You might think that Trump is certain to go down to crushing defeat this November in the U.S. presidential election.
Maybe so. That鈥檚 what the polls suggest. It鈥檚 what common sense would suggest, when you run a spray-tanned racist baboon as your leader.
But I still worry. Anything could happen. A terrorist attack, a sudden economic downturn, a more serious Clinton scandal than the private email server thing.
So Hillary Clinton needs to run like she鈥檚 10 points behind. She needs to hammer Trump (at least on the days when he鈥檚 not busily shooting himself in the foot).
And she needs to take tips from one of Canada鈥檚 canniest living politicians 鈥� Stephen Harper.
Seriously. Harper never had a high level of personal popularity. Unlike Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, or Jean Chretien, who each had their own flavour of charisma, Harper was just kind of鈥� there. He was clearly a smart guy, but he wasn鈥檛 going to whip up crowds into a frenzy.
So he went on the attack.
St茅phane Dion was the Liberal leader in 2008. He was hit by political drive-bys that painted him as a ditherer, as someone incapable of making tough decisions. 鈥淣ot a leader鈥� was the tagline.
Michael Ignatieff was 鈥渏ust visiting.鈥� The Tories beat him up as an outsider who hadn鈥檛 lived in Canada in 30 years.
They tried something similar with Justin Trudeau, painting him as young, naive, and not ready to govern.
It obviously didn鈥檛 work too well. But two out of three ain鈥檛 bad, in politics.
Clinton鈥檚 people have been showing a glimmer of this strategy in recent weeks, dubbing Trump 鈥渢emperamentally unfit鈥� to be president.
It鈥檚 not bad, but doesn鈥檛 have the punch of 鈥渘ot a leader鈥� or 鈥渏ust visiting.鈥�
The most difficult thing with Trump is picking a message that tries to cover several of his multiple issues. Do you attack his failed businesses, his ignorance of policy, or his abusive personal style?
The most famous example of framing in U.S. political history didn鈥檛 even use the candidate鈥檚 name. Lyndon Johnson鈥檚 infamous 鈥淒aisy鈥� ad juxtaposed a small child with a nuclear blast. 鈥淭he stakes are too high for you to stay at home,鈥� it ended, implying that Barry Goldwater was a dangerous nut.
Actually, maybe Clinton should just run those ads unchanged.
