April 5, 2025
The Democrats Can Beat Trump
Philip Kotler
Trump’s love affair with tariffs will be his undoing. The stock market lost billions of dollars on April 3 and 4, 2025. China is already raising its tariffs on American goods. Many small American businesses that sell a lot of Chinese-made goods will collapse. American companies will have no choice but to raise their prices. The Federal Reserve must again fight to keep interest high to tame the inflationary pressures. Much more talk now is about recession and stagflation.
Donald Trump shows his contempt for everyday Americans by choosing to play golf. He lets his chainsaw-waving Elon Musk use the Doge Act to fire tens of thousands of Federal knowledge workers and to go after every piece of private paper that Musk can find about personal and classified information. Musk shut down the Education department. Musk is now trying to scalp Social Security and Medicare.
Trump says that these disruptions will be short lived and America will be great again. Trump expects so many foreign companies to open manufacturing branches in the U.S. Realistically, it will take much time for foreign companies to decide whether to open in the U.S. It will take years for their plans to be formed and implemented. The idea that the pain Americans will experience will be short-lived is a lie.
Trump claimed that he won the 2024 election by a landslide. Trump clearly won the 2024 election but it was no landslide. And he received no major mandate to fire federal workers wholesale and to cut off the legs of Social Security and Medicaid.
Trump won largely by claiming that he would fight inflation, end the inflow of illegal migrants, send illegal migrants back to their own countries, and reduce governmental waste. Voters blamed Biden for the inflation and the illegals. The majority of citizens voted in Trump on the idea that he would bring back good times.
Immediately after Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025, Trump signed an endless number of controversial executive actions. He spent much time damning former President Biden, attacking liberals and punishing people who had crossed him. Trump immediately pardoned all the convicted people who engaged in the Capitol insurrection. He made it clear that he would aggressively raise tariffs not only on China but also on neighbors Canada and Mexico and on our other allies.
Notable was the absence of any Trump actions to lower the rising cost of consumer goods.
What did the Democrats do during this period?
The media complained that the Democrats “are in disarray” and that their main leaders in the Senate and the House didn’t do much in the first month of Trump’s actions. The media added that the Democratic party was hurt by the aggressive actions of its left-wing followers. A CNN poll reported that only 29% of Americans said they thought favorably about the Democratic party. The same poll reported that 36% of Americans thought favorably about the Republicans.
At Democratic party gatherings, members considered three alternative responses to Trump’s actions.
1. James Carville, a Democrat activist, proposed that Democrats shouldn’t do anything. Carville argued that Trump’s tariff policies will cause a substantial rise in consumer prices and lead Maga people to turn against Trump.
2. Most Democratic advisors said Democrats should actively criticize each “bad” Trump action and even block it if possible. On a daily basis Democrats should repeat that Musk was not elected, that Republicans want a tax cut for the rich, and that Social Security must be saved. Left-wing Democrats in particular call for active resistance.
3. Another group said that Democrats needed to explain what Democrats stood for and to broadcast an exciting platform that would appeal to America’s bread-and-butter working-class voters.
What Should the Democrats Propose as their Platform?
Clearly the Democrats need a plan to virtually reinvent the party. Here are several reasonable actions for the Democratic Party to undertake.
1. Develop a set of causes that most Democrats would support. Choose from the following list.
a. Lower food costs for America’s consumers.
b. Lower health costs for America’s citizens.
c. Lower education costs for America’s citizens.th
d. Bring down the national debt by raising taxes to America’s wealthy class.
e. Abandon aggressive tariffs and win back our immediate neighbors and traditional allies.
f. Promote more responsible gun control.
g. Restore free speech in America.
h. Assert the woman’s right to abortion.
i. Stress respect for family values, religious values, patriotism, and community.
j. Lower taxes on the low and middle classes
k. Protect the quality of the environment by fighting against more pollution and degraded water and air.
l. Recommit to clean energy and nuclear energy and draw down on the use of fossil fuels.
m. Commit to labor and union protection.
Whatever choices are made, Democrats “must get into real communities (tailgates, gun shows, local restaurant, churches, etc.)
