2020 Election Playbook 2.0
Well, it seems the 2024 Presidential election is coming upon us quickly. The coming of the election is bringing back the Democrat’s playbook from 2020 only with in an updated version. Back in 2020, Democrats realized that President Trump was still a very formidable adversary. They had been using every avenue during his 4 years in office to discredit and/or remove him, yet he managed to still hold his stature with voters. They also knew that their candidate, Joe Biden had many handicaps they needed to overcome if they wanted to win the election.
Democrat Party strategists needed to design a plan that would limit Joe Biden’s weaknesses while at the same time amplify their opponent’s shortcomings. The first thing they put in place was to embrace Covid-19. By focusing on Covid-19, they could use it to implement procedures that were beneficial to their party and Joe Biden. The biggest procedure change was pushing for mail-in ballots. The Republican Party supporters have usually went to the polling places in huge numbers. And at the same time, Democrat Party supporters were nearly as eager to go to a voting center in order to vote. So by using mail-in ballots, they were able to neutralize one of the Republican Party’s strong points.
The next item out of their playbook was to have their candidate keep a very low profile. Joe Biden campaigned from his basement. Very rarely was he viewed outside of his basement and when he did venture out, it was only to be before a very small and loyal crowd of people. In the meantime, President Trump was traveling around the country and speaking to thousands of supporters at his events. But the Democrat Party strategists were able to turn this advantage into a liability by playing up Covid-19 and use the mainstream media to make this a big issue. The media was swift to spin President Trump’s huge crowds as events that were spreading the virus. Keep in mind that the Democrats were very quick to spread fear about the virus and make it seem that their opponents were hurting the public medically.
The Democrats also capitalized on President Trump’s habit of using charged words in his speeches. The biased media gave a lot of time spinning stories and meanings of these words with the aim of shaping their position as one of reason. It didn’t matter if the word they were focused on was taken out of context or was meant as a bit of humor. They framed it to fit their narrative. This media attention to President Trump’s use of charged words were meant to distract from the real and vital message he was talking about. But the greatest tactic Democrats used was their power over social media. They made it seems that every word spoken by a Democrat candidate was the only truth and any attempt to offer any other side to their argument was labeled “misinformation”.
Lastly, the Democrat strategists used the tactic of division to their fullest advantage; they framed almost every issue as one of black against white or rich against poor, or gay against straight. They incited the hidden animosities of each group in order to pit each group against the other. This drew the attention of the public away from the real issues and made the fight personal on every level.
Now in 2023, the Democrats want to repeat their plan from 2020 with only a few revisions. Their strategy of keeping Biden away from crowds will not have the same effect as it did in 2020. The American public has had three full years to watch the gaffs President Biden has made in public. These gaffs have made the public view President Biden’s age as a handicap.
And along the same lines, President Biden was in charge during the rampant rise in inflation that was created by his willingness to spend unthinkable amounts of money on stimulus. This inflation hit the American people right where it would do the most damage to them financially, housing, food and transportation. Plus, the effects of that inflation are still in place making the American public give the job that President Biden has done a poor rating. More American view themselves as worse off because of President Biden’s policies.
And it seems former President Trump is taking a page out of the Democrats playbook by skipping the television debates and keeping his focus on being among his supporters. But also, President Trump still can’t keep himself from using charged words that give the left leaning media an opportunity to once again hammer him with his own words, no matter in what context they were said.
How this election cycle happens to play out will be the big question going towards election time. Both candidates have their strong points and their weaknesses. How this will play out is the great unknown. Also, we cannot discount the fact that maybe one or both of these Presidents might not win the nomination at their party’s nominating convention. Only time will tell and there are too many variables that could come into play.