Miles Richardson | Staff Writer
Donald Trump will win this year’s U.S. presidential election for one reason and one reason alone: He is the best at drawing attention to himself.
For evidence of Trump’s mastery of gathering attention, one must look no further than his various tweets and news conferences. Over the years, Trump has proclaimed that Hillary Clinton is crooked, mosques need to be surveilled, Mexicans are rapists, Barack Obama is the founder of ISIS and has even encouraged punishment for abortions. These comments shouldn’t surprise us. Law 6 of Robert Greene’s 48 laws of power says: “Court attention at all costs. For it is better to be slandered and attacked than ignored.”
Trump knows the more incendiary comments he makes, the more people will begin to feel strongly about him. Whether that feeling is negative or positive, all that matters is that he keeps members of the general public reacting to him. As long as this continues, he remains in power.
During the 2016 election, the focus of many Americans was on resisting Trump. Many people put so much energy into trying to stop Trump from getting into the White House that they forgot to focus on their own agendas.
What many failed to understand back then, and even now, is that the more you attack Trump, the more his message spreads. Every time you share his words, post an angry rant about him on social media or discuss his hateful rhetoric with friends, you add fuel to his fire.
I can guarantee you Trump does not mind you slandering him. In fact, he probably loves it. Trump knows that every time he is portrayed in a negative light, he gains just as many followers as he does detractors, if not more. This is simply great marketing.
Think of the most successful restaurants and clothing brands you know. Let’s use McDonald’s and Nike as examples. Don’t you think it’s safe to say that there are restaurants with more tasty burgers than McDonald’s? Aren’t there plenty of shoes far more comfortable than Nikes? Of course there are. So why do so many more people buy more from them than from other companies? The reason for this is that these companies spend millions of dollars each year to make sure their brand is seen in commercials by as many consumers as possible.
Do you think McDonald’s spends any time worrying about the vegans out there who might be offended by their commercials? Or that Nike pays any mind to the people who hate them because of allegations of the company using sweatshop workers? Of course not. These people were never going to buy from them anyway. If you thought you were changing anyone’s mind by voicing your opinions on Trump, think again. Every person in America has already made up their mind about Trump. So if you thought you were doing the right thing by exposing him or his racist and misogynistic philosophies, then in the words of Malcolm X: “Ya been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok!”
The reason why these great companies don’t pay their boycotters any attention is because they are a business, and in case you didn’t know, so is Trump. Who are his customers? You guessed it. Right-wingers and confederates who feel they have been underserved by Obama’s presidency. Those were a long eight years for them, during which they were forced to sit silent as the world around them became increasingly liberal. Trump observed this and rode their pent-up frustrations all the way to the White House.
And now, four years later, he is about to do it again.
The Hampton Script 