How Trump's Escapades With Women Are Helping Rebrand The GOP
Donald Trump is making the GOP brand sexy.
(Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for European School of Economics Foundation)
If the media is trying to bring down Donald Trump, it sure is doing a terrible job. Case in point: a story published this weekend in the New York Times which detailed the Donald’s private encounters with women. Not only is this an instance of “all press is good press,” it is GREAT press. I would not be surprised if we later find out that it was sponsored content, paid for by a Trump 2016 super PAC. My prediction is that Trump’s polling numbers will go up this week, and media pundits everywhere will act bewildered at the fact that Trump gets more popular after a story in the Times’ outing him for his escapades with women, most of them “10’s” (the Times words, not mine).
And to those media pundits, I ask, “REALLY?” (I mean, seriously, have they not been reading this blog?)
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Now, if I asked you to close your eyes and picture a Republican, your mind would likely form an image of a stodgy, old, conservative male. The person in your head looks like some cross breed of Mitt Romney and William F. Buckley Jr., and, irrespective of whether or not you are a Republican, you can agree that this imaginary person is not spending a whole lot of time with beautiful, powerful women, and certainly not a whole lot of time having sex.
The reason our brains form that image of the sexually repressed male (who may or may not be just a tad racist), is because that has been the Republican brand for years. And, I would point out, it hasn’t been a very good brand. Even when the GOP wins an election, it fails to win the popular vote, or the election has to be decided by the Supreme Court.
But, with some help from the New York Times, Trump is now completely rebranding the GOP as a bunch of, dare I say it, “players.” If you do not believe me, try this exercise at home: reread the New York Times story, but every time you come to the words Donald Trump, substitute the words “Jay Z.” The story holds up remarkably well and you’re left feeling a little envious of Jay Z and all his “10’s” (again the Times’ words not mine).
Now, to be clear: I certainly DO NOT condone the rude and inappropriate way Trump behaves around beautiful, ambitious women — especially how he uses his position of power to get in their pants — and I’m sure you do not either.
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At least not publicly.
Publicly, you express the same kind of faux-outrage I just did. But privately, and some of you might find this truth inconvenient, a lot of men and some women consumed that story in the Times this weekend and chuckled with admiration. Hell, the first paragraph reads like a passage out of 50 Shades of Grey, and my guess is that some people reading it actually got aroused. And, even if you were genuinely outraged by Trump’s behavior (which you should be!), at some point you will need all that outrage for something else in your life, and all your brain will remember is the association of Trump and lots of young, beautiful women. Lawyers, particularly litigators, should understand this reality very well: right and wrong do not always play in front of a jury, and what is an election if not one big jury trial?
Now, to be fair, it is not 100% clear to me anyway that authors Michael Barbaro and Megan Twohey were doing anything other than telling a story and allowing readers to draw their own conclusions. As David Lat pointed out on Twitter, their story even contains quotes from women (lawyers no less) defending Donald Trump.
But, true or not, my guess is that most people are internalizing that story as the Times‘ first significant assault on Trump, with many more to come. And if it was an assault on Trump, it was a weak one.
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Now, before you accuse me of being a GOP mole, just know that I have never voted and I will not vote in this year’s election. Other than the rhetoric, I find it hard to understand the differences between Democrats and Republicans, which is part of why I do not vote. Also, voting takes time and I am behind on both work and Game of Thrones.
So, then why do I care what the New York Times says about Trump? Because the one thing I do like to see every four years is a good, old-fashioned street fight. I am in it for the entertainment, but unfortunately, in the last two elections, President Obama cleaned the floor with the GOP. It was like watching Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors drub some sorry pretender in four or five games. And, honestly, I was hoping this year would be different. But if the all the media has in their arsenal are a bunch of stories about how Donald Trump sleeps with beautiful women and makes some unfortunate fat jokes, the 2016 election may not even be popcorn-worthy.
Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump Behaved With Women in Private [New York Times]
Zach Abramowitz is a former Biglaw associate and currently CEO and co-founder of ReplyAll. You can follow Zach on Twitter (@zachabramowitz) or reach him by email at [email protected].
