A Citizen's Guide to Beating Donald Trump

by David Plouffe

  Many voices and many types of content will be essential for conveying the superiority of our candidate into the digital bloodstream. One would be a farmer from southwestern Wisconsin who whips out her phone in June and says while sitting on her tractor, “Trump’s trade war is killing me. Most farmers agree. I also don’t like the example he’s setting for kids like mine. I gave Trump a chance last time, but I’m voting for the Democrat, who can’t be any worse and is at least saying all the right things about ending Trump’s dumb war on farmers. It won’t take too many of us to flip Wisconsin. I might even paint a sign on my barn saying ‘Dump Trump.’”

  Once the sign is painted, she can post a photo on Instagram and also capture by post and video some of the good—and funny—reactions to it. This content is a trifecta of goodness: great message about the effect of Trump’s trade war on a farmer in a key battleground state, a video that may encourage others who feel the same way to follow suit and create their own content, and a sign on a barn—instant attention-getter. There are unlimited similar options. Ask yourself these questions: What visible areas do you have on your property? What image can you create that drivers will see and snap and post? Live in Florida on a route busy with tour busses all the time? Hit ’em with a sign or poster.

  Because we live in an increasingly visual world, you might create signs and posters for your yard or windows, and paint the side of the barn. Search for infographics and charts that are crystal clear at a glance.

  A quick Google search will yield dozens, hundreds, thousands of sites demonstrating with graphs and pie charts that the lion’s share of Trump’s tax cuts went to the wealthy and large corporations. They show how almost all of the largest of the big corporations used their share of the boondoggle to buy back stock to feather the already gilded nests of the wealthy, not to create jobs as promised, further demonstrating how the reckless tax cuts have blown up the deficit.

  Copy the results of your search onto fliers and drop them at doors throughout your community. Make the point that these horribly misguided policies were also a complete betrayal of Trump’s claim that he would fight for the “forgotten” American. Instead, he forgot about most of America and did all he could for the top 1 percent.

  Medicaid will be a pivotal issue throughout the country. If you live in a state like Virginia, which expanded Medicaid, and you or a family member receive treatment you didn’t have before, share that story and testify that four more years of the incumbent puts your health at risk. Tell a story about someone with a disabled child or an aging parent whose doctor visits will be cut if Trump and the Republicans get four more years to gut the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

  It could be that your child has respiratory troubles, and you were so hopeful when the Obama administration cracked down on mercury emissions from plants in your area—a commonsense initiative that Trump’s stooges have now reversed, allowing more toxins to be released into your community’s air. Your child’s very health is at stake.

  Maybe you work at a company in the green energy space that started and flourished due to support during the Obama years. Tell voters that the Democrat will expand such initiatives. Trump and his political appointees in the pertinent federal agencies will do their best to crush them and kill jobs.

  Playing offense with all possible voters and conflicted voters, we need to make sure there is plenty of content that they can see and share as they work through their decision. Maybe it’s a pie chart. Maybe it’s personal testimony. Maybe it’s a big sign on the barn, or a sandwich board on your Labrador. Make it factual. Make it personal. Make it count. Keep it going until November 3.

  On the big issues, we have both powerful truth and powerful truth tellers on our side. Regarding climate change, for example, every major environmental group, scientists, high-profile voices like Leonardo DiCaprio’s that have credibility on climate, and credentialed politicians like Al Gore are likely to have statements, op-ed pieces, and interviews explaining how the Democratic nominee is all that stands between us and climate catastrophe. Share that content with a young, concerned voter who has “heard” otherwise.

  Health care professionals, experts on public health, even Barack Obama himself will have produced scads of material on Medicaid and other health care issues, all driving home the point that it’s Democrats and Democrats only who will build on Obamacare, not destroy it, and fight for more coverage for more people and further bring down costs.

  As for immigration, elected officials, including sheriffs who patrol the southern desert border, Dreamers, business leaders, and many other supporters of sane immigration laws will have declared on the record that Trump is the most anti-immigrant president in U.S. history. His Democratic opponent will be proimmigrant and committed to fighting for comprehensive immigration reform that will finally solve our immigration challenges. Univision and Telemundo will also provide meaty content evaluating the two candidates on immigration policy, plans, and attitudes.

  There is no shortage of good content, no shortage of ways to share it. Let there be no shortage of supporters doing this.

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  Trump unleashes lies at an unprecedented rate, and his accomplices in the Fox News/Sinclair/Breitbart media-entertainment vortex from hell defend every single one. It won’t get better as we approach the election. The voter-suppression and voter-confusion efforts we saw in 2016 will be perpetrated on a much grander scale in 2020, some based in Moscow, Belarus (and other foreign locations), Washington, or Trump Tower. Young voters will be served ads claiming that the Democratic nominee is in bed with the fossil-fuel industry and won’t do anything on climate change. Health care sensitive swing voters will hear that our candidate is opposed to universal health care. Young Latino voters will be told that Trump is the only candidate for comprehensive immigration reform, that the Democrat has no plan.

