Will there be a Trump 2.0 in 2024?
If so, a successful remake must take a very different approach that confronts America’s bizarre new reality and yet also incorporates the best elements of 2016’s unexpectedly successful populist campaign. The relatively unfocused 2020 reelection effort should be discarded entirely.
Once again battling a hostile Washington establishment and entirely dishonest media, would he and Melania really be inclined to go through this absolute misery? I’ve long had my doubts, which would make this exercise more theoretical than likely.
But then comes a new (and very liberal) Quinnipiac poll showing a disastrous 33 percent approval rating for Joe Biden after one year in office. The university attempts to “balance” this in reporting the exact same percentage in favor of another Trump run. What it misses is the reality that millions of Americans will vote for a guy they don’t personally care for if it means grocery shelves are restocked, gas is under $6 a gallon, bullets aren’t flying across city streets, kids are back in the classroom to stay, and the border is sealed shut.
In 2022, our nation’s capital city is paranoid, reactive, detached, childish, and fundamentally broken. Those who’ve spent their lives believing America was something more than a tinpot dictatorship, are finding that Congress is now corrupt beyond their wildest imagination. Democrats have weaponized the FBI into a tyrannical force monitoring parents at school board meetings and possibly even staging fake “patriot” protests to “prove” a ridiculous right-wing domestic terror conspiracy.
Any presidential campaign should hammer away at this relatively new and disturbing reality. Has there ever been more low-hanging fruit?
While the citizenry deals with widespread product shortages, rapid inflation, economic concerns, skyrocketing crime, never-ending COVID variants and an uncertain future, a feckless Washington is now for the most part ignored by the masses. It simply doesn’t have the answers and barely pretends otherwise.
Millions of Americans gave Biden and Harris a reasonable chance to win them over, but quickly ran screaming in the opposite direction of an extremist agenda that addresses none of their day-to-day concerns. Perhaps the most telling development: there will soon be 10 (anti-Biden/pro-Trump) “Let’s Go Brandon”-themed stores in New England, with most in solid blue Massachusetts. Eight are already operational and sales are booming, according to Fox Business. Despite being located inside seemingly hostile territory, there’s reportedly been little blowback to date.
How a second administration should govern is another topic entirely, but here the question is how he might get there. He’ll have to defeat an openly hostile GOP hierarchy, Silicon Valley’s brazen censorship, and a wildly dishonest media, in addition to the “progressive” Left’s uncanny ability to make it rain (billionaire) money all over their candidates and causes. With his voter base, he must quickly reconcile his support for COVID vaccines and even mandates, while many are strongly opposed.
What should change to make a new campaign successful? Some key considerations:
- Much less as an effective slogan, “Make America Great Again” is no longer a realistic near-term goal. By 2024, further domestic deterioration on all fronts may make the country far more unrecognizable than it is today. How about “Fix The Mess”?
- Where is Trump the fighter? Even some loyalists have been complaining about his seeming shift from populist outsider to party insider since leaving office. That’s despite both House and Senate Minority Leaders Kevin McCarthy (current RealClearPolitics net poll average -18.5 percent favorable to unfavorable) and Mitch McConnell (-35.8 percent!) deeply underwater with voters. Why even take a meeting with these creatures? The GOP voter base is absolutely disgusted with party leadership and his campaign should reflect this reality.
- Focus on developing a nationwide network of activists and eliminate hangers-on who do nothing to advance his efforts. From the beginning of his first campaign, there have been hangers-on more interested in selfies by the pool at Mar-a-Lago than getting out into the streets. Some are social climbers, while others are grifters looking to make money off of the Trump name. All are worse than useless in times of need; they’re actually in the way.
- When the street-level warriors are identified, give them something to do and make clear the consequences of not getting out there. Often missing previously was the “ask.” There was nothing more frustrating than hearing people say, “Trump’s got this,” as though he could somehow take on every foe alone. This was used as an excuse to spend weekends on the golf course, rather than saving America. Soon enough on our current political path, that country club will be converted to a workers’ cooperative, so there won’t be anywhere to hide!
- There’s only one brief window to effectively bypass Silicon Valley through his new Truth Social venture, currently trading as a SPAC called Digital World Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: DWAC). Executing this seamlessly will mean supporters will have a place to express themselves away from ridiculous censorship. This means more than opining about politics, it needs to be a substitute for Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram where users are just as likely to post photos of their dogs and children. Bottom line: It had better be good right out of the gate.
- A Trump media empire will pave the way for a successful candidacy where almost all other outlets have proven hostile (and will be again, including Fox). It should include television, radio, and book publishing components. Rather than build all of this from scratch, there are existing companies that can be purchased to meet the need.
- Focus with laser-like precision on three-to-five campaign issues that matter most and be absolutely relentless in pushing them. In 2022, these include widespread food shortages, disturbing levels of inflation that make middle-class survival increasingly unlikely, surging crime, and the complete breakdown at our borders.
Whether these will remain on top (in addition to lingering COVID concerns) by 2024 isn’t yet known, but it’s unlikely many will be resolved by then.
With a deeply unpopular White House in a constant state of disarray, the political environment certainly favors his return. But that doesn’t mean Trump’s comeback will be easy. It will take a fresh approach from top to bottom and a great deal of hard work to bring about the comeback of the century.