I'm going to draw inspiration from well renowned political blogger Scott Adams and talk a bit about the strength of party messages that were given at the party conventions. Note that I'm not a master persuader nor do I have any training in persuasion -- I'm just an amateur thinker. That being said, there are a striking contrast that exist, a contrast that any astute observer immediately picks up on.
The contrast lies in the strength of the unifying message.
At a glance, we have the GOP message under Trump which is to Make America Great Again! For the Democrats, we have a message of: diversity shall overcome Trump!
The stark difference is fascinating. What we're working with are 2 unifying messages that are diametric to each other.
For the Trump camp, the unifying message strips the importance of the individual's identity and supplants it with the American identity. For Trump and the GOP, it doesn't matter what religion you are, what race you are. The only thing that matters is whether or not you're an American, an American that wants to MAGA. Trump instills a sense of pride, of achieving a higher ideal. the GOP fosters and grows Patriotism and soon civic nationalism in its constituents. People are bounded together by the American spirit and are empowered to work towards that goal.
For the Clinton camp, the unifying message bolsters the importance of the individual's identity and charges that as ammo to attack Trump. For Clinton and the Democrats, as long as Trump isn't in power, America will get to continue being a bastion of progressiveness and the status quo shall stay the same. The segregated groups of the Clinton camp shall overcome their differences while still maintaining a cohesion. That cohesion is strengthened by hate of a single man.
In the context of persuasion strength, I'm going to reiterate that I'm no master persuader. However, it's quite clear which message is the stronger message, even for an amateur like me. One party offers unity through a higher power. The other party offers unity through division. One party offers a sense of belonging to something greater than its sum, the other party offers something less than its sum.
In the grand scheme of things, being united by a sense of belonging to a higher power triumphs everything. A cursory look at any organized religion confirms this. Numerous wars have been enacted over clashes of ideas. Yet, these strong ideas have persisted.
Nationalism is no difference. For many Americans, the sweet nectar of nationalism, of Americanism offered by Trump is more than sating. It has transformed them into proud patriots of America. Trump was not kidding when he said he was going to unify the party. He unified the party by giving the party dreams of a strong, prosperous nation state and the tools to achieve that. The GOP party is the party of America. The GOP party is the party that will put the interests of America first! That is the sole goal of the newly transformed GOP party.
For the Clinton camp, the party is the party of never Trump. The party is the party of not America. This may appear to be offsetting, but it is accurate. The lack of American flags on the first day of the DNC convention is the nail in the coffin that cements the notion. For the democrats, they don't care about whether or not they're Americans. What they do care though is their mission to be change makers. What they care about is who they are individually, not who they are as a collective. You have the party comprised of Blacks, of Jews, of women, of LGBTQ, of Latinos. But you do not have the party comprised of Americans. What is the strongest unifying message that they offer?
I'm with Her.
There is no self actualization in that message. Instead, they try to draw on an identity that they hope will work. They care that their candidate is female. They don't care about who she is, what her policies are. They choose to band on fleeting identity rather than a coherent platform.
And the message they offer is weak. Their message has no substance. If you remove Hillary Clinton from the campaign, what remains? Nothing. Their unifier is a sole woman to channel their flagitious hatred for an opponent, not a strong zeitgeist that guides and protects their collective.
Ask yourself the same question with Donald Trump. Remove Donald Trump from the campaign. what remains? The exact same message. The message is the strong zeitgeist that leads its protectorate to victory.
Come November, it's quite clear who will win.
The weak fears the strong.