2. Avoid “divisive issues”.
a. Avoid supporting gender transformation and sex change operations.
b. Minimize talk about DEI (diversity, equality, inclusion)
c. Minimize far left issues such as “critical race theory.”
d. Minimize anti-capitalism talk.
e. Avoid proposing many new regulations.
3. Actively recruit new Democratic leaders.
a. Identify and recruit younger future Democratic leaders.
b. The Dems should sort their spokespeople by issue, expertise and reputation. Bernie Sander on the rich and on healthcare; Elizabeth Warren on all things financial; and Mark Kelly on national defense. All of these Democrats come across as being authentic.
c. The Dems still need a strong leader. Charles Schumer, the minority leader in the Senate, has tried to play this role but he doesn’t inspire.
d. Those seeking to be a Democrat presidential candidate should announce themselves early and commit to giving many speeches. Some excellent Jewish candidates are available: Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania; Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago; or J.B. Pritzker, governor of Illinois. The question is whether American voters are ready for a Jewish President. Some excellent women candidates are available such as Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan and Amy Klobuchar, U.S. senator Minnesota. But are American voters ready for a woman President? Other serious male contenders would include Gavin Newsom, Governor of California; Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota; Cory Booker, U.S. Senator from New Jersey; or Mark Kelly, U.S. Senator from Arizona.
4. Develop a new broad vision for the Democratic Party. Among the possibilities:
a. Lay out a moderate, techno-optimist vision of America based on the book Abundance. The authors believe that the Democratic Party should advocate the removal of impediments to allow industry to provide more housing, better transportation and needed infrastructure to the country. They also advocate giving more support to science and innovation to improve citizen’s living conditions.
b. Keep reminding audiences that Trump offers fear, retribution, and scarcity. Liberals stand for progress, peace and prosperity for all.
c. Democrats must renew their case for America moving toward Nordic-type social welfare programs providing lower cost health care, lower cost education, and improved family benefits (maternity, more vacation time, etc.).
d. Agree with the need for a more efficient government. Emphasize that this will occur with cabinet positions going to experts in housing, energy, transportation, and healthcare. We don’t need smaller government; we need better government to do big things.
e. Talk about the importance of winning back our allies and friends and restoring our leadership in the World Health Organization, the Paris Climate Agreement, and ending wars.
f. Democrats need to enunciate a vision for a prosperous America where the Constitution is respected, the middle class can afford a house and healthcare, our borders are respected while welcoming people from other countries, and where we are again respected around the world as a broker of peace and an advocate for stability. We need to paint a positive, optimistic picture of what our country will be and move from just being anti-Trump. We need to inspire voters to want a restoration of the good old days of peace, bilateralism, and unity within the U.S.
g. The ultimate battlefields are money and marketing. The Democrats must be as effective in raising money as the Republicans. The Democrats must be as effective in marketing as the Republicans have been. Republicans are adept at word-smithing, rewording democratic words such as liberal, wokeness, etc., into evil sounding words. Republicans define abortion as “killing a living being.” Democrats need to get better at word-smithing and their communication strategies.
5. Develop the marketing and message strategy for each important voting group.
a. Farmers and rural people
b. Working class Americans
c. Unions
d. Businesses
e. College students
f. Professionals, particularly medical people, lawyers, and academics
g. Religious leaders
h. Consumers
i. Conservative and Maga people
6. Democrats in the past thought that people vote with their minds and that Republicans vote with their emotions. Clearly Democrats must do a better job of reaching voters through their emotions and learn to keep things simple. They will need to find some memorable metaphors and images.
7. Show great Democratic support for balance in the power of the executive branch, the Congress and the Courts. Emphasize that the country is ruled by the law and not by single ambitious men who want to be king.
Conclusion
The Democrats can beat Trump’s Republican party! Democrats will have the right issues, the right leaders, and the right energy to win the majority of American voters. Democrats will have to undertake the formidable task of restoring America’s democracy and the world’s renewed respect for America’s leadership. Democrats won’t be able to erase the damage caused by America’s unquestionably worst American President who thought only about his own ego, family and glory and required full allegiance from a group of incompetent cabinet members and a silent Republican majority.
