How Trump Can Win (Or Lose)

I’m in the camp that believes that the presidential election is Donald Trump’s to win or lose.

It’s a simple calculus: The undemocratically nominated Kamala Harris (how many Democrats voted for her and how many primary elections did she win?) has been a key part of an administration under which many Americans have not fared well.

All Trump has to do is to highlight the differences between his policy priorities and the harmful policies of the Biden/Harris administration. And Trump has an advantage that most candidates challenging an incumbent administration do not have: He has a successful track record in the White House that he can point to.

Trump’s biggest problem is the unforced errors he commits.

Just Stick to the Facts, Trump

He sometimes makes off-the-cuff comments about his opponents that are inaccurate or exaggerated. Just stick to the facts, sir they are sufficiently damning to defeat the Democrats.

For some incomprehensible reason, he commented on Harris’s race. He needs to avoid getting sucked into playing the Dems’ identity politics game; to most Americans, her race is irrelevant. Silly blunders like those give the other side ammunition to use against him and to keep the public attention focused on trivial issues. Focus exclusively on the major issues, sir; they are on your side. (READ MORE from Mark W. Hendrickson: If Greenies Want Justice, They Should Sue Themselves)

Trump keeps obsessing about the past — particularly the obscene and unjust persecution that Democrats have waged against him. The past he should focus on is the past three-and-a-half years of Biden’s dismal presidency.

I have great sympathy for Trump and how the would-be totalitarian Democrats have abused the legal system to torment him. However, Trump needs to constantly remind voters of his deep love for America and his commitment to a brighter future for all Americans rather than making the election about his personal vindication.

Trump needs to be more aware of optics. If voters perceive the presidential race as being between a sour, grumpy, angry old man and a sunny, smiling, upbeat, younger woman, then Harris will win a lot of votes on that basis. Americans value hope, optimism, and positivity. Harris’s handlers want her to project those qualities. Of course, Harris’s campaign is superficial; there is no substance there, but the optics are crucial. (RELATED: Beware Tim Walz: The Silly Midwestern Grandpa Who’s Actually a Flaming Lib)

Why the Smile, Harris?

Trump should ask his audiences why Kamala Harris smiles so often. Is she happy with what she and Joe Biden have wrought? Remember: She was not a passive member of the Biden administration. As president of the Senate, she cast the tie-breaking vote to get several of Biden’s legislative monstrosities passed into law.

Is she happy with the way inflation has ravaged America’s purchasing power during the Biden years? Is she happy about the flood of illegal immigrants that poured into the country while she and Joe ignored the problem? Is she happy with the green socialism by which D.C. elites have gone after Americans’ stoves, freezers, refrigerators, air conditioning units, gasoline-powered cars, dishwashers, heat pumps, hot water heaters, etc.?

Hit her on this point: Having been part of an administration that unleashed painful inflation on the American people by radically increasing government spending and expanding government control over the economy, she proposes even more government control over our lives by threatening to have government control prices.

Not only should Kamala visit our southern border more often, but she ought to visit Venezuela, too, to see government price controls in action.

Politics being the brass-knuckled fight that it is, Democrats will throw mud at Donald Trump every chance they get. Here, Trump needs to restrain his impulses to retaliate and let other Republican leaders speak on his behalf. His instincts are to get down into the mud with his antagonists, but it will seem more presidential to voters if he maintains some dignity by not taking the bait and letting his supporters address the specious accusations.

What if Dems try to make an issue of Trump’s management style and say that the turnover rate in the White House indicates chaos? The counterpoint is obvious: Over 91 percent of Harris’ vice-presidential staff has bailed out on her during her term in office. It’s hard to be more chaotic than that. (READ MORE: The Secret Democratic Cabal’s Openly Anti-American Agenda)

Trump is “a threat to democracy”? What an absurd accusation from a candidate who was hand-picked rather than nominated by democratic means.

Trump is a “felon”? Current rumors are that Judge Merchan will hang the “felon” label on Trump before the election for improper accounting of hush money paid to a porn star (whose salacious accusations against the former president remain unproven).

Republicans need to remind voters that when Bill Clinton was president (a man who was accused of rape by at least one woman and who obtained sexual favors from a young white intern) Democrats refused to convict him on impeachment charges related to the perjury he committed by rationalizing “it’s only about sex.”

What’s the deal here — “it’s only sex” (an offensive stance on its own) is a legitimate defense for Democrats but not for Republicans? Perjury, by the way, is a felony in federal law, so Democrats lack the moral high ground to vote against someone for being a felon when they voted to keep their own felon in the White House.

Trump is “disrespectful of women”? Exit polls in 2020 showed that Trump lost the votes of many suburban women who felt that he set a bad example for their children. But do those women want to endorse Kamala Harris as an example for their children, particularly for their little girls?

Harris’s political career took off as a result of her affair with Democratic power broker Willie Brown. How many women really want to vote for a woman who wouldn’t be where she is today had she not used her “feminine wiles”?

If Trump hopes to win the presidential race, he needs to swallow his pride enough to learn an important strategic lesson from his opponents. The Democrats may be terrible at governance, but they are good at salesmanship.

They showed considerable political talent by getting the doddering, feckless Joe Biden elected. What was the secret to their success? They kept Biden’s public appearances to a minimum. They are pursuing the same strategy today, keeping Kamala Harris under a tight leash and limiting what she says in public.

The lesson: saying less can be political wisdom. Donald Trump should absorb that lesson. He needs to discipline and rein in his public verbiage. That doesn’t imply he should hide — far from it! He has truth and a decent record on his side, while his opponent is part of a failed presidency. Stick to the facts, Mr. Trump. Tell the truth if you want to win.

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