Friday, July 24, 2020

WHEN YOU'RE STUPIDER THAN MARC THIESSEN, YOU HAVE PROBLEMS

In The Washington Post, Trump bootlicker Marc Thiessen writes:
President Trump is a marketing genius, who plasters his name on literally everything — Trump hotels, Trump high-rises, Trump wines, Trump Steaks, Trump water, Trump mattresses, Trump vodka, Trump board games, Trump Magazine, a Trump airline and a Trump University.
Most of these products failed, so the word "genius" clearly does not mean what Thiessen thinks it means. But let's continue.
So why not Trump masks?

On his campaign website, you can buy Trump-branded straws, beverage coolers, pens, Christmas ornaments and dog collars. But there are no Trump masks to be found on the site. Some private entrepreneurs are selling red “Make America Great Again” masks, but not Trump. It seems as though the president is missing a “yuge” marketing opportunity.

He’s also missing a huge political opportunity. Imagine how differently things would have played out at his Tulsa, Okla., rally if, instead of removing signs from seats asking participants to social distance, his campaign had left up the signs and handed out MAGA masks to everyone who entered. Rather than fending off criticism about how the rally was a third empty, the arena would have been filled to its socially distanced capacity with a sea of Trump supporters wearing MAGA masks.
Except that Trump's people wouldn't have worn masks, because they believe the pandemic is a hoax, are certain the virus is no more dangerous than the flu, and assume that we evil libs will drop the subject ten minutes after the polls close on November 3, because defeating Trump is the only reason they think we're talking about it now.

But Thiessen is on to something.
Trump’s goal should be to make MAGA masks to the 2020 election what MAGA hats were to the 2016 election. Doing so will help protect the country — and help him win a second term.
Why didn't Trump try to position himself as the solution to this problem? It worked for Thiessen's former boss, George W. Bush (Thiessen was a Bush speechwriter). Bush ignored warning sabout 9/11, then rebranded himself as the post-9/11 war president. Most of America gave Bush a mulligan for missing the signs of an impending terrorist attack. Trump could have been perceived as the master of the pandemic -- most Americans would have given him credit even if he hadn't been effective, just as long as he seemed to be trying to do a good job.

But you can always tell when a candidate is losing by the fact that the candidate's fans in the media keep concocting ways the campaign could be run better. Thiessen is not a smart guy, but he's smarter than Trump on this subject. MAGA masks would have lowered the infection rate and the death count. Alas for Thiessen, his so-called market genius wasn't smart enough to realize that.

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