You're Donald Trump.
You love your country because it has been so generous to you. But it's not perfect. And lately, you feel like it's been going in the wrong direction. You wish you could do something about it.
So you decide to become president.
The first thing you need to do is to get elected. Because you have 45 years of experience dealing with wealthy and important people, you know a lot about how to speak in a manner that connects with your audience. You have an instinct for what makes people tick, what is gonna have a persuasive effect and what will and won't matter. It's already obvious to you that facts and policies don't influence people's decisions.
What type of discourse are you most likely to make...
- A rational discourse about the policies you want to implement?
or
- A populist approach that is the most likely to generate interest and votes?
Of course, along the campaign trail you're gonna run into some tough questions. The primaries are basically an insult contest, and you're pretty good at that. You and your team are working on a series of "linguistic killshots" to take out an opponent Whenever he becomes too prominent. Cruz has a rat face so Lyin' Ted should do it. Jeb looks calm and composed, why not turn that against him and call him "low-energy"? He could just be dumb enough to overact and ridicule himself while trying to get rid of the image.
You're an atheist, like most of the modern-day presidents were. But just like they did, you're gonna have to play the religiosity game. If you get in a tight spot, you'll just get out with the vaguest non-answer you can muster.
You think that Bush's Secure Fence Act is a pretty cool thing that wasn't sold well enough to the public. Obama liked it at the time. It's already half built....why not revive the project, build the second half and then claim credit for the whole thing? But instead of boring people with something like "Let's reinstate the 2008 SFA and build 313 miles of fencing while double-layering an additional 685 miles on order to curb illegal immigration by an additional 18%", of course you're gonna yell "Build a wall!" to get the blood boiling. And work out the rest with the appropriate people later on.
Like any politician, you'll promise a lot of things and then adjust and move along with public opinion and what's actually feasable.
You're pretty sure you can do this.
The first thing you need to do is to get elected. Because you have 45 years of experience dealing with wealthy and important people, you know a lot about how to speak in a manner that connects with your audience. You have an instinct for what makes people tick, what is gonna have a persuasive effect and what will and won't matter. It's already obvious to you that facts and policies don't influence people's decisions.
What type of discourse are you most likely to make...
- A rational discourse about the policies you want to implement?
or
- A populist approach that is the most likely to generate interest and votes?
Of course, along the campaign trail you're gonna run into some tough questions. The primaries are basically an insult contest, and you're pretty good at that. You and your team are working on a series of "linguistic killshots" to take out an opponent Whenever he becomes too prominent. Cruz has a rat face so Lyin' Ted should do it. Jeb looks calm and composed, why not turn that against him and call him "low-energy"? He could just be dumb enough to overact and ridicule himself while trying to get rid of the image.
You're an atheist, like most of the modern-day presidents were. But just like they did, you're gonna have to play the religiosity game. If you get in a tight spot, you'll just get out with the vaguest non-answer you can muster.
You think that Bush's Secure Fence Act is a pretty cool thing that wasn't sold well enough to the public. Obama liked it at the time. It's already half built....why not revive the project, build the second half and then claim credit for the whole thing? But instead of boring people with something like "Let's reinstate the 2008 SFA and build 313 miles of fencing while double-layering an additional 685 miles on order to curb illegal immigration by an additional 18%", of course you're gonna yell "Build a wall!" to get the blood boiling. And work out the rest with the appropriate people later on.
Like any politician, you'll promise a lot of things and then adjust and move along with public opinion and what's actually feasable.
You're pretty sure you can do this.
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