The Best Anti-Trump Ads Are Coming from Republicans
Lincoln Project Marshalling Republican Marketing Skills to Defeat Trump
On “Background Briefing,” host Ian Masters identified the central problem with Democrats. Masters pointed out that many Democrats were academics and policy wonks who were good at arguing subjects on an intellectual point of view, but weren’t skilled in promoting their ideas. However, Republicans, who often come from the business world, understand marketing. So they knew how to sell an idea, even if it was a bad one. As the old adage says, a good salesman can sell ice to an Eskimo.
Winning the Messaging War
This seems to have been the case with President Ronald Reagan. He managed to win over many so-called Reagan Democrats, blue-collar union workers, even though after his administration their plight was much worse.
President Donald Trump, who comes from a media/branding background, managed to con enough Americans into voting for him. However, he hasn’t delivered on many of his campaign pledges. The jobs are not coming back, Mexico didn’t pay for the wall and he hasn’t made America great again.
Rick Wilson is one of the reasons we’re in this current predicament. For years he made his money, tearing apart Democrats and getting working-class people to vote against their interests. During an interview, he admitted that Democrats’ problem is they don’t make their messages short, easily-digestible sound bites. He said when Democrats published lengthy policy papers, he would rip them apart and turn them into weapons against them.
He actually worsened America’s image in the world. For example, there have been more than 270 attacks on journalists from American police officers. Now the United States is listed as a dangerous place for journalists, a designation usually assigned to authoritarian countries such as Turkey and Egypt, according to The New York Times!
However, the Lincoln Project, a political action committee made up of disaffected Never Trumpers, is turning this formula on its head. The group has released some of the most devastating political ads against Trump. According to the Lincoln Project website, “Electing Democrats who support the Constitution over Republicans who do not is a worthy effort.”
Here are some of the group’s ads:
Trump’s Greatest Critics Are Republicans
Some members of the Lincoln Project have publicly expressed their disgust for Trump. George Conway, husband of White House advisor Kellyanne Conway, published another blistering attack in a Saturday, June 6, Washington Post opinion piece. He accused Trump of lacking humanity and a conscience.
“We remain governed by a soulless man with a broken mind. The damage will continue, and it won’t stop until voters end it. Come November, it will be up to the eligible human population of this country to look to their souls, their consciences, their humanity — and to cast their votes for one of their own,” said Conway.
Trump has attacked George Conway with racist terms such as “round face” and “flip.” (He’s of Filipino heritage.)
Another prominent member of the Lincoln Project is political consultant Rick Wilson, who’s frequently seen on media outlets slamming Trump. He’s also published several anti-Trump books such as “Running Against the Devil” and “Everything Trump Touches Dies.”
However, Wilson is one of the reasons we’re in this current predicament. For years he made his money, tearing apart Democrats and getting working-class people to vote against their interests. During an interview, he admitted that Democrats’ problem is they don’t make their messages short, easily-digestible sound bites. He said when Democrats published lengthy policy papers, he would rip them apart and turn them into weapons against them.
“I helped to build some of the tools in the toolbox for how you go out and exploit the cultural divisions in the country, and the political divisions, to win for Republicans in blue and purple areas. On paper it looks hard but we worked hard and recognized that the way to win is sometimes to not tell people who we are,” said Wilson in a January Guardian story.
But Wilson and other members of the Lincoln Project do understand advertising. Hopefully, Wilson can use his powers for good and convince enough voters to end this American nightmare.
The Lincoln Project’s ads, which are widely shared on social media, are getting millions of views on YouTube. According to New York Times columnist Timothy Egan that just might be the trick.
“That’s the great task of the next five months: Just show voters Trump being Trump. Then pound and repeat,” said Egan in a Friday, June 5, article.
