President Trump is executing is an effective, albeit politically unprecedented, approach to messaging that keeps his supporters energized and his detractors reactive. Additionally, he’s connected those strategies so they feed off each other and — as a result — he is owning the American media landscape.
To quote Lindsay Graham, “Trump has dominated every news cycle since 2015.”
As Graham accurately observes, Trump’s domination stems from our own obsession with two inter-related issues. First, Trump deals in shock value and is therefore perversely entertaining. That the shock is deliberate should be no surprise; he’s harnessing decades of media experience to capture and hold our attention. Thus, despite consciously loathing his words, we unconsciously enjoy the antics. It’s worth mentioning a knock-on effect, which is the silent payoff of moral superiority that comes from a constant state of incredulousness.
The second, more noxious issue, stems from Trump’s strategy of fostering anxious attachment through volatile, polarizing and false statements. As most psychologists will attest, we’re hard-wired to seek predictable and reliable symbols of power. When we find ourselves in situations without acceptable levels of stability, it tends to result in ruminating efforts to analyze, predict and fix the variability. On a kind of meta-cultural level, one might argue that’s exactly the kind of dynamic that’s taken hold in the US, where many remain remarkably preoccupied with cataloging and demanding justice for Trump’s daily insults.
To be clear: There will be no apology for the lies. There will be no respite from the bellicosity. There will be no middle way. To Trump’s way of thinking, it’s absolutely working to desired effect.
Why is it important to get super crisp on the dynamics of Trump’s messaging? So we can accept it. So we can move past it. So we can we re-focus on a real vision for how every single person in this country, including the millions of people who have been economically left behind, have a future worth fighting for.
The cornerstone of Trump’s strategy starts with one principle: Trump manages himself as a product to be sold, not as a politician to be elected. This is important: one must deeply internalize that Trump doesn’t adhere to any political norms because he doesn’t view himself as a politician. Instead, he designs, manufactures and sells himself in accordance with well-established product development approaches.
The rest of this piece will deconstruct that approach. Like all good product go-to-market approaches, there are four pillars:
- Define market segmentation & target your buyer
- Position your product
- Define a value proposition (based on #1 and #2)
- Define the 4P’s — product, promotion, packaging and price
Let’s start with segmentation. At the highest level, read Why Representation Matters. The most salient point:
Many of us haven’t gone to college; 86 million have a high school or lower education. Our median family income is between $33k-$66k. Many more households, 56.6M, make less than $33k.
These are stunning numbers. Regardless of what policy positions you subscribe to, the American political system — to the extent it drives economic performance and income distribution — has failed the vast majority of tax paying citizens. It’s an even more abject failure when you consider how polarized income distribution has become (which has been well documented here, here and here.)
Further, consider the narrative handed these people: you’ve survived a period characterized by intense and frequent financial crisis (the dot-com burst, 9/11, the housing crisis and the great recession) and while you struggled to fall behind, incredible wealth has been created and concentrated within a small group of elite business and political leaders. There are many well-understood reasons for how we got here, but the important point is to begin to understand how America has failed so many and why their life experience has led them to frustration and anger. This is not to suggest that any of this is justification for the poisonous vitriol in our public discourse. This is only to offer an access point for empathy. Empathy is important because eventually we’re all going to need to work together again.
There’s a secondary target, which is the income earners in the 1% who favor deregulation and pro-business policies. These are people who wouldn’t necessarily attend a MAGA rally and likely don’t support Trump’s personality, but deeply favor his policies.
Strengthening the efficacy of this targeting is the reality of voter turnout. Abysmal voter turnout acts like a diluting force transforming the possibility of what our democracy could be into what it has become**. In 2016, only 55% of the population voted**. The electorate distribution isn’t even, either. Most voters are older white people who no longer represent the majority views of the US. That’s why Trump’s targeting is a master class in precision: he followed white money in two ways: to those who have it and those who don’t.
