Libertas
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RE: Tonight's Trump AMA
I was looking at it from the "free college? join the military angle." Reinstituting the draft when people are calling him Hitler is unwise, but the proposal can be tweaked.
LOZ (infrastructure):
(05-04-2016 10:05 PM)The Lizard of Oz Wrote: Now that the Republican primary is over, it's time to turn our attention to what will be a tough and brutal general election campaign against the HAG.
In this thread and (perhaps) others to follow, I would like to outline some policy proposals that will help Trump gain the upper hand in this election. Before I start, a few comments to set the stage:
The most important observation is the most obvious one. The general election is very different from the GOP primary because voters who comprise the general electorate are very different from GOP primary voters. This is a truism, but it has very important consequences for the kind of campaign Trump needs to run.
Some of Trump's main themes in the GOP primary: building a wall; deporting illegal immigrants; banning Muslim non-citizens from entering the US; etc -- are a LOT less popular with the public in general than they are with the GOP primary electorate. To many independent voters these proposals sound extreme. In addition, their thrust is negative: they are all about keeping people away, walls, deportations, bans, etc. These proposals helped Trump with many Republican voters, but it can be a different story with the public at large.
Trump cannot completely back away from these policies in the general election, nor does he need to. But what he must do is to put a greater emphasis on other themes: themes which are positive, which can appeal to a broad swath of the general electorate, and which at the same time can allow Trump to differentiate himself from the HAG. These should be themes that Trump has already mentioned in the primary campaign, so it would not be as if they are just being invented now -- they simply need to be brought into the foreground and given a stronger and more pointed emphasis.
With that, I'd like to suggest the first such policy proposal which, in my opinion, is a great fit for all these requirements. Here it is:
Rebuilding America's Infastructure; or, in short, REBUILDING AMERICA.
What this means is easy to understand. America's infrastructure is crumbling; our bridges, tunnels, roads, airports, and even our Internet and communications infrastructure, are in disrepair. Compared to some places in the world our infrastructure might as well be that of a third world country. This needs to end, and NOW. It is time for a massive project to rebuild America. Trump is the president that will get this done.
Here is why this is such a perfect theme for Trump:
1. He believes it. He has mentioned this a number of times in the course of the primary, in many rallies, and -- pointedly -- in his remarks in New York on May 3rd, the night he became the presumptive and inevitable nominee.
2. It is a popular theme with the general public. People know that our infrastructure is in bad shape. They also know that a massive infrastructure investment project will jumpstart the economy and put millions of Americans to work. It appeals to both white collar voters who are consumers of infrastructure, and to blue collar voters who will know that they will be getting good high paying jobs rebuilding America.
3. It allows Trump to put forward a theme that no Republican president has ever done. In fact, it's more of a Democratic theme, and many "true conservative" types will scream and shout about "Big Government" and how evil it is, and how we don't have money for it. That's great -- it will allow the general public to see Trump for the pragmatic, centrist moderate that he is, someone who is not afraid to borrow ideas from the left and who only cares about America first, not any rigid ideology. And to the deficit whiners he can retort that interest rates are at record lows, and that he will save money by reducing our foreign entanglements, making other countries pay their fair share of the defense burden, and streamlining useless and wasteful government agencies like the EPA and others.
4. It allows Trump to remind the voters of the sphere in which he has the most real world experience and expertise: he is a BUILDER, he has built and rebuilt so many great structures all over the world, he loves it and understands it. So far, this has mainly been associated with the wall, but the wall is a structure meant to keep people out; it may be necessary but it should not be the only structure that Trump is associated with. Voters should think of him as someone who will lead the rebuilding of America's roads, bridges, airports, tunnels and so on. He will rebuild America and make it NEW and BEAUTIFUL.
In addition -- and this is very important -- Trump can say that he knows how to make these projects happen on time and under budget. The usual knock against infrastructure spending is that it's a massive boondoggle for corrupt construction companies that milk the taxpayer and take forever to get anything done. Trump can credibly say: that won't happen with me. He can say:
Quote:"Remember Obama's stimulus? We spent almost a trillion dollars and what did we get? How come all our infrastructure is in worse shape than ever? That's because it was run by incompetent politicians who have no idea what the hell they're doing. It won't happen that way with me folks, that I can tell you. We will REBUILD AMERICA and we will do it ahead of time and under budget. It's going to be so beautiful -- we're going to have the country we deserve".
He can say all of this with a straight face and voters will believe him because he really will know what he's talking about. Even if the HAG and the Democrats try to steal this theme from him, they just can't compete with his credibility and expertise when it comes to REBUILDING AMERICA.
Trump needs to be associated in voters' minds with America's future; he will Make America Great Again by literally rebuilding it, by making it a shining and sparkling place the reflects our proper role in the world. He will make it a country that looks and feels and runs great.
It's a win/win/win/win. Sometime soon, Trump should give a major speech about rebuilding American infrastructure; and he should make it one of the major cornerstones of his general election campaign.
