David Gergen has served as a White House advisor to four Presidents–three Republican, one Democrat: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
He is now a senior political analyst for CNN.
In addition, he is a U.S. Navy veteran, a member of the D.C. Bar and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. And as if that wasn’t enough, he graduated with honors from Yale and Harvard Law School.
In short, he is a serious man who intimately understands politics from both the Republican and Democratic perspective.
David Gergen
So when he says the Democrats are in trouble, they should listen closely.
In a June 22 analysis for CNN, Gergen warned that President Donald Trump “could be on his way to re-election in 2020.”
To back up his assertion he cites two defeats Republicans handed Democrats in just one week. At stake: Two vacant seats in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives.
On June 20, Ralph Norman defeated Archie Parnell in a special election for South Carolina’s 5th congressional district. The seat had been occupied by Republican Mick Mulvaney, who was chosen by President Trump to become the new director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Ralph Norman
And, on the same day, Karen Handel defeated Jon Ossoff in another special election for the 6th District of Atlanta, Georgia. The seat became vacant in January, when its Republican holder, Tom Price, became Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Karen Handel
Since Trump took office on January 20, there have been four special elections to fill vacant Congressional seats. And Republicans have won all of them.
“What’s really important is that Donald Trump has seized the narrative back,” said Gergan during a June 22 appearance on CNN’s Erin Burnett Outfront, “that he’s doing better with the voters than Democrats think he is.
“It should be a wake-up call for Democrats. It is possible that he could actually get re-elected if Democrats aren’t careful.”
Recently, a Democratic friend of mine, whom I’ll call Dave, came to the same conclusion. Admittedly, he has never served any President, let alone four of them.
But an email exchange with Kamala Harris, his own United States Senator from California, left him angry and despairing.
Kamala Harris
First, his email to her—sent on June 20:
Democrats are fatally neglecting a key weapon against the Trump abomination: Effective language.
In 1996, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich wrote a memo that encouraged Republicans to “speak like Newt.”
Entitled “Language: A Key Mechanism of Control,” it urged Republicans to attack Democrats with such words as “corrupt,” “selfish,” “destructive,” “hypocrisy,” “liberal,” “sick,” and “traitors.”
Such terms have proven highly effective in making Republicans masters of Congress and the White House.
Unfortunately, Democrats have shown themselves indifferent to or incapable of making language work for them.
Consider what conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks said last year about how Donald Trump used language to demolish his political opponents:
“Trump, for all his moral flaws, is a marketing genius. And you look at what he does. He just picks a word and he attaches it to a person. Little Marco [Rubio], Lyin’ Ted [Cruz], Crooked Hillary [Clinton].
“And that’s a word. And that’s how marketing works. It’s a simple, blunt message, but it gets under. It sticks, and it diminishes. And so it has been super effective for him, because he knows how to do that.
“And she [Hillary Clinton] just comes with, ‘Oh, he’s divisive.’ These are words that are not exciting people. And her campaign style has gotten, if anything…a little more stagnant and more flat.”
But there ARE exciting words that Democrats CAN use to quickly destroy Trump’s credibility. It only takes imagination and courage—imagination to create them, and courage to use them.
Let me offer some examples:
Everybody knows that Vladimir Putin is the ONLY politician Trump has refused to attack. In fact, he has formed a Mutual Admiration Society with Putin. Yet Democrats have failed to effectively capitalize on this by fusing the two together.
No longer: “TrumPutin” should be CONSTANTLY on the lips of every Democrat when referring to Trump. It’s easy to remember and say–and it says “traitor” and “dictator” without having to actually use those words.
Republicans should be CONSTANTLY referred to as “RepublicaNazis,” or “Nazi Republicans.” Given Trump’s use of Nuremberg-like rallies, his Nazi-like salutes and demands for personal loyalty from his followers, creating TV ads that drive home this message will be easy.
If you want a more modern term to liken Republicans to dictators, you can use “Republican Guard,” as in: “We are facing a Republican Guard of opposition in the Senate.”
This would establish a subliminal link in the minds of voters between Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard and Republicans holding sway in Congress….
Above all, Democrats should not simply borrow but co-opt a page from the Republican playbook and CONSTANTLY brand Republicans as TRAITORS.
America’s foremost Intelligence agencies have proven, categorically, that Russian Intelligence agents played a major role in securing the Trump’s election.
And Trump’s firing James Comey to short-circuit the Russia investigation—as he himself admitted in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt—only proves how much he wants to hide his guilt.
