As the first Republican debate approaches, I make an urgent appeal to the candidates: please accept what Donald Trump did and ignore the catastrophic elements (i.e. anything after the end of the campaign on November 8, 2016).
Even though he presided over the most wasted presidency in history, Trump’s in 2016 campaign he was wonderful, incomparable, perfect in every way. I described many useful innovations of this campaign in my book “We trust TrumpPlease start with this, Republicans.
President Trump could also be a pathetic crybaby scared fire your own attorney general – much less ask House Speaker Paul Ryan to finance the wall – but in 2016 it was all about image, and candidate Trump seemed strong.
Candidates, don’t fall into the traps created by consultants of portraying yourself as weak. Remember that you are trying to become the leader of the free world. Cat ladies don’t vote for you. Republicans are.
1) Stop using the royal “we,” e.g., “We testified before the grand jury…”, “We have done our duty …”, “We decided to run for office…” Committees didn’t do such things. You he did. Be a man and say it.
2) Don’t tell us about when you were there discriminated against against – and yes, I’m looking at you, Senator Tim Scott and Governor Nikki Haley. We’ve all had obstacles and we don’t need to hear about yours, at least not all this time primary school when someone was mean to you.
3) Don’t say “When I will be president …”It’s a flashing neon sign letting you know you’ve got it zero chance of ever being within a thousand feet of the Oval Office.
4) Finally, for the love of God, stop telling us about your families. We are not interested in your spouse, your parents or your children. We would actually prefer a first lady who doesn’t speak English.
Quiz: Who is the greatest president of the last century?
Answer: Ronald Reagan.
You think he won because he had the nicest family? He wouldn’t be chosen as a dog catcher with this gang. But somehow Reagan won 44 states in 1980 and 49 states in 1984.
His wife, Nancy, urged him to become one throughout his presidency pro-choice. Note that the key word in the previous sentence is not “pro-choice”; is “wife”. Nancy wasn’t elected to anything. He ignored it and launched a 30-year economic boom, defeated the Evil Empire, and restored the decadent nation to superpower status.
But every four years, campaign consultants tell candidates that voters can’t wait to hear about their families. Two for the price of one!to borrow the embarrassing slogan of the Clintons.
Let’s take a look at some horror movies from 2016:
Apart from Senator Marco Rubio’s strange belief that having a bartender father was a key qualification for president, his typical opening statement went something like this:
“My name is Marco Rubio. I’m from Florida. My wife“Jeanette and I are proud – we have been married for 17 years and are proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening.” (The other two attended bartending school.)
Compare this to Trump’s initial statement: “I am Donald Trump. …I made billions and… billions dollars in dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put all that talent to work for this country so that we can have great trade deals that will make our country affluent again, make it great again.”
[Candidate proceeds to govern like Jeb!, but we didn’t know that at the time.]
Gov. John Kasich introduced himself at the first GOP meeting debate, saying, “Hello, I’m John Kasich, Governor of Ohio. Emma and Reese, my kids and Karen – I love you girls. Thank you for watching today.” When asked why he should become president of the United States, he said: “Recently last week, a friend asked one of my daughters…” When asked how he would deal with Hillary Clinton, Kasich said: “Let’s start with the fact that my father is a mail carrier.” Again, during the same debate, he reminded the audience: “my father was a postman.”
And that’s why we look back at Dwight Eisenhower and say: You know what made him great? His father was a postman. No, I’m sorry – his father was an engineer.
Explaining why he didn’t trust Trump with his nuclear arsenal, Sen. Ted Cruz began: “You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They are 7 and 5 years old.”
Responding to a question about women in combat, Gov. Chris Christie said: “Can I be really clear? Because I am the father of two children daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I taught our daughters…
(That’s interesting, but don’t any of them have sons?)
Jimmy Carter’s invocation of his daughter during the 1980 presidential campaign debate was widely considered to be the reason for his defeat. When asked during the nuclear treaty debate, Carter said: “The other day before I came here, I was talking to my daughter Amy to ask her what the most important issue was. She said she was thinking about nuclear weapons and nuclear arms control.” (Her second most significant question? Why was Wendy Smith so stuck up at school.)
A week later, The New York Times began article about Carter’s utter defeat with the following words: “Jimmy Carter almost won the vote of Leslie Fleisher… until she saw his debate with Ronald Reagan last Tuesday and heard Mr. Carter mention that his 13-year-old daughter, Amy, thought nuclear weapons were the most important issue.” That’s when she decided to stay home.”
Keen readers will remember Christie’s utter failure during his 2012 convention speech to fully recite his autobiography to the hapless audience: “In the car of life, Dad was just a passenger. Mom was a driver…” it continued in this vein for the next six hours.
Despite macabre reviews, Christie must have thought the problem was that he didn’t bore us sufficiently details about his family and returned to complete the work during his 2016 presidential campaign. His closing statement during the first debate began: “Listen, I was born in New Jersey into a middle-class family dad he came back home …”
This low-key nonsense began with Bill Clinton specifically requesting that speakers at the 1992 Democratic National Convention tell stories of childhood deprivation (as documented by then-Associated Press Ron Fournier).
“Feel Your Pain” was a huge hit with urban liberals, but Clinton continued it lose the voice of the working class. It was no coincidence that this was the exact moment when the Democrats abandoned the working class and became the party of Wall Street and welfare bums.
Republican voters want problems, not Oprah.
Candidates, we don’t care if you were born a destitute black child (Steve Martin, “Jerk“) or your wife is hell on wheels. Promise that you will build a wall and kill criminals.
