Democrats have hit upon a novel approach to using Trump’s conviction on 34 counts in the hush-money trial. They are going to repeat the term “convicted felon” as many times as possible because they believe the American people are too stupid to understand that the former president is guilty of a crime unless they hammer the point home ad infinitum.
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As any good huckster will tell you, repetition is the key to marketing success. “Studies have shown that people need to see a message at least seven times before it sinks in,” according to the marketing website Assemblo.
Democrats in the first hours after the Trump verdict was handed down made repetition of the term “convicted felon” the golden rule.
“Donald Trump is a convicted felon,” penned The Economist, befitting the solemnity of the news.
Surprisingly the liberal site saw exactly what prosecutor Bragg was up to. “The case employed a legal argument so contorted that a reasonable person could say that Mr Bragg, a Democrat elected to his office, was doing partisan gymnastics by bringing it.” OK. I’m a reasonable person and I’ll say it. The trial was a partisan witch hunt.
But The Economist did not chide Bragg for bringing the case to trial. That’s because the goal was to stop Trump at any cost — even at the expense of the Constitution and the rule of law.
It’s amazing to me that the Democrats don’t see the most common occurrence in politics: what goes around, comes around. Democrats have opened a brand new front in partisan warfare and they can expect an avalanche of lawfare cases to hit the federal courts the minute a Republican takes the oath of office.
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But the Biden campaign was, at first, cautious about using the “F” (felon) word. They paused a few hours waiting to see if gloating over Trump’s conviction would hurt them. Apparently not.
Throughout the day Friday, Biden advisers and Democratic strategists on congressional campaigns said they wanted to know more about how Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts is playing with voters before launching a full-throated attack strategy.
But by the evening, Biden’s campaign apparently had made the call. It sent out a press release clearly designed to get under Trump’s skin, listing “34 Lowlights from Convicted Felon Donald Trump’s” speech.
For some Democrats in Biden’s orbit, it wasn’t the kind of decision that required reams of new polling data or a fresh round of focus groups.
“I think it unquestionably helps Joe Biden, because I think it’ll have some impact on some marginal Republicans,” said Celinda Lake, one of Biden’s outside pollsters.
“Soros heir urges Democrats to hammer Trump as ‘convicted felon’ at every opportunity,” writes Fox News. Indeed, this is the attitude of the rabid Democratic base and at least some aiders in the Biden campaign. Use the “convicted felon” tag early and often. Hammer it home. Keep “convicted felon” in front of the voter as often as possible. Make the name “Donald Trump” and “convicted felon” appear in voters’ minds at the same time.
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As with everything else about Donald Trump, voters have already made up their minds and factored any information about Trump’s guilt or innocence into their decision already. It’s amazing to me that many Democrats don’t understand this. It’s an old way of looking at politics. People don’t only get their political news from the Big Three TV networks, the Times, The Post, and a few other major media sources.
It’s a new universe and Democrats ignore it at their own peril.