I figured this Everything Else section needed some life so I posted about the sneaker hustle and the response was tremendous. I would not be surprised if it ends up being the most viewed Everything Else post - ever at some point. Thank those of you who participated for doing so.

I am sure the owner and ourselves will enjoy the benefit of that added traffic / exposure over time. We can't wait to share more because there's no such thing as bad publicity if you know what you're doing. That lets me segue into a master, a man who knows what he's doing, a man who could quite possibly be our next President, Donald Trump.


The Message

“We’re going to build a big beautiful wall, and Mexico is gonna pay for it” Can you see it? “Make America Great Again” Can you feel it? “We’re going to win again” Can you taste victory? “Jeb Bush is low energy.” Doesn't he come off that way?

These are all brilliantly simple things. All things that help you see or feel what he’s saying. He doesn’t use a lot of political double speak. Trump doesn’t use a whole lot of big words. Genius on his part. The minute he starts using big words and complex messaging he’ll lose his entire base. He’ll start talking over their heads and their eyes will glaze over. So, on the night before a primary he gets up and calls a candidate a woman part (wimp) and crushes everyone by 50,000+ votes the next day. He’s connecting.

His base is the working class republican (who outnumber educated repubs by more than 2:1) and likely “Reagan Democrats” who’ve had enough of being lied to about the fact that economy is not roaring… Because they feel it. The see it in their paychecks. They see it in the folks who get fired from their factories and they go home wondering if they will be next.

Sometimes Trump may get off message and may say things that some folks may believe to be in poor form. He has a strategy when this happens. Defend every word he says. This will backfire if he goes too too extreme but when he made the comment about illegal immigration; he got attacked, he defended his position, his polls rose. When he said we should ban all muslims, the media got giddy. They thought they finally “had him.” “Such a horrible and un American thing to say” and all networks (including Fox) went after him viciously. What did he do? He defended; “we have to do something.” VERY SIMPLE. That was his entire defense. “We have a problem, we have to do something.” Result, polls rose + he kicked everyones ass in the “leadership quality” category in NH last night. Other politicians may have engaged in political speak “we have to sit down and solve the terrorism thing as big global team...blah blah blah.” Trump kept it simple; “ban all muslims.” Would he do this in practice? I doubt it. But I’m sure he knew exactly what he was doing strategically.


The Media

The media does not want to see a “President Trump.” This is evidenced by the coverage (or lack thereof) he gets. They have failed miserably in their attempts to kill his chances because they missed a step. You see, they forgot build him up first… They didn’t do that because they never took him seriously. You see, before you have the power to tear someone down, you must first build them up. The media didn’t build any of Trumps’ properties and television revenue is a pitiful portion of his overall net worth. Because they misplayed their hand they allowed Trump to brand the media as “the most dishonest people you will ever meet…” Most Americans read at an 8th grade level (sad but true) but even though they are not “book smart” they are far from stupid. They saw someone with no executive experience and who only had a solid track record for making speeches get elected President. They saw the media “create” him and fawn over him. It’s like when you go somewhere to make a purchase and you get hustled, you’re not likely to go back there again. This is why the media attacks on Trump have had an opposite effect on his polling.


What Trump Should Do MORE Of

He used to start rallies by reading his latest poll numbers. He’s stopped. He should start rallies by reading his opponents’ latest fundraising numbers; “Jeb Bush has raised $100,000,000, that’s a hundred million favors he’ll have to return when he gets to the White House.” “Cruz has raised X millions of dollars and that’s X millions of dollars of favors that have to be a priority when he gets to 1600…” “Bernie Sanders is now on pace to match Obama’s fundraising total and look at the gifts Obama has passed out to folks like insurance companies with Obamacare… I wonder who Bernie will owe a favor…” and so on. Fear sells... That's a passive way of scaring the you know what out of people. Hammer the crap out of these guys. Brand them all as bought and paid for more precisely, and more aggressively. The stronger he brands them the more it dilutes their messages. You can’t win if your message can’t get across.


How To Beat Him

There’s still time… The only way to beat this man at this point is to fawn all over him, love him, praise him, “have a change of heart…” build him up bigger, then destroy him. Remember, Trump already branded the media as “dishonest” and most Americans polled don’t trust the media. The American people see a sudden change of heart, they’ll likely smell a rat and look at other “safer” options. It will take a lot of pride swallowing to take that line, but it’s the only strategy I see that has a shot if they are that hell bent on ending this Trump for President thing. What do you guys think?


PREDICTION

If Trump can do reasonably well in the Bible Belt where Cruz is strongest, this thing is over come Super Tuesday. He’ll go on to the general and will spend the least money to be elected President than any candidate in history. He’ll win in an electoral landslide. He’s killing all Dems in Florida, Ohio, and Texas. There’s simply no mathematical route to 1600 Pennsylvania unless you win 2 of the 3.