One of our current Featured Stories is “The Republican Screed: What It Takes to be a Republican, According to Donald Trump.” There follows 100 bullet points showing nothing but the words and deeds of Donald Trump. No commentary by me or anyone. Totally shielded from any charge of “fake news.” Just Trump’s words showing his racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, and hate-filled agenda.
My purpose for producing this article on the Republican Screed goes beyond its mere existence. It is meant to serve a practical goal. We Democrats know we seriously misjudged the tenor of the American people. The reasons are multi-dimensional and have been discussed in a tsunami of commentaries, op-eds, articles, etc. I’m trying to deal with only one. I knew that practical issues like inflation, immigration, & abortion would play a major role in determining how people voted. But I thought that Trump’s moral character would be at least about equal. I thought that by about the end of September, the man’s total lack of a moral conscience and his reliance on lies, demagoguery, insults, and character assassination had alienated most average Americans. And then came the last three weeks or so, in which he actually doubled or tripled down on all the above, and started speaking pure gibberish, to boot. Few Americans, I believed, would want this immoral cretin to be President of the United States and a role model for their children.
History records how wrong I was. Trump’s deeply flawed and warped character did not amount to a pitcher of warm spit in determining the outcome. As a somewhat prolific writer, I have always obeyed the adage to avoid cliches, but there is one that so aptly describes the Democrats situation, it’s hard to avoid: looking to the future, we have to be careful to avoid throwing the baby out with the bath water. The bath water that gets thrown out: the Democrats failure to articulate solutions to practical problems like inflation and immigration, or to champion policies that appeal to the average American.
The baby to keep: no compromise with the racist, demagogic, authoritarian, misogynistic agenda that lies at the heart of MAGA. Let’s not assume that all the people who voted for Trump are as morally flawed as he is. I believe a significant number of those Trump supporters are unaware of the extent of the maliciousness in what Trump has said, and they do not grasp the meaning of a great deal of what they have heard or read.
Let me get to some practical examples. A universal refrain among we progressives, because it is a universal truth, is: the Trumpists only watch Fox News. Fox News covers Trump’s speeches, interviews, and social media comments, but no in-depth analysis is needed to reach the conclusion: people who watch mostly Fox News are not going to get an objective, accurate view of Trump’s moral character.
Let me bring in more revelations of the different universes inhabited by progressives, on the one hand, and Trump voters on the other. The Washington Post reported: In Arizona, Democrat Ruben Gallego, a Latino with working-class roots, won his Senate race in a battleground state that Donald Trump flipped, and will become the first Latino to represent Arizona in the Senate. He did so, he says, in large part by targeting Latino men. And how did he enjoy so much strength in the Latino community?
Latino men, he said, are “not politically engaged. They do not watch TV. They don’t read the newspaper. They hardly listen to any politics. They don’t even have cable [TV]. They’re largely getting politics through, like, vibes of what’s going on out there.” Gallego added that many are distrustful of politicians.
This level of being “tuned out” of the news is probably severe, but In my opinion, this attitude toward politics in general is shared by a much larger share of the American electorate—including Democrats—than a lot of Democrats realize. People who get most of their news on podcasts, CNN or MSNBC; read major national newspapers like the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal; and/or listen to pundits like Rachel Maddow, are outliers in modern America. The “who gives a damn” outlook is closer to the norm.
In 2016, in the midst of Trump’s first run for president, an audio was leaked from a conversation between Donald Trump and TV host Billy Bush in which Trump was bragging and joking about sexually assaulting women by touching their private parts without their consent. You would have thought these words would hang around Trump’s neck like an albatross. But by the 2024 election, they were largely forgotten. According to media reports, many young Americans learned about the tape for the first time on TikTok, and “they were shocked by the former president’s words and confused why the episode wasn’t a dealbreaker in 2016.” “I don’t think any of my friends had heard it,’ said Kate Sullivan, a 21-year-old student in Ohio who heard the tape for the first time on TikTok. “We all felt equally shocked.”
Columnist Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post on 11/21/24 took note of the declining influence of mainstream media and the growing influence of social media, and went on to say: “It is not merely this shrinkage in conventional news consumption that should be alarming. The preponderance of voters who get no news whatsoever suggests the very notion of an ‘informed electorate’ might become a thing of the past.”
