In the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, Donald Trump was the new kid on the block. Up against a bevy of longtime Republican senators and governors, Trump gave them nicknames to deflate their obvious policy-making advantage over him.
Thus, former Florida governor and the perceived leader, Jeb Bush became “Low Energy Jeb.” Bush, obligingly, played right into Trump’s moniker with his low-key, in-depth serious discourses on an array of public policy issues. It was all borning.
Today, Trump’s lackadaisical effort in the 2024 campaign has him playing the role of Low Energy Jeb. And guess who noticed? The Harris campaign, of course.
Apparently, Trump needs Joe Biden to be his opponent to maintain his focus and his desire to get out there and mix it up.
During the week when Harris announced her vice presidential running mate and scheduled a tour of seven battleground states, Trump had one rally (in Montana to benefit GOP Senate nominee Tim Sheehy) one call-in to Fox and Friends, lots and lots of tweets and a news conference at Mar-a-Lago.
He gets credit for taking questions — unlike Harris — but most of his responses were a fuselage of accusations with little or no specifics or facts to support them. He likely has some finance calls to make and even some small group or one-on-one meetings with high donors.
But, at this point, he is not making a serious effort to reach voters he does not already have. This is not rocket science. Trump was president for four years. He accomplished a lot. He needs to remind voters of that. Tweets are not going to do that.
This is a man who submitted four federal budgets to Congress pumping trillions of dollars into communities all across America. Factories have expanded, bridges have been fortified, apprentices have been trained and importantly, jobs have been created.
Trump needs to get out there and visit those success stories to remind Americans that they were better off when he was president and will be again if they turn out and vote for him this year.
I understand Trump likes those big rallies. He gets to drone in for 90-plus minutes in front of adoring and enthusiastic fans. But those rallies are not enough. They do little to nothing to bring undecided voters to Trump’s bandwagon.
Trump’s spoken words need reinforcement. There is no visual component to his rally. People don’t see the things Trump actually accomplished as president with their own eyes. The rally does not allow the voter a moment to recall “Oh yeah. Trump did that. That’s right.”
One of the guiding principles of politics is to define your opponent before he or she can define themselves. Trump needs to define Kamala Harris as the co-pilot of an economy that has produced a more than 20 percent increase in the price of groceries, lost purchasing power for hard-working families and produced a weakening economy with an increase in unemployment that has America teetering on the brink of recession.
Trump can best define Harris by making hers today’s worsening economy and contrasting that with the juggernaut American economy that was a hallmark of the Trump administration prior to the 2020 onset of the pandemic.
I know the former president does not want to hear this. However, my political experience tells me that tweets and weekly rallies won’t be enough to win this election.
Mar-a-Lago will still be there after Nov. 5. The clock is running. It’s time to pack the bags and hit the road.
Kevin Igoe is the former deputy chief of staff of the Republican National Committee and former executive director of the Maryland Republican Party. He was a Reagan White House appointee.
