Donald Trump’s book has been his guide back in 1987 when he was standing king over a burgeoning business empire, and even as he somehow managed to pull himself up from having less than 5% chance of entering the white house to trumping over Clinton with a 279 to 228 point landslide victory, he has never strayed too far away from the values he preached in his book.
All Publicity Is Good
There are so many ways with which Donald Trump leveraged on the media to promote himself as the future (and unfortunately, newly minted) President-elect of the United States of America.
Memes
Oh, how the Internet exploded with the memes.
But that’s not all. Donald Trump is also known for being very active on his Twitter. Some might even say, too active, so much so that his Twitter account has been taken over by his campaign staff.
Seriously, are we trusting the nuclear codes with someone who can’t even handle SNL satire? What’s going to happen if we put Trump in front of an assembly of world leaders?
And for tying Pepe the Frog to his campaign, whose previously innocuous identity has now been distorted into being tied to white supremacy.
Fun fact 1:
Did you know that 3 days later, FBI Director James had remarked on Clinton being “extremely careless” in handling her email scandal? It was a win for the Trump campaign, but the media was already more focused on the Trumpified Pepe.
But what does this all translate to? Not all good press is great press. And the bigger the news, the more people remember you.
And that is a powerful thing in itself.
Fun fact 2:
Clinton was spending $10 to Trump’s $1 on publicity, and yet she was only ahead of him by a few points.
So even if you decide that Donald Trump is the worst person to have ever become America’s Commander-in-Chief, the businessman in him certainly knows how to leverage the media and resources given to him.
Controversy, In Short, Sells
Trump’s scandals are the things the Internet loves to hate. But they also served the very important purpose of overshadowing the Clinton campaign.
It’s not just about striking when the iron is hot, but more about striking so hard, you leave the public reeling and dazed, and possibly even confused enough to vote for the wrong candidate.
1. The Saga Of The Locker Room Banter
Who remembers what Trump said in the scandal of the “locker room banter“?
Everyone, that’s who.
Who remembers exactly what Clinton said in response to her rival candidate’s moral faux pas and denial of basic human etiquette?
Seriously, tell me.
People lauded Clinton for her response to the scandal, with countless women, including the ever-inspiring Michelle Obama, coming up to address it.
P.s. #Michelle2020
But it was Trump’s words that were digitally immortalised into a meme. And then all Trump had to do was wait for social media to play its part.
2. The Case Of Melania’s Plagiarism
In case you didn’t know, new First Lady-in line Melania Trump’s Republican National Convention speech on July 18th sparked controversy for its uncanny resemblance to that of Michelle Obama’s at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
But rather than be upset about his wife’s possible political gaffe, Donald Trump immediately took to social media to plug it as an unplanned, but extremely successful publicity win.
And people sucked it up, especially when the Trump campaign started rolling out ludicrous defenses to the supposed copy-and-paste tactics, making the news even more share-worthy.
Drawing His Own Conclusions
“I don’t hire a lot of number-crunchers, and I don’t trust fancy marketing surveys. I do my own surveys and draw my own conclusions.” – Donald J. Trump, America’s President-elect 2016
How many times have we seen Trump taking truths, or even blatant half-truths, and completely blowing them out of proportion? Too many.
According to Politico.com, “Trump averaged one falsehood every 3 minutes and 15 seconds over nearly five hours of remarks.”
It seems that even now, no one knows exactly what the Trump campaign is truly about, and yet America was mesmerised by him and his bombastic speech style.
For many, this spells the death of logic, sanity and all the good things America is made up of, like its cultural diversity.
But for others, it now represents success on a Presidential-level.
Seizing The Moment
In The Art of The Deal, Trump quotes that “the worst of times often create the best opportunities to make good deals“. And Trump has certainly made that clear over the entire presidential race.
Every single time reality threw an egg on his face, he somehow managed to turn it around to serve to his advantage instead.
I was neither advocating Trump for presidency, nor am I in the celebratory mood now that he’s America’s new Commander-in-Chief (till hopefully, 2020 when Michelle Obama takes the reins).
But it is difficult not to concede that even though the values Trump espouses sound like complete bull, they worked.
Featured Image Credit: SBS