‘Please, Please, It’s Too Much Winning.’

 

I’ve never been much on attack ads, Political Action Committees or cliches, especially in U.S. politics.

Alas, it may be time to embrace all of them. In fact, it may be the only time.

As demonstrated in the terrific documentary Get Me Roger Stone, the GOP has been masterful at whisper campaigns, PAC money laundering and sloganeering. How else to explain that our last two Republican presidents managed to take  office despite not winning the popular vote? (If the Dems do win enough of the two branches of government and do not eliminate the electoral college — an antiquated concession to appease slave states after the Civil War — they will deserve its consequences.)

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The Dems’ first goal has to be 2020. And never have they been more poised to claim it.

Consider: The Democrats have never been a more diffused enemy to target, nor the Republicans a more unified one. So why not start the attack ads now?

The reasoning is simple math. The Dems are looking at the most crowded slate of presidential hopefuls in the party’s history. And it’s too early to begin ads from any of them for fear of voter fatigue. But that’s an advantage; it makes a smear against any of them impossible.

Image result for democratic presidential candidates

Republicans, on the other hand, have become victims of political singularity: The Donald. Challengers have either died, retired, or quietly become supplicants of the inbred tanning bed. Image result for mcconnell graham

So why not start sowing the seeds of discontent now against Trump, which would be a shotgun blast at the GOP writ large. Liberals have free reign to use PAC money to point out the broken promises of the president, with no singular target vulnerable to a return volley. What would a GOP ad do? Attack Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer? There’s no indication either will even seek the Democratic nomination.

You don’t even need a narrator for the ads.

Picture this: a prime-time, 30-second spot simply replaying a broken promise Trump has made, followed by a headline or news clip showing the reality of truth. There would be so many to choose from you’d run out of PAC money before you could address them all. (Speaking of which, while you’re at it, change the acronym, Dems. Instead of Political Action Committee, already seen as a scourge, why not Public Action Committees?)

Sample ads could include:

  • Trump’s promise that Mexico would pay for a border wall. Then cut to any number of rebuttals, from Mexico laughing at the proposal of Trump proudly — and publicly — announcing he’d take the mantle of shutting down the U.S. government if Congress won’t force taxpayers to foot the bill.  Image result for mexico laughing at paying for the wall
  • Trump’s public denial of global warming. Then cut to the 17 TRUMP-run agencies declaring it real. Or footage of a state on fire.  Image result for california wildfires 2018 from freeway
  • Or underwater.Image result for hurricane flooding 2018
  • Or Trump’s promise of a tax cut, along with his oath of a simpler tax form. Image result for trump kissing tax form
  • Follow that with the new IRS study showing refunds declined 17% in 2018.Image result for smaller tax refund 2018
  • Or the promise of bringing jobs back to America. Abutted against, among others, Harley-Davidson’s announcement of moving abroad because of tariffs.
  • Or his pledge of hiring “only the best” advisers, trailed by mugshots of Trump campaign staff charged, indicted or already in prison. Image result for trump indictment bingo

 

The options are endless. And the precedent already set: Remember the Brett Kavanaugh support TV commercials? And the guy wasn’t even running for office.
Image result for angry brett kavanaugh

At the end of each ad, end with Trump’s most notorious lie: the promise that voters would win so much they’d get sick of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daOH-pTd_nk

After the clip, simply end with the tagline: SICK OF ‘WINNING’ YET?

Throw a punch back, Dems. You already struggle with a mealy mouth reputation, a stigma that has likely cost you myriad elections. Yes, it would require embracing the demons of American politics: negative ads and PAC money. But you already do, just too late in the game. Sometimes it’s better to own the pit bull than be running from it.

And yes, it’s a tired cliche, to fight fire with fire. But as we learned watching innumerable firefighters struggling just to hold their own last year, controlled burns work.

That’s the ugly reality about cliches. All have a kernel of truth. So speak it.