  Unbelievable claims—except that they aren’t unbelievable to everyone. In fact, the Trump campaign is already spending millions on these types of digital ads in core battleground states while our candidates battle it out in the primary. We have a lot of catching up to do.

  As already explained, the Republicans’ hope is that some anti-Trump voters will give up on the Democrats too, and be driven to third-party candidates or not vote at all. For us, stopping this drive to suppress turnout is, to borrow the term from NASA, “mission critical.” We can’t let these incredibly duplicitous tactics succeed.

  We don’t have to match the Trump machine blow for blow, but we do have to unleash responses in such numbers and in so many mediums that his one huge presidential megaphone is matched not with volume, because that’s impossible, but with numbers. Millions of smaller megaphones.

  In the opening chapter I talked about how important it is to fight back—play defense—and proposed some general ideas about how to do so. Now let’s examine how to use our own specific voices proclaimed into our own, maybe homemade, megaphones.

  You see something in your Facebook feed from one of your old college friends about a “study” demonstrating that if the Democrat is victorious, crime will rise 50 percent and rapes and murders by undocumented immigrants will triple. Take a minute to shake your head in frustration, sigh in sadness, but then respond calmly and by sharing content that shows the Democrat’s commitment to increasing funds for local enforcement; stats showing that immigrants commit fewer violent crimes than those native born; our candidate’s commitment to solving at long last the immigration challenge with comprehensive reform, including smart, humane, technology-based border security. It’ll take you just a few seconds to search out the good stuff. Put up links to those interviews, statements, and videos in a comment on his post to give something new to think about to those who roll their eyes and say it’s a choice of the lesser of two evils.

  Maybe there is one person in this particular Facebook chain who will factor in the information you share. Two is better, but one i
s okay. Any “lesser of two evils” voters will understand the profound differences—and the profound stakes—for them and their communities in this election.

  Even if zero people in this chain are directly influenced, others in the feed who share your views and are committed to defeating Trump will now have more confidence to engage in their own rapid response. They will have their own ideas about how to do so, weaponry from their own personal arsenal.

  Now that crazy Uncle John is at it again, sending a new email full of misinformation, the infanticide conspiracy theory, for example, your wisest course of action is to take a moment to inwardly vent your frustration and sadness, then get down to business:

  “Uncle John, I respect that you support Trump. As you know, I do not support Trump. While I don’t support everything about the Democratic nominee, I think on balance our country would be better off with that nominee in the White House than four more years of Trump. But let’s make it an honest debate. You have plenty of arguments to make on Trump’s behalf that are true and maybe persuasive to some. The article/video/infographic you just shared to suggest the Democratic nominee supports infanticide is a lie. No credible person in our country, much less a presidential candidate, supports infanticide. My candidate is pro-choice, yes. Trump used to be pro-choice; now he says he is pro-life. So there’s that difference. My candidate wants abortion to be safe, legal, and rare. Trump would like to see it outlawed—for every woman. Check out this article below from the Wall Street Journal, hardly a liberal source, that captures the candidate positions on abortion and makes clear the infanticide charge is a hideous lie.”

  I realize that sending such a message will likely engender an intolerably large number of replies, perhaps from people from both sides. If you choose to weigh in again, perhaps simply respond with, “Here’s another article from another conservative source.”

  Your search will yield plenty to choose from, pointing out the truth.

  Again, maybe it will have an impact on someone on the chain. Maybe not. But it gives both confidence and ammunition to others on the chain and may even give pause to some Trump supporters about the content of their own chain or posts on infanticide. Maybe they will think they are not on supersolid ground.

  I know some of you who may be younger or live on the coasts may think talk radio died in the 1980s, but it’s alive and well in many parts of America, mostly in Trump and maybe-Trump country. And there are lots of sports call-in shows, where the presidential race is sometimes a hot topic along with why my Philadelphia 76ers may win the NBA Championship.

  Tune in sometime and try to target a show originating in a maybe-Trump region. If the blowhard host or deranged caller makes a patently spurious charge about Democrats wanting to throw open the border, take health care away from veterans, free all prisoners regardless of how violent their offense was, et cetera, grab your phone and wait your turn, and then, before they know what’s hit them, point out the indisputable fact that Trump is the most fiscally reckless president in history, the champion deficit increaser, and not due to programs that also produced jobs and infrastructure but with the largest giveaway to the rich in history.

  Go right at them. If you get the opportunity, use the same points you would online, provide websites or sources people should look up online for verification.

  You’ll drive them nuts. The Hannitys, Carlsons, and Limbaughs of the world, as well as the second-string local talk show hosts, simply cannot handle being directly challenged. They bully, bloviate, and dominate.

  Even if they taunt you, even if you convince no one, the Trumpsters will be forced to spend precious airtime defending their man, not launching errant missiles at our nominee. Time of possession is important in sports and politics. So is setting the tempo of the game.

