No. of Recommendations: 14
The problem with that is that it won't work. You can't "tie it to Trump" any more than you can rehabilitate Biden's image from the debate.
The Willie Horton attack ad worked because people didn't know much about Michael Dukakis and because it was Dukakis who did the thing. So Bush was able to define him with the Willie Horton ad as soft on crime.
Project 2025 can't work that way. Voters know Trump. There probably hasn't been a politician in modern history that is more well-defined in voter opinions that Trump. There's no open canvas for a negative ad campaign to write on. His image is fixed, for good or bad.
Sorry. On this on you’re wrong. One of the things you *can* do with advertising is reinforce something that is true, or that people think is *probably* true. (You can make it true in their minds. A campaign of “Coke Rots Your Teeth” will be more successful than “My Cola Tastes Better”.) It would be child’s play to “make Project 2025 true” for Trump. Start with things like “reproductive freedom”, which has already turned into a disaster for him. “He lied about it last time, he’s lying about it this time.”
Next, eliminating insurance covering “pre-existing conditions”. “He lied about having a new health care plan last time, now it’s in writing in the new plan to eliminate pre-existing condition health coverage.”
Next: cutting Social Security. “Trump’s written plan says Republicans are going to cut Social Security. Don’t ask me? Read it right here in Project 2025, written by the people who worked for him!”
Next: and so on.
Make him disavow it. It does not matter - it puts him on the defensive, it makes him repeat the charge out of his own mouth (when Nixon said “I am not a crook”, it made people think: “Gosh, maybe he’s a crook”). It takes the ball out of his hands and puts it squarely back in the playfield. In politics if you’re not on offense then you’re on defense, and Biden’s on defense - and losing.
No, I don’t expect this will change the mind of a single MAGA. That’s a rock solid 35% of the electorate. But say it enough times (“her emails!” “Swiftboat!” “Willie Horton”) and it comes true for a significant fraction of those in the middle. It obviously won’t change the mind of the 35% that’s solid for Biden either, but then it doesn’t have to. It only has to get slightly more than half of the remaining 30% - and it will.
These are Facts:
* Project 2025 was written by people Trump has worked with previously. Up to 140 of them, by one report.
* Project 2025 contains many things Republicans have been salivating over for years.
* Project 2025 contains many things Donald Trump wants.
* Project 2025 it’s quite specific about eliminating well regarded programs like Social Security, Medicare, Headstart, the National Weather Service, even health insurance. It calls for eliminating overtime pay. It calls for … well, the list of hundreds and hundreds of pages is a gold mine of abuse.
Donald can say “I don’t know anything about it”, but that’s a lie, we all know it’s a lie, he has lied about it before (women’s choice, for instance), and is lying again - and that is something that’s easy to sell .
Tie it around his neck. Do not stop. Say it at every opportunity. When the question at the debate is “Should France be in NATO?” The answer is “In Trump’s Project 2025, he ….” Asked if the earth is round, the answer is “In Trump’s Project 2025…”
That’s how you run a campaign against these Republicans.