New York Times columnist David French has also addressed the issue of the media’s efficacy in informing the public. (He used the game of curling to make his point. His spiel is too long to summarize here but worth checking out: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/10/opinion/harris-trump-campaign-curling.html). French argues that “The underlying dynamics of an election cycle (the economy, the popularity of the president, national events driving the news cycle)” are always the determining forces in an election. The candidates and his team can influence those forces, but they don’t control them.
The media, says French, spend far too much time talking about the candidates’ efforts to influence—using things like ad campaigns, ground games and messaging—and far too little time talking about the underlying forces. The forces in 2024 were the usual ones: peace and prosperity. Harris’ mistake, French says, was to argue that there was a different force—democracy and the rule of law—in play that was more important than peace and prosperity. But the electorate once more made its traditional choice for the latter.
The Way Forward
My conclusion from all the above: A major reason Donald trump’s words are not shaping public opinion about him is because his words are not being heard or read enough by most Americans. Even his most inflammatory statements at most receive attention for a few days, and are quickly relegated to the archives. In my opinion, we anti-Trumpists have failed to keep Trump’s damning words in the forefront of voters’ attention.
I have prepared this compilation of Trump’s statements as a step towards remedying that inattention. I hope it will be widely quoted. Just about any one of the bullet points, for example, provides the basis for a contribution on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, who won re-election by less than one percentage point, summed it admirably: “Democrats must wrap our arms around online connection and communication.”
An example of how to blend the old and the new. Suppose this was the day Trump unleashed a torrent of insults of Kamala Harris. This could be a contribution to X or Instagram:
Trump today called Harris “retarded,” “mentally disabled,” and a “sh—vice president.” Same Trump who has called women fat, ugly, of low intellect, Miss Piggy, bimbo, and dog and told Congresswomen of color to go back where they came from.
(You still have 41 more characters to use).
Example #2:
Trump’s former Chief of staff Gen. John Kelly has confirmed that Trump described U.S. soldiers in disparaging terms, including “suckers” and “losers.” Same draft-dodging Trump who demeaned the military service of John McCain.
We Democrats easily forget: Most Americans don’t give a damn about our opinions of Donald Trump. No matter how racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, libelous, or hate-filled Trump’s words, Republicans have proven they will be unmoved. Criticism based on appeals to logic and facts fall on deaf ears.
We need to use Trump’s own words to draw the noose around Republicans’ necks and keep squeezing. Trump’s plethora of lies and malicious, insulting, racist, libelous, slanderous statements of the past nine years should not already be relegated to the archives. They should be quoted as often as possible.
Some general guidelines to follow. The examples below are based on a select few of some of his more malicious statements. There are more of each type among the 100.
Don’t say “Trump is a racist.” Say:
Don’t say “Trump is a misogynist.” Say, “Trump has:
Don’t say “Trump is a malicious xenophobe.” Say, “Trump has:
The Tone: More in Sorrow Than in Anger
Remember: Imagine that you are talking to a family member, a friend, or a co-worker who practically worships Donald Trump. You know that nothing you say is going to change their minds, but you want to maybe at least make them feel a little uncomfortable about their position. Have a number of those bullet points in mind. Remember: the person you are talking too almost certainly does not know what Trump has actually said about the subject at hand. Speak as many of Trump’s own words as you can. Hold back on offering your own opinion, and don’t use labels like “fascist,” “extremist,” or “stupid.”
Remember: you do not have to exhibit anger or speak angrily or shout to make your point. Remain calm, cool, and collected while you cite Trump’s damaging words.
Here is my suggestion of how to engage with trump’s fans, using the name Frank as an example. “Frank, I’m highly baffled by matters involving Trump. And my bafflement has nothing to do with political issues. For example, Trump once stood up in public and mocked a handicapped person. And he has bragged about sexually assaulting women (tickling their private parts, you may recall), and called various women fat, ugly, Miss Piggy, bimbo, and dog. My problem, Frank, is how anyone would reconcile these words with Jesus’ call to “love they neighbor as thyself” and “do unto others as you would have them do unto you?” Trump seems absolutely contemptuous of the Golden Rule, Frank. Can you explain to me how you can claim to follow Jesus while praising Trump?”
Frank, I’m perplexed as to how anyone who calls themselves a Christian can support Trump for president, in light of his absolute contempt for no less than three of God’s Ten Commandments: the ones that forbid lying, committing adultery, and stealing. Trump’s public record shows he has wantonly violated all three. It’s not just a one-on about Trump. A President is, inherently, something of a role model. What kind of message are we sending our children, when we preach to them about obeying the Ten Commandments, and then elect as President someone who has no regard for God’s words whatsoever?