  Also, there will be people listening in who actually are going to vote for the Democratic nominee, even if in small numbers. Perhaps they get enjoyment out of all the crazy talk or want to know what the other side is peddling. I happen to believe that from time to time it’s a very smart thing to drop into crazy town and listen to Limbaugh and the rest. I certainly find it motivational.

  Besides, piercing the reality distortion field they live in can be a whole lot of fun.

  Maybe you’re listening to the Buck Sexton Show in the evening, running on WMEQ in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The host is leading a discussion about whether Trump has delivered on his promise to drain the swamp. He believes Trump has succeeded—look how many scientists have left certain agencies!—and he welcomes callers with other examples of how swamp-drainy Trump has been.

  You call in and say, “No doubt that is one of his appeals. But in fact, it’s the biggest promise he’s broken. He has used the presidency to personally enrich himself and his family, has likely illegally meddled into business mergers and acquisitions. No administration has had more lobbyists working in it or designing its policies. DC is now more corrupt and swampier than Wall Street and Hollywood, thanks to Donald Trump.”

  And have the objective content ready to cite, if you get the chance.

  Say Trump spends a week in September barnstorming the handful of true battleground states on what might as well be labeled the Democrats Love Rapists and Murderers Tour. Much more likely to happen than not, sadly. Let’s say you live in one of those battleground states, Wisconsin, say, in the town of Manitowoc. The Democrats’ nominee will drive the party’s different message that week, let’s hope effectively. The nominee may have press events scheduled in Madison and Milwaukee to reference the absurdity of the attacks and fire back. Local Democratic officials, current and former law enforcement voices, and crime victims will be on hand. The campaign may run some ads pushing back. All good, but the circus that is Trump will surely gobble up lots of news and social media. Our events will get some statewide TV and radio coverage—not as much as Trump’s stuff, but some—but what the campaign won’t likely be able to execute is a local event in your hometown, Manitowoc.

  It is therefore imperative that local Democratic supporters are readily available to all media and are armed with good talking points and easily shared content. You will serve as good rapid responders on the spot. Same principle here. Don’t get spooked; don’t be afraid you won’t be “professional” enough; and don’t worry that you don’t have a suitable podium. Who cares that you’ve never done anything like this? The local voices, including yours, will be much more trusted by your neighbors than those from the “liberal” big counties. They won’t drown out Trump, but they will ensure that the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter and WMOT, the local radio station, give the Democratic nominee’s positions prominence. Thanks to you.

  3

  REGISTER

  Registration—can voter registration really bend the curve toward victory, or is it just nibbling around the edges? Let me tell you one quick story about the campaign volunteers in one state whose voter registration work altered the national campaign strategy. The state is Florida, where both early public polling and our own surveys months before Election Day suggested that the Sunshine State was out of reach for Barack Obama in 2008.

  Wrong.

  He won with 51 percent of the November tally. Nevertheless, four years later, in the run-up to the election, Florida was considered again out of reach by many, including some in our own campaign. In fact, it was looking worse than had been predicted in 2008. In mid-October, some news organizations even declared the state out of reach for the president; Romney would win. These organizations therefore declared they would stop wasting their money on polling.

  At the campaign HQ in Chicago and the White House in Washington, we once again had to decide whether to tilt at windmills (if you listened to the political chatter). But we started focusing on a different interpretation. Florida had a really fluid population (and still does), with people moving in and out all the time, large numbers of young voters crossing the eighteen-year-old threshold every year, and a large numb
er of unregistered minority voters who were now eligible to vote. All in all, there was a huge target population of potential supporters, invisible (and thus uncounted) to the pollsters. We thought that if we could dive into this “target pool” with enough “human capital”—volunteers—to get enough registered we could adjust the electorate in our favor—winning the game we wanted to play, not the other way around.

  The brilliant number crunchers in Chicago and their very cool software modeled the likely Florida outcome after being given different registration numbers. Good news: if we could register more than 250,000 from the favorable Obama cohorts, we could win in a squeaker, and in our winner-take-all system, 49.9 percent is worth squat, but 50.1 percent is as good as a landslide.

  We knew we had an incredibly large and passionate grassroots volunteer base in the Sunshine State, and they didn’t balk at the numbers. They believed they could register that many people. They were adamant, and the candidate was tempted, but as an extremely logical guy, he wanted to make sure we were making a sound decision before we poured resources, energy, and his time into Florida. Now remember, he had led an extremely successful voter registration effort in Illinois in 1992 (the first Bill Clinton election) called Project Vote. He knew what was possible when a large number of unregistered or improperly registered voters are engaged by sufficient human and financial resources to get them properly on the voting rolls. Magic, that’s what.

  Most candidates would have written off Florida as a lost cause in 2012, and they would indeed have lost the state. But with Obama’s experience in community organizing, looking at the election and the electorate in a fundamentally different way than the political class was accustomed to, he believed Florida was possible. When the question was put to him, he didn’t blink, “We won it once, we can win it again.”