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July 17, 2024

The second day of the Republican National Convention is over. Unity is the central message. The Republican Party is fully committed to Trump and to Make America Great Again (MAGA).

The Compassionate Conservatism that characterized previous Republican administrations is a distant memory.

Curiously, Joe Biden, as the head of the Democratic ticket, is looking like Dwight Eisenhower, a elder statesman if not a war hero. If Biden could develop the oratory skills of an Adlai Stevenson, Eisenhower’s opponent in 1952 and 1956, he might repurpose I like Ike as I like Joe and be in a much better position to win the upcoming election.

Peace and Prosperity, another Eisenhower slogan, is consistent with current aspirations. But that is no more a call to action than No Malarkey, Our Best Days Still Lie Ahead, or Build Back Better, Biden’s 2020 campaign slogans.

The 270toWIN countdown clock shows 110 days to election day, and the Democratic Party needs a message that rings true and brings voters to the polls.

Sixty years ago, Lyndon Johnson soundly defeated the far-right-wing Barry Goldwater with In Your Guts, You Know He’s Nuts. Those words seem to fit Trump and his running mate Vance. But are they words to win by?

Sinclair Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here introduced a fictional Senator Berzelius Windrip who offered a fifteen-point plan in many ways similar to the policy agenda of Project 2025. Windrip was elected President and became the first dictator of the United States of America.

It Can Happen Here. Suppose Democratic candidates up and down the ballot repeat this mantra daily for the next 110 days. Then see what happens to election forecasts.

Time for some reading.

  • Dans, Paul. and Seven Groves (eds.). 2023. Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, (Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project). Washington DC: The Heritage Foundation. Available online.

  • Lewis, Sinclair. 1935. It Can’t Happen Here: A Novel. Garden City, NY: The Sun Dial Press, Inc. See the Wikipedia overview.

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