'Winning' is Trump's Electoral Strategy

When Trump announced his candidacy, I understood immediately that he had one massive advantage.  He already had decades of brand building behind him.  While every other candidate had to spend hundreds of millions just to be remembered on election day, he already had that recognition.

That meant that his real risk was in establishing credentials as a potential president.  If he could do that then he had to win as no one has enough money or time to overcome the name recognition advantage.


Then he went to work and he deployed what even in hindsight looks to be an absurd strategy.  He targeted the Archie Bunker crowd representing a third of his potential audience and got them onside by been completely outrageous. That alone gave him a lock on the nomination.  Even better, nothing he says needs to be taken seriously later when he is president, except to provide a laughing point.


By been outrageous and unreasonable he allows himself the luxury of completely changing his position without consequence.  Who will blame him if he decides building the greatest wall in the world is simply too costly?  It was nonsense to begin with.


By doing this he has forced all his competitors to sound like colorless speech readers with no room for growth.  That folks is what is called winning conditions.  Most amusing is watching all the GOP Mandarins musing about changing the rules. Do they really want a revolution?


At this point he is effectively unstoppable even on the convention floor..

 

'Winning' is Trump's electoral strategy

Mar 14, 2016 | By Martin Barillas

Donald Trump, who continues to win primaries to the consternation of his critics within and without the Republican Party, has made his appeal across partisan lines by invoking patriotism and the concerns many Americans have over issues ranging from immigration, Islamic terrorism and national security, trade and a flagging economy. He spoke of these issues in a speech in Boca Raton last night. Two days before the crucial primary, in which critical states such as Florida and Ohio are at stake, he told 8,000 listeners that as president he would get tough with Islamic terrorists.

Recalling one of the most significant military commanders of the Second World War, Trump said “General George Patton, can you imagine General George Patton right now? He’s spinning in his grave when he sees we’re not beating ISIS.”

Trump said:

"We are doing a politically correct war. We have to knock the hell out of ISIS. They cut off heads. They’re drowning people. We have to knock them out. We have to knock them out bad. We have to get back to our country. We have to rebuild our country now. It’s time. It’s now time that we rebuild the United States. Our roads are falling apart. Our schools are a disgrace. You see it on television — rat-infested, walls falling down. We build schools over there, we build it again, they blow it up, we build it again they blow it up. This goes on four or five times. And if they need money for Brooklyn, if they need money for Boca, they need money for any place, we don’t have it to do anything. Our thinking is wrong. We’re going to have really smart thinking. We are going to think so good and here’s what’s going to happen: We’re going to start winning again."

As for foreign trade, and America’s status vis-à-vis China, Trump said that the United States continues to play the loser. “Think about it: When was the last time the United States won at everything? We’re losing at war, we’re losing at trade, we’re losing at everything,” Trump said. “This isn’t China. I use China because it’s greatest abuser of all. China abuses us more than anyone. 

I hope they still like me after this speech by the way, but I don’t care. I have the biggest bank in the world is a tenant of mine in Manhattan, from China — 400 million customers — the biggest bank in the world.”

If the United States would to try to defeat its most significant trading partner, Trump said, “we could do great against China.” He said, “I sell condos in China for tens of millions of dollars — I love China, but their leaders are too smart for our leaders,” Trump said. “We can’t keep letting it go on.”

The GOP frontrunner then sought to set out his vision for his presidency. “So here’s what’s going to happen,” said Trump. He continued, saying:

"We’re going to start winning with our military, we’re going to knock the hell out of ISIS. We’re going to start — we can’t let it go any further. It’s too bad. It’s too bad. We are going to start winning with our military. We are going to take care of our vets. We are going to have strong borders. We are going to build a wall, and we are going to have Mexico pay for it.

"We are going to have great education — right now we are way down at the bottom of the list worldwide, but number one in cost per pupil. We’re going to get that changed around a lot. We’re going to get education taken care of. We’re going to do it locally — it’s going to be so much better, so much less expensive. We’re going to be proud of our educational system, because right now it’s so bad, it’s so broken and there’s so many people making so much money out of that system. So, we’re going to win with education.

"We’re going to win at every single level. We’re going to get rid of Obamacare, we’re going to win on health care, we’re going to start winning on every level. I say it kiddingly, but I mean it 100 percent: We’re going to win, win, win! We’re going to win so much, you’re going to get sick and tired of it. You’re going to say 'Mr. President, we can’t take it anymore, we’re winning too much! Please, we don’t want to win that much anymore, we can’t take it, Mr. President!' And I’m not going to care — we’re going to keep winning! Because we’re going to make America great again. We’re going to make it greater than ever before! I love you, go vote on Tuesday!"