Editor’s note: This commentary is by David Russell, of Perkinsville, a consultant for the past 25 years for small, development stage or emerging businesses. During the last five years, his focus has been exclusively on renewable energy technology, including the installation of commercial scale solar projects. For 20 years prior to that, he was engaged in various aspects of the securities industry.
[M]uch has been made of the unconventional style of the president-elect and it is clear that his style has outclassed all of his opposition since there is nothing consistent to push back against. Since we are about to enter into a four-year stint of more of the same, the question is how to confront, combat, defer, deflect or defeat the onerous policies that seem clearly to be a part of the package. It sure isn’t going to be politics as usual. What is needed is an asymmetrical attack.
That starts with an understanding that nothing that the man says can be taken as gospel. The only assessment must be based on actions. Example, his Cabinet picks clearly indicate a conservative Republican agenda that will shortchange the middle class that supported him. With that as a launching point, what needs to be done?
The “just say no” approach of the past Republican congressional majority clearly won’t work since Democrats are not the majority and the current class of Democrats who are still in office, in the main, are not temperamentally suited to the task. While we can lament the fact that the Democrat’s congressional caucus doesn’t “get it” and seem hopelessly mired in some previous generation of reason, moderation or deliberation, it is left to those outside the system to divine the means by which liberal politics may or can prevail. That requires an asymmetrical approach to opposition. In truth, some of the approach may imitate the unpredictable Trump’s tactics giving homage to its effectiveness.
For starters, what is required is a marketing organization set up outside the party system. Trump has anointed the remarkably successful Kellyanne Conway, his campaign manager, to carry out that role for him. Her job, as she has defined it, is to set the stage to attack and defeat the 10 Senate Democrats who will come up for election in 2018 so that the Republicans will then have a super majority. The Democrats campaign should be to discredit Trump, the anti-democratic character of the Republican Party, the duplicity of its pandering to the masses and favoring the elites, attacking the nonsense about “draining the swamp” and to conduct opposition research on each of the prospective Republican nominees as they come on line. The more specific theme is to delegitimize Trump’s presidency and persistently get under his skin.
The next thing to do is to challenge Trump in the courts. He likes to boast of how successful he is in litigation, so it behooves the opposition to test that theory. Given the “target rich environment” of the many ways in which his business dealing will create conflicts of interest, filing suits seems to be an easy way to keep his name in the headlines in a negative light. This process has already been started with Hillary Clinton’s publicist David Brock who has a $30 million budget for his operation, Judicial Watch. But there is so much more. Lawsuits attacking voter repression, gerrymandered districts, civil liberties cases all come to mind. The idea is to press for suits in as many states where resources allow.
While using the Freedom of Information laws is an active ingredient currently in use by the American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Public Citizen and more, the permanent marketing effort needs to coordinate and publicize not just the findings but the effort and the implications of the search. Trump has been incredibly effective in suggesting, implying, accusing and denying while calling into question an idea, a person, a policy a program and while his use of the technique is dishonest at its core, it doesn’t have to be for his opponents.
Bernie Sanders’ post-election permanent revolution has spawned at least one movement, the People’s Revolution, which hopes to spark insurgencies in future races on every level of the political system.
Find the new blood. Bernie Sanders’ post-election permanent revolution has spawned at least one movement, the People’s Revolution, which hopes to spark insurgencies in future races on every level of the political system. Toward that end, there is also Grassroots Select, a digital collective founded by Sanders supporters to channel resources and volunteers to candidates who share Sanders’ agenda. There is also a group called Berniecrats.net, a crowdsourced list of more than 250 pro-Bernie candidates that ran in 2016 which will undoubtedly start producing similar lists for 2018 and beyond. The key behind this is the Sanders database of over 2 million small donors and 400,000 volunteers who can deployed for the right strategy. The potential for these resources is impacting.
Next is the National Popular Interstate Compact. This initiative is to have each state legislate a requirement that their Electoral College delegates vote for the winner of the national popular vote. This is a simple way of circumventing the requirement for a constitutional amendment to end the Electoral College. All that is needed is for states whose Electoral College votes equal or exceed the 270 votes needed to win to agree to the compact and the elections will be determined by popular vote. Currently states accounting for 165 electoral votes have adopted the compact. More can be found at the website http://www.nationalpopularvote.com.
Next, we need a moniker for Trump. His constant reference to “LyinHillary” had a devastating effect yet no one that we are aware of attached an equally effective name to him. Give credit where it is due. The technique was effective. It bears imitating. Some suggestions that come to mind, “DeludinDonald,” “DissimulatinDonald,” “FalsifyinTrump,” “ChiefFabricator,” “TrumpDump.”
Next, don’t be uniformly negative except when it comes to ad hominem. If he comes up with something positive, give credit. Example, Bloomberg News reports that several American corporations with plans to move parts of their operations overseas have shelved their plans to “see what Trump has in mind.” If that works, it is worth giving credit. Likewise, his Cabinet appointees may actually reduce regulations that stymie small business growth. If that happens, it is good.
But none of this will work without some asymmetry centered around a national figure who can command the same media attention that Trump gets. For that, there is the retired president himself. Presidents are expected to go “quiet” once they leave office. Not this time and not since Obama’s successor is bent on dismantling most of his accomplishments. It is not enough to have all this asymmetry without an equally forceful entertainer in chief. Trump’s skill is deflection, huckstering and spotlight grabbing. His ability to extemporize and bait requires much more of the opposition than normal responses, there has to be an entertainment factor and it can’t just be late night TV. Obama has a wicked sense of humor, he would or should love baiting Trump and he can afford to be a persistent well publicized opposing presence.
One of the offensive outcomes of the latest election was that the American people did not have a credible anti-establishment candidate to vote for. While Donald Trump said he would be that person just about everything he has done so far indicates that won’t happen. But asymmetry may give Democrats, progressives and liberals lots to do since they have such a “target rich” character to go against. Just remember 54 percent of the electorate did not vote for this guy. He is vulnerable to the right form of opposition.
