What We Should Learn From Trump's Success

It's very interesting studying how President-elect Donald Trump communicates. We are used to politicians being very careful not to get caught in an "ah ha" game by some reporter trying to make a name for themselves at their expense, that they often sound too measured and not aggressive enough for their constituents. Trump decided long ago, that he would turn this idea on its head and use the media attacks on his statements to make the media itself a target and a part of "the establishment." Of course, this was bewildering to those of us who have been in Washington for years - because it seemed politically suicidal. But how many times did we say, "oh that remark will surely finish him off" only to see him emerge stronger? While the traditional politician would fear a negative "fact-checking" newspaper article, Trump quickly realized that his core supporters could care less what the Washington Post thought about his remarks - mostly because in his language, Trump is emoting, not building a sophisticated argument. He has, in a way, used the post-modernist view of truth against the post-modernist media, hoisting them on their own petard.

For example, Trump clearly knows that flag burning is a form of constitutionally protected speech. So the media rushed out to find some past quote showing his recent remarks were inconsistent. Guess what? Trump was not trying to win a Jeopardy contest - he was communicating what most American feel - that while it might be protected speech, we would still like to punch the flag burner in the nose, and we will cheer with great enthusiasm the person who steps up and rescues the flag from the jerk who is burning it. He was expressing our emotions not the legal facts of the matter - and that is why despite all the "fact checking" in the world Trump's remarks will "feel" favorable to most Americans. 

While this is remarkable on one level, not every politician can, or should, try to copy this style. Trump being a larger than life celebrity can pull it off in ways that would make most anyone else look like a fool. It can also be easily abused when the emotions being connected with are dark ones. This is where President Trump will have to be a lot more careful than candidate Trump. Instead of having to win 270 electoral votes, he is now the elected representative of more than 300 million people who call the United States home. This is his greatest challenge.

Trump has formed a connection with Americans who feel like the elites find them worthless, and their government doesn't hear them. These are the people who literally feel like the government is not merely ineffective, but hostile to them. Working class males between the ages of 25 and 54 are the only group of Americans whose life expectancy is going down, and the three main factors driving the increased mortality rate are cirrhosis of the liver, suicide and accidental drug and alcohol poisonings. In other words, the depth of the despair in middle America that the elites either mock or ignore is so real it is killing people. They really could care less about what the main stream media thinks about the person they have come to believe cares about their plight. Yes it is populist - but if it wakes up the country to the idea that the government has to stop creating an economic environment hostile to job creation and unconcerned with the loss of the dignity that comes from a job that brings value to a person's family, community and country, it might save the government from itself. If we now see Washington lining up to address this issue, then that populist notion may spur the kind of change necessary for the government to maintain the legitimacy that comes from the "consent of the governed."

Working class males between the ages of 25 and 54 are the only group of Americans whose life expectancy is going down, and the three main factors driving the increased mortality rate are cirrhosis of the liver, suicide and accidental drug and alcohol poisonings. In other words, the depth of the despair in middle America that the elites either mock or ignore is so real it is killing people.

Heaven knows I have been critical of the President-elect's language. I still fear the dark side of populism, where people are governed exclusively by their emotions and not by their intellect and conscience. But in studying the election, there is also no doubt that Trump made himself the voice of people who considered themselves voiceless - and the other people in government would be exceptionally wise to put their house in order and enact an economic program that helps create jobs by reducing bureaucratic regulation, taxes, and job training instead of driving jobs away through excessive regulations, excessive taxes and trying to pick which industries shall live and which industries shall die. Neither party will benefit if the government remains dysfunctional and in gridlock.

If, for instance, the elites believe that the world is warming up and all the ice caps will melt sinking New York City and San Francisco into the ocean, they should start with consideration of the fact that a great portion of the country is torn about whether or not this is a bad thing. Next, if the government can convince their citizens that it is true, rather than impose a top down solution, it should establish a national standard and encourage the most innovative people in the world to come up with a solution. Based on our history, we will come up with dozens of economically feasible ways to reduce emissions - and it could involve cleaner burning of coal, more efficient engines, scrubbing techniques that clean emissions before they return to the atmosphere and super-efficient solar power and batteries. Why, because the inventors will become very wealthy in an economic system that rewards the successful attainment of goals society believes are good. If you are a doubter, ask yourself if you have any objection to the person who finds a cure to breast cancer becoming a billionaire? I sure don't. But if government tries to make alternative power cost effective by artificially driving up the price of existing energy and heavily subsidizing their preferred alternative, the new technology will never succeed - because the people who are receiving the subsidies can earn a healthy profit by producing an economically mediocre product. 

Trump, to his credit, and to the surprise of those of us in the "establishment" won the election by giving a voice to some of the desperate people who are our fellow citizens. We can do something really positive with this by restoring the free market economics that restore dignity and value to anyone willing to work, and then spread that to other areas of the country, like inner cities, where there are also a lot of people looking for the dignity that comes from a life that produces value for themselves, their family and their community. It will be good for the budget - working people pay taxes - but most importantly it will be the cure to the negative kind of populism that leads to bad things when unanswered. Because rest assured, that if we miss this moment, and don't respond to "the deplorables", as Hillary Clinton called them, but also to the people in the inner cities who also believe that the government doesn't think "their lives matter"either, then we may reach a place where the divisions in our country make it impossible to govern, and turns despair into violence, as people believe they have nothing left to lose, and allow their frustration to turn into hate.