Right after the credit bubble burst in 2008, shocked, people scrambled desperately for answers.

Turning to the economists, nearly all of whom failed to predict the deepest recession in decades, they asked, “What will happen next?”

Having seen the obvious writing on the enormous wall of debt shadowing the world, and positioned myself perfectly in a distressed debt investing job, I found it terribly amusing.

If the world’s “smartest” economists couldn’t even see the credit crisis coming, then, how would they have any clue about where we are now headed?

Obama And Trump Won The Same Way

I won’t even turn on the TV or Internet to watch the mostly useless talking heads endlessly debate how “this could have happened.”

Nearly all of them had absolutely no clue before, so, why on earth would they see it any more clearly today?

They won’t. You can already see them blaming Wikileaks, or whatnot.

They will cry in their lattes, but most of them will never get how Trump pulled this off, because they never bothered to ask how Barack Obama did it.

Mesmerized by his nice sounding words, and slow, melodic voice, buying into the meme of the messiah, they simply failed to see they were being influenced.



They still fail to see the true nature of the game.

No One Asked How Trump Was Winning

On CNBC’s Squawk Box talking about the book I wrote on Trump (not supporting him, talking about how he was thrashing the GOP), I was challenged to explain whether Trump was really winning…

I talked football. In reference to Trump thrashing 16 of his rivals in the GOP, I said, if a football team went 16-0, we wouldn’t be sitting around making excuses, we would be asking: How did they do it?

Instead, with Trump, most people were so blinded by their own opinions, or wrapped up in some of Trump’s words, that they failed to look at the impact of those words.

Trump grabbed more Republican primary voters than any candidate in history.

Not because Americans are dumb racist white trash, as most the world’s media would like everyone to believe, but because Trump tapped into something deep.

Trump Tapped Into America’s Pain

“We don’t win anymore.”

That wasn’t just a phrase or Trumpism, to many people it is their day-to-day experience, and Trump tapped into that.

Many commentators saw Trump manipulating people with fear, but what they failed to realize was that, in fact, Trump wasn’t manipulating anyone.

Instead, he was meeting them where they were, in fear, scared for their families, scared for their future, scared for America.

And with great skill, he rallied them behind him, building perhaps the greatest political movement in all history, beating the crap out of both sides at their own game.

“Make America Great Again,” was more than just a campaign slogan, it was the outcome of Trump walking voters from their pain of losing, to the hope they will again win.

This I branded the Trump 4-step:

“We don’t win anymore.” Deepen Pain. Move to Solution. “Make America Great Again.”

Hillary Couldn’t Even One Step

Look, this isn’t about politics, it’s about skill.

It’s obvious to most everyone that Hillary is a terrible campaigner, but few people actually understand why.

They say, “she’s wooden,” or “doesn’t relate well,” but, in fact, her problem is simple.

She fails to get influence.

She started with a terrible slogan (I’m with Her). Hillary and her team proved they knew basically nothing about influence by failing to even start with the pain.

In her absurd tactic, “Tell Donald America is already great,” she misaligned herself with all the Bernie and Trump supporters who were in pain.

By campaigning this way, she basically spat in the face of every person in America who felt like they were losing, invalidating their emotional reality.

That’s a bad way to start a relationship with someone. And an even worse way to influence them to rally behind you.

Game Over

When this election is written about for years to come, the political boffins, who, like the economists who completely missed the credit crisis, will pen hundreds of books.

They will be full of wild policy ideas, polls, demographics, and reasons “it was obvious” Trump would win.

But, sadly, nearly all of them will, just like Hillary, still fail to get it.

They still haven’t figured out that this sport of politics that they love so much is merely a game of influence.