If one goes to bed over several weeks with the mainstream media, the Progressive pundits, and activist all singing that the sky is falling in on Donald Trump and then wake up to a six-point increase in his poll numbers. It must give one pause.
Trump’s increasing poll numbers is an essential barometer of the American population that Progressives must read carefully. And there is a precedence for this behavior in the electorate under fire. CNN reported the following during the 1998 election at the heights of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal.
Leading up to Election Day, the president’s affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky was considered the “X” factor. Would it affect voter turnout? Would members of Congress who voted for the impeachment inquiry be rewarded or punished?
But when the votes were tallied, the presidential investigation appeared to have had little to no impact at all. For the most part, Americans returned their incumbents to Washington, regardless of their position on the investigation. All members of the critical House Judiciary Committee who were up for re-election were rehired. Twenty-nine Democrats who broke party ranks and supported the Republican proposal for a broad impeachment inquiry also won another term.
The most recent CNN generic ballot poll provides another shocker. In one month the Democratic advantage went from 16% points to now 6% points. The electorate is understandably rudderless. Those consuming mostly or solely mainstream media would get the impression that America is pulling the rug from under the Republicans. That is far from the case.
Broadcast news, cable news, and radio news bombard Americans with the latest news about Stormy Daniels. They follow every shenanigan or attention-getting ploy her lawyer uses to bait the mainstream media (MSM) for coverage.
The mainstream media beat two stories to death, the Russia scandal and the Stormy Daniels sex scandal. They are fascinated with these stories because living in their strata, they see it as the most critical issue. After all, can the president of the United States get away with “virtual treason” and a sex scandal? If there is something there, he is unlikely to get away with it in the long run, and no amount of cable news, broadcast news, and radio news is going to change that.
The problem is even as the mainstream media hyperventilate on these issues, there is no one on either side of the aisle investing enough time into telling Americans, beyond the Trump scandals, what they will do if elected or reelected. And under that scenario, minimal electoral changes are likely to occur because they do not have a driver for their wants and needs.
Democrats are expecting a Blue Wave. There is every reason to believe that there should be one. But it won’t come just from disgust for Trump or a Republican Party with demonstrably failed policies.
It requires that Democrats tell the American people precisely how they will make their lives better. They must inform Americans that they will solve the health care issue once and for all by instituting a Single-payer Medicare for All health care system. They must tell their constituents that they will finally create a subsidized child care system that makes working possible for all those who want to do so. They need to show Americans that they will solve the overbearing student loan/debt crisis. They need to tell the segment of the population decimated by the justice system that they will orchestrate necessary reforms. They must be proactive on many other progressive issues most Americans want as well.
The Democratic narrative must be bold. Most importantly it must be threefold.
For those voters who want to know what they get out of voting for Democrats, the above is good enough. It gives those voters an affirmative reason to vote.
Second, for those who want to know that the Democratic promises are possible, provide a realistic path to fiscally and politically get there. Describing the road is not difficult but requires informing the electorate more in-depth than they would get on cable news.
The third part of the narrative requires preemption. Republicans are in complete control of the government. As such, Democrats must not take the blame for the likelihood of many “bad things” on the horizon. Democrat must include a narrative against externalities immediately. I wrote about this a few weeks ago stating.
Democrats must preempt all narratives that cede defense of terrorism to the president and the Republicans. In fact, Democrats must put out the narrative now that America is at risk of a terrorist attack because of a dysfunctional State Department and a Department of Homeland Security run by an unqualified secretary. Democrats must be on the offensive and must be in preemption mode.
The same must occur on the Affordable Care Act. Just before the 2018 election, Americans will receive another health insurance premium shock.
Democrats must cauterize within the minds of Americans the reality that terrorist attacks and health insurance spikes will likely occur in the forthcoming months because of Republican actions. They must repeat it over and over ad nauseam, It is essential that they are not caught flat-footed, having to fight from a defensive position. They must preempt and stay on the offense. That is how Democrats ensure the Blue Wave does not turn into a ripple.
We should add a potential stock market crash and economic system meltdown triggered by irresponsible Republican fiscal policy, the tax cut scam. Democrats must put this narrative throughout the ethos loudly, often, and via every outlet possible, mainstream media, Independent Media, Social Media, and in face-to-face gatherings. A Blue Wave won’t just happen. It has to be manufactured, sold, and consumed.