Four years ago, Trump’s social occupation was over. The Democrats had the most of the internet, the most of the speed, and a fantastic chance to end MAGA for great. It was all within their power.
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But just as Barack Obama warned,” Don’t overlook Joe’s potential to f*** things up”.
The Democrats accidentally reopened the MAGA paragraph rather than closing it for good. Instead of capitalizing on their speed and driving a play through the center of Trump’s political coming, the missteps, screw-up, and broken promises of the Biden-Harris leadership are exactly why, four years later, Trump will be returning to the White House.
Crisis contacts— which includes PR, misinformation, and media relations — is a struggle of fighting narratives. When the dominant narrative suffers, you use issue contacts to promote an alternative tale that portrays your client in a more favorable light. You can’t lock in a few figures and follow an equation because it’s not something you can quantify with a particular academic formula. PR is nothing like balancing a calculator.
It’s more like skill.  ,
PR professionals are stories. And more often than not, the most interesting tale may prevail — especially if it has soldiers, criminals, and plenty of fresh feeling.
People don’t want to be bored. They crave crisis, enjoyment, and entertainment.
First, the Democrats were successful at framing the January 6 tale: they saw it as the death bell of the MAGA motion, a shocking meddling by the soon-to-be-ex-president, and the moral justification for the Democrats ‘ triumphant return to power.
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Alas, that’s the danger of political overreach: When your reach exceeds your grasp, everything you have slips through your hands.
Trump tried pointing fingers. It was the Democrats ‘ fault! It was Pelosi’s fault! It was a set-up by the feds!
But initially, Trump’s excuses fell on deaf ears. The general public grew sick of him. And he left the White House in 2021 with a record-low approval rating of 34 %.
( President Biden’s pathetic current approval rating of 37.3 % is actually a few points higher than Trump’s in his final year in office. )
Yet here we are on the anniversary of January 6, and the Democrats have lost everything: They lost the debate, they lost the White House, and they lost the public’s support.
So what happened?
It turns out that winning the propaganda campaign’s opening salvo doesn’t mean winning the argument.  ,
Make no mistake, President Biden had honest-to-God momentum: He began his presidency with a 57 % approval rating. Back then, the American people were exhausted by Trump’s antics, overwhelmed by COVID, and legitimately hoped for a return to normalcy. Had Biden delivered, he probably would’ve stayed on the ticket and won reelection ( his senility notwithstanding ). Remember, it wasn’t just his disastrous debate performance that sunk his candidacy, it was also Biden’s poor public polling.
Even Pelosi would have dared to act on him if his approval rating was still at 57 %.
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But in politics, you eventually need to deliver. The Democrats assumed that the American people were just as terrified of the Scary Orange Menace as they were, and that being” not Trump” would suffice. They made the classic PR mistake of marketing to themselves, and not to their audience.
The Democrats have steadfastly refrained from listening to the voters for four long years. They ignored immigration. They ignored inflation. They ignored the housing crisis.  , And instead, they kept on insisting that this was the greatest economy in the history of history.
Meanwhile, Trump offered a counter-narrative: Things suck now, and they were way better four years ago.
The American people supported Trump in both arguments and listened to both. After all, it’s not enough to support the opposing side; we still expect the president to do his damn thing.
Competency matters.
The Democrats were on the verge of winning the propaganda campaign for January 6. They really, truly were. But then, they overlooked one small little detail: They forgot to govern.
Let’s hope MAGA doesn’t make the same mistake.