While economically different, they have similar perceptions of abandonment — both politically and economically.
Trump’s Target Buyer Perceptions
**Trump’s Value Proposition
** With a buyer clearly identified and their core problems well-understood, Trump crafted his core value proposition. A value proposition is the core promise of the product, with sufficiently differentiated benefits, relative to the target buyer. One rarely or never says the actual value proposition to the customer. Instead, it lives and breathes as the silent heartbeat of everything that surrounds the product. For Trump, it’s quite simple:
I understand you better than anyone else because I’m just like you. I will fight dirty for your interests and make your life better by doing and saying anything, regardless of the consequences.
These are carefully crafted words, so let’s break it down piece-by-piece.
This kind of logic is why a traditional positioning exercise is unnecessary. Trump essentially looked at the chess board and saw traditional politics as a failing game of statesmen and nuanced policy discussions where the choices were insufficiently differentiated. Throwing this out the window, he crafted something entirely new based on his entertainment experience. In communicating his value prop externally, he invoked the classic, ‘Make America Great Again.” The genius, of course, is the embedded nostalgia of re-using a Reagan era phrase, invoking the authority of a legacy without any of the experience to legitimize the claim.
You can witness how these consistently come together, watch his MAGA rallies on Youtube or browse donaldjtrump.com.
**Product
**Remember, Trump is the product. He’s selling himself. All of his words are a sales pitch. To the extent that a particular platform, policy or vision increases sales — he will adopt them. Therefore, at the extreme, if the electorate suddenly favored more progressive policies, I believe he’d instantly flip positions without blinking.
If we combine the value proposition with current policies, we get a product that looks and sounds something like this:
**Promotional strategy
**Trump uses media for two primary purposes:
- The first is to validate and test new ideas
- To induce confusion
On #1, think of everything from his Twitter to CNN, MSNBC, NYT, FOX and MAGA rallies. He’ll keep using them to test, refine and amplify his messaging.
#2 is more insidious and harder to see. Trump knows that the media plays a significant role in defining national dialogue and perception, so he has a two-prong attack strategy:
- Discredit and disavow media credibility while simultaneously;
- Proactively engaging mass media
This rivets us; how could this happen? What is he doing? He’s so unpredictable! No, he’s not. This has a tertiary effect, which is that an incensed media, and in particular an incensed left-leaning media, is proof positive that he’s upending the system that so callously left his supporters behind.
Price
Every product has a price. Trump asks for one thing: blind loyalty. Almost fealty. Look no further than the chanting at a MAGA rally, or Trump’s insistence to, “not believe what you’re reading or seeing.” Another choice quote, “Just stick with us, don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news.” In other words, I am your salvation.
Of course, this has much graver long-term consequences if we’re not able to alter our current path.
Packaging Strategy
What distinguishes Trump? What are the unique eccentricities that differentiate his voice from anyone else? This is where he’s masterful but increasingly predictable. His tricks are worth remembering because he uses them over and over.
**What’s next?
** If we can understand it — maybe we can let it go. We can stop trying to fix it. If we continue rewarding Trump with our indignation and demands for accountability, he’ll continue gathering the fuel that keeps him going.
This must start today.
What’s true is that a group of people who have been left out of economic opportunity finally feel accounted for. And while it may feel good to finally be seen, they know there’s no long-term plan for their economic renewal. This is where our work begins: we need a candidate and a party that clearly presents a bold plan for re-igniting the economic engine of the middle class. We need this urgently and not at the expense of equal protection and advancement of civil rights.
Let’s be smart. Let’s connect our dots. Let’s put people to work in areas where we urgently need help, like climate.
And most importantly, let’s stop talking about Donald Trump.
[1] Economic opportunity is listed separately from current income. If it were the case that income was low, but earning potential were bright — I believe attitudes would be very different. Instead, both low income and low prospects have led to a kind of desperation easily transformed into anger & frustration.