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Donald Trump, Jr., the Presidents eldest son, thinks that his father is getting a raw deal. In a recent appearance on Team Trump Onlinea nightly video series that serves as a substitute for campaign rallies and often attracts more than a million viewershe complained that his father is having to wage war against the deep-state guys and unchecked attacks from influencers on the other side. He said that each reporter at the White House briefings has an agenda, and that is to destroy Donald Trump. Joe Biden cant remember where he is fifty per cent of the time, Trump, Jr., said, but he can count on the media lackeys who are the marketing wing of the Democrat Party. The Democrats, he added, are becoming the party of socialism and communism. That includes Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaibyou know, the Hamas caucus in Congress. As for the COVID-19 outbreak, which has caused more than eighty thousand deaths in the U.S. to date, he said, China basically screwed the whole world.

Venom and victimization largely define the Presidents public persona, and the same holds true for the online campaign. Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee in early March, and the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to barnstorming a few weeks later, but the rhetoric of Trumps campaign has barely budged. On March 12th, as the coronavirus crisis was taking hold in the United States, it e-mailed its supporters a photograph of Trump, ruddy face fully made up, a flag pin in his lapel, sitting behind the Resolute desk in the Oval Office, looking steely. The e-mail said that there is no room for partisanship, and the President is calling on both parties in Congress to unite. The very next day, when Trump declared a national emergency, the campaign reverted to form, blasting Sleepy Joe and Crazy Bernie. Last weekend, after the Justice Department dropped its charges against Michael Flynn, Trumps former national-security adviser, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I., the campaign crowed, in a fund-raising text, Justice for Gen Flynn! A WITCH HUNT from day 1! ALL GIFTS TRIPLED TO DRAIN THE SWAMP.

Anyone who has attended Trumps rallies, where thousands of fans in MAGA hats whoop and cheer at his insults and diatribes, can attest that the President, ever a showman, knows how to play to his target audiences. And, yet, as Biden edges into the lead in key states, such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Florida, pollsters and political strategists are questioning whether Trumps perennial pitch can carry him to victory on November 3rd. His political base is loyal but narrow. When Democrats scored heavily in the suburbs in the 2018 midterms, and captured a majority in the House of Representatives, it was women voters who made the difference. A recent Quinnipiac poll in Florida showed Trump lagging behind Biden among women, and also among two groups that delivered crucial support in 2016: voters over the age of sixty-five and voters who dislike both candidates. When I asked Douglas Schwartz, the director of the Quinnipiac poll, about the survey, he said that Biden does better among both groups on honesty, leadership, and empathy. These numbers are a warning sign for his campaign, Schwartz said of the President.

The Trump campaign brags about an army of field organizers, the cell-phone numbers of tens of millions of supporters, and a new app that connects voters to news, virtual events, and volunteer opportunities, from fund-raising to voter registration. Each is a significant upgrade from Trumps 2016 effort, which relied on his outsized personality, his televised rallies, and the power of social media. The current operation, led by Brad Parscale, who ran Trumps successful Facebook marketing campaign in 2016, has raised more than seven hundred and thirty million dollars. In cash-on-hand, Biden lags tens of millions of dollars behind. Its not like a campaign of grievance and anger and fear hasnt been a pillar of American politics since there was an American politics, Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster who worked on Barack Obamas Presidential campaigns, said. Thats exactly how Trump won. Republicans are right to be worried, Belcher added, but even as Trump struggles to expand his base COVID-19 and the plunging economy are making predictions difficult. Given that environment, where people are afraid and anxiousand understandably socan you count out a candidate peddling grievance and fear?

In hundreds of different versions of its standard pitch, Trumps campaign complains, boasts, and beseeches. The President, his surrogates, and the campaign staff spray a familiar buckshot of belittling nicknames and insults at a cast that includes Sleepy Joe, Crazy Bernie, and Crooked Hillary, who were recently joined by Cheatin Obama. An e-mail on Monday, targeting Biden, asked supporters to show the Left that you REJECT their corrupt candidate, while one on Friday called Biden a certified CROOK. During a recent Team Trump Online broadcast, Parscale bragged about a roll of Hillary Clinton toilet paper that I use every time Im in a bad mood. I have boxes of it, and I take it into the bathroom, and its just enjoyable.

Another regular target is the Lamestream media, the enemy of the people, ever in cahoots with the Radical Left-wing MOB. Together, Trump warned in an e-mail earlier this year, these elements are pushing a non-stop propaganda campaign of LIES to try and destroy me. With nary a mention of his own wealthy backers, Trump slams the establishment, along with the Hollywood elite and foreign enemies, declaring, in one solicitation, They all HATE you, and thats why they want to steal your vote. Its US against THEM. The April 27th Team Trump Online session was led by Katrina Pierson, a former Tea Party activist, whose guests included Representative Dan Crenshaw, a military veteran from Texas. She described Barack Obama as a faint-hearted Commander-in-Chief, while Crenshaw told viewers that Democrats will lie through their teeth. Theyre doing it all the time.

In its texts and e-mails, the campaign seeks donations and valuable voter contact information by offering a steady supply of Trump-branded merchandise, from football jerseys, Christmas ornaments, and doormats to plastic straws, a swipe at liberal locales that have been banning them to help the environment. The offers have continued unabated during the COVID-19 crisis. Last Saturday, the campaign wrote supporters to say Trump knows that recent weeks have been extremely difficult for Americans from all across the Nation. The e-mail said that the President is grateful for your unwavering support and wants to do something special for you to show how much your loyalty means to him. The message continued, Hes asked us to give you EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to get our Official Trump-Pence Pint Glasses. The cost for a set: thirty-one dollars. But, we have an extremely limited supply, so we can only hold them until 11:59 PM TONIGHT.

I asked David Sable, the former head of the marketing agency Y. & R., to assess the Trump campaign as a marketing effort. His base loves it, said Sable, who explained that Trump has brand power derived from what he called the brand experience, which is part show, part substance. The key is to get those people to recruit other people. If you can do that, youre way ahead of the game. Thats basically the way the guy operates, Sable said. According to Sable, Trumps team, to its credit, understands simplicity. The Make America Great Again message, in 2016, was straightforward, and so is the Keep America Great message in 2020, according to Sable: At the end of the day, Ive done a great job, I will continue to do a great job, and I will fix this to get back to the great job I was doing.

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The Trump Campaign Brings Its Angry Tone to the Coronavirus Era - The New Yorker