Trump needs to highlight reality and disprove the false, media-driven narrative ... check!
Where we part ways is in the conclusion. I think it is difficult to overestimate the shock and revulsion inside “normal” people. By 2024 they will have watched 12 our of 16 years as venal, chaotic and violent as any times in their lives. They will have watched their savings being swallowed by inflation. They will have seen the inversion of our system of justice where criminals are elevated and patriots imprisoned. I believe that Trump, should he decide to run again, needs to shine a floodlight on the differences between the economic and diplomatic security of his years versus the calamity of the Obama/Biden years with the simple message. “Yes. It is really bad now. But it doesn't have to be this way. You can make it all go away when you vote.”
I agree with your advice to him.
There is an interesting dichotomy on this board that is understandable. There are many who reflexively take any constructive criticism of Trump as an attack on Trump or lack of appreciation for him. There are many of us who very much appreciate him and what he did who wish he were still there.
After the emotion dies down in 5-10 years I believe most of this board will see it more like I do. Trump is Trump. There are few things I would change about what he wanted to do or his policies.
I am (like others have done) simply stating what is an observable fact to me. I wish he had played the game just a little bit more. I hate and despise the game as much as you and everyone else does, but it is “the game”. I wish I lived in a nation full of people who thought just like I do and could care less about their “emotions” or “how your four letter word made me feel” but that is not the world we live in (would need to move to China).
As much as I despise them you can make a clear and compelling argument that suburban women are now the deciding vote in the country (assuming a fair election). The media narrative is very important to this demographic and while Trump clearly wins on issues, he often lost on the media narrative of his personality. While much of that blind media hatred was beyond his control there were many times where Trump would derail a news cycle that he was winning by spouting off something I usually agreed with but wished he had kept to himself.
It is a simple fact that has nothing to do with what percentage of MAGA my blood is. Trump was a great leader. He was not my daddy, pastor, or advisor. He was doing a great job for my children with the things he could influence and policies he could make or implement.
Most of that “good for my kids” is now GONE. We can’t even stop them in congress.
Perhaps all of us (Trump included) should try and figure out “why”. There is the real world and there is the illusion we believe to be the real world. I think too many refuse to admit that most of the nation lives in the illusion of reality created by people who do not share or appreciate our “values”.
Trump could not have erased the media narrative completely but he could have tried to blunt it to the point that he could have gained just 10% of the “suburban women vote” even if he fooled them just like Obama, Clinton, Biden, and Oprah have done for decades. If that is too much to ask for the sake of my kids so be it.
As much as I love Trump the future of my children and grandchildren is most important to me. Their future is in really bad jeopardy right now so its only natural that I contemplate “what if” and considering that Trump may run in 2024 and would be certain to gain the nomination it is not just navel gazing - it matters now and to their future.
That is the real world FRiend. I don’t like it but it is real. I know a few of these feckless squishes and bet you do too. Recognizing that these voters exist does not make one a feckless squish - it means I want to win and want someone who will clench their jaw and at least try to do the part none of us like just like many of us do in our jobs or positions of leadership.
God bless and Merry Christmas!