LOZ (family):
(05-07-2016 12:23 PM)The Lizard of Oz Wrote: This thread is the next installment in a series of policy proposals that are designed to help Trump win the general election and Make America Great Again. Part 1 can be found here: Rebuilding America's Infrastructure.
To briefly recap what I feel are the keys to successful Trump policy proposals:
1. They have to be positions he believes in and that are a natural fit for his overall message.
2. They have to be FRESH and cut across political ideologies and party lines. They should resonate with a wide swath of the population, left right and center.
3. They have to play to one of Trump's personal strengths and allow him to highlight that strength in a natural and organic way.
The infrastructure proposal satisfied all of these requirements. It is needed because our infrastructure is crumbling; it is part of Trump's core message; it has nothing to do with Republican orthodoxy and can win over independent and Democratic voters; and it allows Trump to highlight his strength as a BUILDER, someone who knows how to get things built, and to do it ahead of schedule and under budget.
Here, I want to present the next proposal in the series:
Reviving the American Family: A Commitment to Supporting Bigger and Stronger Families
The motivation for this is simple: the fertility rate in the US (as in much of the West) is barely at replacement level. We cannot keep growing as a country and as a vibrant economy if we don't grow our population. We need policies that will spur the revival of the American family, a new baby boom -- the TRUMP BABY BOOM.
What Trump should say is that he will look very hard at a whole range of policies that will make it easier for American families to have 1, 2, 3 or more kids -- as many as they want. He can mention that Marco Rubio -- Trump: a great guy, by the way, no seriously he is a good guy -- had the very interesting idea of a new child tax credit, and the Trump administration is going to look hard at that. It will also look hard at maternity leave, and it will be open to many different specific suggestions that all contribute to the goal of Reviving the American Family.
Here is why this is such a slam dunk for Trump:
1. It fits naturally within the framework of a national revival and of Making America Great Again. How can America be great without great American families? A family with 1 child -- let alone a childless family -- is not much of a family. If we're going to be great again we need to start growing our population above replacement level, we need NEW ENERGIES and a part of those new energies is making babies at a higher rate than we have been for too long.
2. It allows Trump to naturally highlight a very important personal strength, and that is his own extraordinary family which reflects so well on him. He can say:
Quote:I've been so lucky to raise 5 incredible children -- FIVE -- they're all tremendous and it's like the best thing in my life honestly. Ivanka -- everyone knows Ivanka right she's a superstar. But I was rich -- it's never easy but it's a lot easier when you're rich. I want Americans who are middle class to have beautiful BIG families like I had so we can grow the country and grow the economy. We're going to look at maternity leave and a lot of other things. It's too hard for American women to be mothers that needs to change.
The American Family theme will allow him to bring his own family on the stage in a way that is natural and organic, rather than forced or showy. He can say, I just want all Americans even if they aren't wealthy to be able to have BIG BEAUTIFUL families like I've been so lucky and privileged to have. And it will allow him to connect with women in a deep and serious way and outline specific proposals that will help women more than anyone else.
I believe that Trump's family town hall with Anderson Cooper was one of the two or three things -- along with bringing Paul Manafort on board, and making the "rigged system" argument about Colorado and other delegate conventions -- that decisively shifted the primary in Trump's favor. It was that good. This theme will allow Trump to bring his family into the election in a way that is not really about him but about America and what can be done to grow and revive the American family. That will make it even more powerful.
Implicitly it will be a good contrast with the Clintons who only managed to pump out one daughter and a not very prepossessing one at that (but that's not something he should say, of course, let people figure it out for themselves). It's a telling contrast and if he hammers the American Family theme it's one that quite a few people will notice.
3. It's a theme that cuts across all ideologies, left and right, and appeals to all population groups. He can say how it's going to be great for Hispanics, great for African Americans, great for American Muslims, great for everyone. We all want BIG BEAUTIFUL families but we need policies that help make this a reality. The Trump administration is going to be a time to make a lot of BABIES in the US. It's going to be FUN -- he can give a little wink about that, and everyone will love it.
Parenthetically, he can say that this is also a reason we need to make our education and healthcare much cheaper and much better. Education needs to become useful and spur a "new revolution in the trades" -- we are going to have new, brilliant blue collar web-connected trades, something which is already happening to some extent -- we are seeing trades workers, plumbers and electricians and HVAC specialists walking around with iPads and getting much more efficient at their jobs. To that we will soon be adding much cheaper and much more efficient healthcare, competitive web-infused healthcare that will cut waste and produce better results. These efficiency gains will help us reduce costs across the board and we'll be able to Revive the American Family, so we can Make America Great Again.
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As always, if you feel that this proposal is useful and can help Trump in the general election, feel free to communicate it to his people and to the main Trumpers online -- such as Bill Mitchell and also others.
Reviving the American Family will Make America Great Again. The TRUMP BABY BOOM. Spread the word.
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