilla in the corner that we are ignoring? Could it have nothing to do with Trump? Could it have to do with the Republican Party itself? I don't know. Think about it ...
Yes, I'm getting confused myself, but...
9) Ran the country well. So well that many people could overlook his shortcomings.
Isn't that how politics works? Some egomaniac runs for president, has all sorts of personality faults, but runs X in such a way that enough people vote for the person again.
It is like most things: if you win/succeed/entertain, people will overlook your faults until you don't win/succeed/entertain.
I think covid combined with endless social medial rambling did Trump in.
Really, I think his endless social media rambling did him in, but covid didn't help.
Brilliant. Hope you are sending these to some of your "friends" that can make them into ads.
Just make certain that the guy who gets eight years truly has "undoing the damage" as his or her goal. "Won't get fooled again", to quote a line from The Who.
I agree. Just like your fictional characters I tell my friends that I loved Trump’s policies, and gravitas’s. He fought for America. That said, I know if he gets the nomination he will lose. There are too many votes that will go against him or left on the table. Please please let’s not nominate him, our country cannot take Biden/Harris for another bitter dose of a second term.
This is Excellent. Watching Laura Ingraham last night with Newt Ginrich(whom I am not really a fan) talk about this and how the Republicans basically use the same campaign strategies from 20 years ago because the consultants find it easy and they make a ton of money. They really don’t care about winning. I have to agree with that. Every ad I have seen from the Republicans in the last few election cycles is about how Republicans are not them and the Democrats are socialists. There has to be a better message but I presume they don’t want to have to think about, just line their pockets.
Another well-known conservative blogger syas: "The GOP is about the money. The Dems are about the power." Succinct, and pretty darn accurate.