Elizabeth Warren drank a Michelob Ultra on Instagram.
Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris released forgettable, platitude-laden web videos and appeared on extra-safe, extra-boring talk shows.
Beto O’Rourke showed the world the inside of his mouth and then went on a road trip to Colorado.
In our social media driven 24/7 political environment, authenticity is something candidates can’t afford to fake, but the Democrats’ crop of 2020 primary challengers are doing their very best. For all the anti-Trump anger and energy in their party, the Democrats’ 2020 campaign announcements have largely been weird, underwhelming, and immediately forgettable.
That’s because the Democrats are forgetting two of the most critical lessons of the Trump era: First, people hate phoniness, and second, they respond to authenticity, strength and spectacle — only the last of which can be faked.
President Trump has successfully dominated the political narrative every single day since he started his campaign for president by dramatically descending the golden escalator in the marble-walled lobby of Trump Tower, to the tune of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” His first speech as a candidate for president of the United States electrified his supporters, bewildered the mainstream media, and enraged his political foes — but most importantly, it was authentic, on-brand, and classic Donald Trump.
Love Trump or hate him, there’s no denying that people respond to him. That’s because he understands how to command their attention with authenticity, strength, and spectacle, not poll-tested platitudes, flowery talking points, and boring, conventional political speeches. Trump matches the energy of his supporters. His fundamental understanding that voters are effectively done with conventional politicians enables him to capture their attention and imagination like few American politicians ever before. It’s a massive advantage he has maintained against his political opponents and will continue to maintain against the Democrats heading into 2020.
Voters can smell a phony a mile away, and the 2020 Democrats’ cringeworthy attempts to appear “authentic” stink to high heaven. As for “exploratory committees” and “book tours,” well, sorry but it’s not 1996 anymore. These days, attention spans are a minute long and entire news cycles are only slightly longer; with every politician under the sun running for president, the competition for voters’ attention is fierce and the old tricks simply won’t cut it.
If the Democrats’ boring, platitude-filled campaign rollouts feel like stale, underwhelming retreads, it’s because they are. So far, the Democrats’ campaign launches have been a masterclass in how to bore voters to death, and there’s not enough Michelob Ultra in the world to fix that.
Larry Weitzner is the CEO of Republican consulting firm Jamestown Associates. He served as the lead ad-maker on President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
