Trump Goes Dark. Media goes RaRa
They simply can't resist can they?
Republicans took the traditional “shock and awe” approach and transformed it into “shock and stink.” While the Democrats continue perfecting the art of putting people to sleep, Trump and his MAGA amplifiers know exactly how to keep Americans awake and fearful.
The strategy?
Raise the public’s temperature as high as possible, then let the media take over. And time after time, the media delivers for Trump.
It feels like you could grab all the worst words in the dictionary, toss them into a word cloud, and call it Donald Trump’s strategy document. Humans eating pets? “One rough hour — real rough — and crime will end.” And of course, there’s the casual disregard with terms like “mentally disabled.”
After failing to effectively counter Kamala Harris on the economy, Trump is now zeroing in on crime and immigration. Meanwhile, Harris, sitting on a $100 million cash lead, has left Trump financially cornered.
To compensate, he’s reviving his 2016 “shock and stink” strategy, riding the media wave once again. After eight years of this non-stop chaos, you’d think the media would’ve learned its lesson by now. But that’s the problem with addiction — it’s hard to break free.
The media hasn’t just become numb to sensationalism — they’ve fully embraced it. When Trump grabs headlines, they ensure he dominates them. He rides one wave of “stink,” and once that crests, he surfs the next one of “shock.” And the cycle of madness continues.
The least the media could do is stop adding fuel to the fire. But they can’t. They’re so hooked on sensationalism that the moment a story or new data point crosses their desk, they automatically process it into the next headline-grabbing frenzy. Balance is for fools. The key is to keep raising the temperature.
The latest sensationalist bite? Kamala Harris is losing support with Latinos.
So, where exactly are we drawing the starting point to arrive at that headline? If we go all the way back to 2012, Democrats have indeed lost significant Latino support. But if we look at February 2024, when Biden was at 41% with Latinos, Kamala Harris has actually expanded her support by a substantial 13 points, reaching 54%.
But saying Democrats have expanded their Latino support since February this year is kind of boring, isn’t it? It doesn’t grab attention. However, saying Democrats are losing support with Latinos compared to 2020? Now, that sounds much more exciting.
Yes, Democrats do have a problem with Latino voters — an issue that should have been addressed a long time ago, but wasn’t. Biden made it worse by sticking to the Democrats’ outdated strategy of not treating American-born Latinos as Americans. They fail to understand that many Latinos view immigration much like other racial groups. They want a secure border. They want better economic opportunities. Many are not entirely opposed to Trump’s mass deportation policies because they believe that anyone here illegally should be deported. Democrats never grasped this. Biden didn’t grasp it. That’s why his support among Latino voters plummeted to 41%.
Kamala Harris has had to fill the gap left by Biden’s campaign, and that’s what she’s been doing. She’s moved that number from 41% to 54%. (I’m citing NBC polling numbers here — if we use Pew Research data, Harris’ support among Latinos is already at 57%.) Latino support for Harris is rising because she understands that border security and the economy matter just as much to Latinos as they do to other groups. She treats them like Americans.
It’s working. But give her a break — she only started a month ago. Moving the numbers by 13 to 16 points in less than 60 days is a massive achievement. Is it enough? Not yet. She needs to get closer to 58% or 60% with Latino voters. But the trend since February is moving upward.
Donald Trump isn’t going to change, unless the media changes. Their love affair with him will continue. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris is heading in the right direction with Latino voters. She’s playing offense on border security and gaining ground on the economy. Trump, on the other hand, has no choice but to stay negative. This will only help Harris further solidify her 21-point lead with women.
This is unprecedented.
But no, the Democrats’ lead with women is not going to keep increasing — it’s already huge, and they’re likely close to a ceiling. It would be wrong to compare this to previous election cycles because the 2024 voter base looks very different from 2020 or any prior cycles.
Was that hard to say? Nope, not at all