Trump came to power clinching 5.50% electoral vote victory employing an opposition research plan orchestrated by strategist Roger Stone. Using whiplash rhetoric, the successful gaslighting strategy was designed to ride the crest of anger that middle America had for cold Washington-style politicians. The Trump campaign was the apotheosis of Roger Stone’s work. His gaslighting strategies blend a mix of modern social media tactics, established advertising techniques with long-standing methods of propaganda. Through confusion, these erode and in extreme cases sever the opposition’s well-intended policy from reaching its intended audience. It then does a good job of framing the opposition’s policy in a different light. Like the current administration, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of Trump, ‘People want somebody who is real, who is authentic, and who is not scripted.’
Republicans alone aren’t to blame for this approach. In the 1992 presidential race, James Carville, lead campaign strategist to candidate Bill Clinton, earned widespread acclaim (or notoriety) for his phrase, ‘It’s the economy, stupid.’ This did an excellent job of trivialising the political lexicon and became a mantra that is still part of the American political talk today.
My issue with Stone’s influence and cued outbursts is they form unfocused anger that leads to verbal attacks on one another, and especially vulnerable targets. Naturally, those being targeted don’t act constructively when responding. They are prompted to say incendiary things which in turn draw even angrier counterarguments. It exacerbates conflict to distract real policies. The result is a US population that is angry, frustrated, and hates its institutions. It would be nice to see the media shift the attention from the president’s vulgar statements to that of real policy.
The fundamental question is one for the long-haul: has the sillage of the Trump-Stone lexicon changed what being a Republican means? Will young future, republicans employ these communication tactics? Or can the calm, noble, and good-guy Eisenhower-earnestness the Republican party was once associated with be restored.
No matter how often journalists dismiss Trump’s words; the words matter.
