“Beware that, when you fight monsters, you yourself do not become a monster.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
The 2024 presidential election boils down to a simple question. Which scares Americans more? A Biden administration weaponizing the judicial system to destroy political enemies or a “convicted felon,” Donald Trump, winning a second term?
Who controls, defines, and owns the narrative post-conviction will determine who wins the election: Democrats or Republicans.
It’s still a coin toss.
Democrats tend to outperform Republicans on visceral and emotional issues, such as reproductive rights, race relations, homelessness, and health care. Meanwhile, Republicans excel on ideological matters like tax rates, government limits, national security, and personal liberties. It’s not that one side wins every time, but the way their bases absorb and digest data gives them an advantage on certain issues.
Trump’s beliefs are both emotional and ideological, which is problematic for both sides. These two sides of his appeal create a unique opportunity for crisis communication professionals.
Crisis communication is a vague and nebulous term that can mean different things to different people. At its core, it is the art of replacing a negative story with a positive one. The new story must align with how your audience consumes media and understands reality. You can’t make an audience think like you, but you can change the narrative to be consistent, comprehensible, and credible to their existing perceptions.
The Democrats are trying to limit this story to Trump. He is a monster. He’s a serial rapist! He’s a criminal! He colluded with Russia! He wants to topple the government! He is a threat to democracy! Trump is the Devil. Our actions are therefore justified, even if it means reinterpreting old legal statutes in a new way. You can’t deny that the Devil is evil.
Republicans must, however, make this about precedent. If we normalize charging, convicting, and jailing Biden’s opponents just months before an upcoming election, we will no longer have a democratic system.
What happens next? What if an all-white Alabama jury decided that Joe Biden conspired with the media to suppress stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop (“It’s Russian misinformation!”), and then charged the president with interference in elections? What if a MAGA prosecutor found that Kamala Harris and other Democrats conspired with the media to bury stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop (“It was Russian misinformation!”) and then charged the president with election interference?
The worst thing that could happen is a never-ending game of tit-for-tat. What if Republicans do… nothing?
The Democrats are sure to hate Trump as much as a thousand dying stars. They also hated Nixon, Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II. You may remember that the Left viewed them all as the Devil Incarnate. If the GOP nominated Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, he would be compared to Hitler, Hannibal Lecter, and Darth Vader in 2028. Republicans must clearly state that the radical Left’s weaponization of the judiciary was not an isolated incident. It is the Democrats’ new norm—and the death of the Republic.
Is there any doubt that the Democrats will do it again if Republicans give in and Democrats decide that this was an effective strategy? Repeatedly?
This is an existential vote—but it’s not because of Trump. It’s his enemies.
Not so long ago, Trump was a celebrity TV star. It’s funny that he wasn’t targeted by federal and state prosecutors then. The American people understand that Trump has been singled out for his political views and presidential ambitions by the judiciary: If Trump hadn’t entered politics, or if he had donated to Hillary Clinton’s campaign and jumped aboard her train, there was no way he would have been hauled before a court. He would have been appointed ambassador.
Hunter Biden’s not a felon, but Donald Trump is. Hunter Biden is a Democrat and Donald Trump is a Republican. Hunter Biden would have been in prison years ago if he were Hunter Trump.
They are no longer “Democrats” because they don’t believe in democracy. They don’t care about the process, they only care about the outcome. They’ll burn down the Constitution to get their way. They’ll burn down the Constitution if it gets in their way.
It’s as corrupt as Hell. It’s gross and dangerous. If Biden wins the election, it will be run this way for 50 years.
Remind Americans that there is only one reason Trump was charged and Joe Biden was not: The prosecutor determined that Biden was too feeble-minded and senile to testify. This is a questionable legal standard. If only Trump were more senile, he would have skated under the Biden precedent.
This is BS. You don’t have to be a lawyer to know this.
Even though Trump’s polarizing and divisive nature is a problem, the majority of Americans, including the large swaths of undecided voters who voted for Biden in 2019, still love America more than they dislike Donald Trump. Although they may not wear red MAGA hats, they do not share the bloodlust of the radical Left for political revenge. They don’t care if Trump has a weird haircut or if his tweets are annoying. They do not want to destroy democracy to win an electoral victory. This is not their view of the world.
For them, Trump could be a terrible politician. He might also be a dishonest entrepreneur. He’s also probably a horrible husband.
They don’t think of him as a monstrous person.
But that is how the Left sees the world. The biggest mistake marketers make is to market to themselves, not their target audience.
The Left is preaching to themselves on MSNBC, CNN, and other media outlets. But the Right needs to frame this debate as an ideological one that can be understood by conservatives, independents, and moderates. It’s not about Trump but rather the future of America—who we are, and what we have become. This is a debate that can be won.
The American people are able to recognize a monster when they see it.
