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What the Democrats Could Learn from Donald Trump

by Conservativity Staff,
Originally Posted: 10/10/2005 12:14:47 PM

You may have heard that Donald Trump has a hit television show called The Apprentice.  Duh!  We all know all about Trump and his hair and his show:  Trump self-promotion at its zenith.  I admit to having been an Apprentice addict since day one.  Even now, the show still entertains me greatly.  A couple of weeks ago, however, I saw an episode in the latest edition.  This morning, I remembered the episode, and an important lesson that the Democrats could learn from Donald Trump.  Special thanks to Rush for his analysis of the current state of Democratic affairs.  His analysis caused me to think.

The episode to which I refer had the teams, one made of men and the other of women, tasked to create an exciting ad for the new Lamborghini Gallardo.  The men were overconfident to the extreme, and they knew that they would win this task, hands-down.  They then proceeded to design an uninspiring and frankly confusing ad campaign.  The primary example of the confusion was a poster-ad where a Gallardo, tinted a rather ugly shade of lime green, was featured below the the bold words: "Green with envy."  The Lamborghini executives openly wondered if the ad was saying that the car was green with envy.  The men tried to explain that others would be green with envy if the ad target owned a Gallardo.

"Trump told the overconfident men that any ad where you have to explain it to the ad’s target is ineffective.  Here lies the Democrats’ lesson: They are overconfident.  They think that they have already won in 2006 and 2008 by mercilessly (and completely without justification) slamming our President on everything from Iraq to hurricane Katrina to the Karl Rove non-scandal."

The ladies, on the other hand, captured the essence of Lamborghini, and made a commercial that was excellent in all ways.  In the boardroom, where Trump decides who should be tossed, Trump told the overconfident men that any ad where you have to explain it to the ad’s target is ineffective.  Here lies the Democrats’ lesson: They are overconfident.  They think that they have already won in 2006 and 2008 by mercilessly (and completely without justification) slamming our President on everything from Iraq to hurricane Katrina to the Karl Rove non-scandal.  Those, like George Lakoff, who see part of the problem, state that the left has to stop the Bush-bashing and refocus on explaining their position to the people so that they will understand it.

The Democrats are trying to sell their lime-green envious Lamborghini to people who don’t want it.  While the Republicans are out there, to this day, stating their positions, the sensibility of which is self-evident, the Democrats have yet to try to explain precisely what their position on anything of import actually is.  Why are they against Social Security reform?  Why are the Republicans supposedly wrong when they assert that private accounts will make everyone richer?  What do they advocate actually doing about the impending financial collapse of their government-run Ponzi scheme, aside from doing nothing or hiking taxes (and killing the economy in the process) to forestall the inevitable?  Is there anything that the Democrats think unsuitable to governmental control, except for the killing of unborn children, the elderly and the infirm?

"Barack Obama, only a few months ago, said publicly that the Democrats are still ’searching’ for their values!  Yet they, a party admittedly devoid of values, confidently strut about Washington as if they had killed off conservatism.  I don’t know if they are stupid, in denial, or both."

Barack Obama, only a few months ago, said publicly that the Democrats are still "searching" for their values!  Yet they, a party admittedly devoid of values, confidently strut about Washington as if they had killed off conservatism.  I don’t know if they are stupid, in denial, or both.  As Rush so aptly noted earlier today, the rank-and-file conservatives are still 100% behind our President.  The GOP members in the House just passed a real energy bill, one that ignores the whining of the environmental wackos.  They have started to let their base know, by their deeds, that conservatism is alive and well and still in control.

The overconfident Democrats still put forth a confusing message:  "Bush sucks, Rice sucks, Rumsfeld sucks, and Cheney really sucks!  Halliburton is evil!"  And they have no positive message.  What will they do?  I’m stumped!  What do they stand for?  I’m stumped!  Why do they stand for whatever they stand for?  I’m stumped!

Clear and truthful messages communicating core values are needed to win elections.  And right now, those messages are solely in the domain of the GOP.