L&T Publisher Earl Watt
While some enjoy athletics, others enjoy shows about dance competitions or reality shows where someone wins a million bucks for outwitting and outlasting the rest.
While I also enjoy many of those as well, elections are a particular interest of mine. What campaign led to a win? What fell short?
From local elections to the presidency, I watch the outcomes, because the only way to really know what worked is by seeing who won and who lost.
In sports, the adage is, “That’s why you play the game.” Sometimes the winner on paper isn’t necessarily the winner on the field, and by studying strategies and techniques you can learn what works and what doesn’t.
As a conservative, my biggest concern heading in to the election was the baggage that Trump was carrying. Had the Democrats destroyed his ability to run for president by using lawfare as a political weapon? To this day the most sour about the election continue to refers to Trump as a “convicted felon.”
If those charges are thrown out, I will remind those on social media who enjoy making that reference that it was tossed, but in the aftermath of the election, did lawfare help or hurt Trump?
Well, he won, so it did not accomplish what the Democrats wanted. In many states, they tried to prevent Trump from even being on the ballot because of the state charges in New York and the claims of participating in insurrection or rebellion because of the Jan. 6 riot.
It may be that law professor Jonathan Turley was correct when he said Trump just won the largest jury decision in American history.
My hope is the lack of success from these “trumped” up charges will discourage future Democratic leaders from trying to use the Justice Department against a political opponent.
Trump’s campaign also did a masterful job of playing the victim of the Democratic strategy. Trump didn’t have to pay a dime to have every major news outlet watching him come out of the trial and give his play-by-play version of what was happening, and even unfriendly networks had to report that the process didn’t seem to be fair to Trump.
Another lesson I hope we learn is that calling your opponent Hitler or a fascist is not a winning strategy.
Over and over Trump was compared to Hitler, even for something as simple as having a rally in Madison Square Garden. Most people were unaware that Nazis had a rally in that same building in the 1930s. It didn’t seem to have an effect on the voters.
The civility of elections has to return so that we can have some mutual respect for all the candidates.
At the local level, we see it. No matter who wins and who loses, the public is generally appreciative of all who ran.
At the national level, it’s a bloodbath.
And since I’ve used the word, how effective was the press in twisting every word, like bloodbath, into an attempt to mischaracterize Trump?
The media continually took the side of Democrats and used every talking point put our by the far left as the focus of the daily news programming.
How did Trump win with the mainstream media united against him? With Hollywood united against him? With the democratic machine working against him?
Trump was consistent in his messaging of a tanking economy, an out-of-control border, foreign powers growing while America was receding and conflicts around the world because America wasn’t leading.
He refused to get taken off message, and he campaigned to friendly and hostile territories.
Did it work? Well, he won.