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WHY TRUMP WILL BE RE-ELECTED IN 2020: PART TWO (END)
In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on June 23, 2017 at 12:26 amOn June 20, a friend of mine named Dave wrote Kamala Harris, his United State Senator from California.
A longtime Democrat, he was concerned that the party had declined to the point of political insignificance.
In 2010, Democrats had lost the House; in 2014, they lost the Senate. Then, in 2016, after Barack Obama had held the White House for eight years, they lost it again to Donald J. Trump.
In 1996, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich had written a memo entitled: “Language: A Key Mechanism of Control.” It urged Republicans to attack Democrats with such words as “corrupt,” “selfish,” “destructive,” “hypocrisy,” “liberal,” “sick,” and “traitors.”
Newt Gingrich
Democrats, for the most part, have failed to craft effective counterattacks on their integrity and ability.
As a veteran writer, Dave wanted to pass on to Harris some specific ways that Democrats could do this.
“Above all,” wrote Dave, “Democrats should not simply borrow but co-opt a page from the Republican playbook and CONSTANTLY brand Republicans as TRAITORS.
“America’s foremost Intelligence agencies have proven, categorically, that Russian Intelligence agents played a major role in securing Trump’s election.
“And Trump’s firing [FBI Director] James Comey to short-circuit the Russia investigation—as he himself admitted in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt—only proves how much he wants to hide his guilt.”
On June 21, Harris’ office responded as follows:
Dear Mr. —–,
Thank you for reaching out to voice your concerns about the workings of our government and the state of our nation. The importance of civic involvement cannot be overstated, and it is an honor to serve as your United States Senator. I have heard your concerns, and my legislative work will continue to be guided by the needs of constituents like you.
I believe that each and every American has the right to education, public safety, and health care. I have dedicated my time in the Senate to fighting for the most vulnerable among us and defending the inalienable rights guaranteed by our Constitution.
It is for this reason that I introduced the Access to Counsel Act, which guarantees legal counsel for those detained while entering the United States, passed a bipartisan resolution condemning ethnic and religious hate crimes, and introduced the Empowering Federal Employment for Veterans Act, a bipartisan bill to boost federal employment opportunities for the veterans who gave so much to defend our nation.
I am proud of the progress we have made during our time in the Senate. And still, I know our work has just begun.
As a career prosecutor and the former Attorney General of California, I understand that our constitutionally-guaranteed rights must be diligently protected. I will fight to protect these rights, and make sure that our voices not silenced or forgotten.
As your senator, I will spend my time in Congress advocating for every Californian and every American.
Thank you again for reaching out. If you have additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to visit my website at —.——.——-.— or call my Washington, D.C. office at (—) — —-.
Sincerely,
Kamala D. Harris
United States Senator
Dave wasted no time in replying to what he considered a thoroughly unresponsive reply:
On June 20 I sent you an email outlining ways that Democrats can successfully mount attacks on Republicans generally and Donald Trump in particular.
Your email says better than anything I can why so many people have given up on the Democratic party.
NOTHING in this email even REMOTELY addresses the issue I raised in mine. It’s boilerplate that could have been sent out to ANY constituent of ANY member of Congress. No doubt I could have told you I was suffering from a poison ivy rash and you would have sent me the same “reply.”
And yours is NOT unique in its “outreach” to constituents. I have seen letters and emails from other Congressional members whom people I know contacted. And those “replies” had NOTHING to do with the subjects those constituents had written about.
Since Trump’s election, Democrats have had FOUR opportunities to upset his agenda via four special elections. The most recent of these occurred on June 20—and, for the fourth time, the Democratic nominee got flushed down the toilet.
So I would think that if someone directly addressed some of the reasons WHY Democrats keep blowing elections, YOU would have had the decency to directly respond to the subject. But of course you did not.
At the end of your email, you (or, more likely, your staffer) wrote: “If you have additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to visit my website at ——.——-.— or call my Washington, D.C. office at (—) — —-.”
After getting the completely UNresponsive “response” cited above, I do not see any reason to expect that any further emails or letters to you will garner a direct reply to whatever issue I have addressed.
Prepare yourself for a Trump re-election in 2020. The cowardly, Politically Correct approach Democrats habitually take to campaigning will guarantee it.
The tragedy is that, while your party DESERVES to go into the trashcan of history, those who depend on its members for protection against Republican greed and cruelty deserve far better.
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