Why the Left still doesn't get Trump?

Donald Trump is the name that never leaves our lips. It’s so intimate in a way. Trump in our head. Trump in our words. Trump in our frustrations. 

The Left rejects Trump for so many good reasons. 

Trump is:

·     Narcissistic

·     Greedy

·     Lacks empathy

·     Ignores climate degradation

·     Enriches the wealthy

All these are valid, but do not explain Trumps incredible ability to control the conversation. The pundits predicted he would lose hugely to Hillary Clinton. The pundits then told Trump to stop using Twitter. Of course he uses Twitter brilliantly.

The Left keeps insisting, on MSNBC, that his base is limited in number. At this point Trump supporters far outweigh any presidential candidiate emerging from the Democratic party. That could change quickly but time will tell. 

The Democrats need to understand Trump better if they intend to win in 2020.

The key to Trump—he’s not a literary man. We know he doesn’t like to read or ponder documents presented by his security analysts, etc.. What does Trump do that is so effective?

Let’s turn to the master media guru Marshall McLuhan to understand Trump better. Trump is a master of TV—the power of its images and the all-at-once nature of digital communications. 

Marshall McLuhan wrote in the 60s and 70s but understood the Internet before it existed. He pointed out that the “literary man” would be baffled by the speed and intimacy of our communications and the non-linear characteristics of our present day media environment. 

Communication now has more in common with villagers sitting around the campfire than with a NY Times article. The conversation is full of emotion and immediacy, and seems to be quite a bit of lying and propagandizing involved as well. This is McLuhan’s global village and Marshall did not promise it would be peaceful or pleasant. 

McLuhan had grave misgivings about the future of our electronic technology. Seems like many now recognize the downside of all this connectivity. But we must live with it and study it to maintain any sense of personal control.

Here is what Marshall McLuhan wrote in the Saturday Evening Post (August 10, 1968):

“But in a deep sense, TV bypasses the ballot box as a means of creating political “representatives.” TV is not concerned with views or interests or issues. It is a maker and finder of images that ride over all points ov view and over all age-groups as well. The TV image ends all national and party politics.

“… An all-at-once world, fashioned by electric information, demands a candidate full of puns and unexpected nuances. Such a man is one who knows so much about the contemporary interface of all cultures that he cannot possibly be deluded by any earnest regard for any them. The new changes are not moral but technological.”

Hope that helps! Go Dems! Remember this is not moral war—but a communications battle. Better learn the new technology!

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