Rick Wilson

As a Republican who pays attention to how the other side wins, I’ve spent a lot of time fighting to drag my party out of the stone-knives and bear-skins era of politics. America is screen-agnostic, and the accelerating future isn’t about destination television with Mom, Dad and 2.25 adorable scamps watching Family Guy in the blue glow of the widescreen. But even now, the power of a great speech can have real political impact.

In the age of Donald Trump and his shoot-from-the-lip, we-don’t-need-no-stinking-consultants campaign, his supporters are embracing what Tom Nichols calls The Death of Expertise. Field operations? Nah. Television and digital ads? Those are for RINOs. Data and voter targeting? They’ve got Trump’s Twitter account for that. Fed on a steady diet of revenge fantasies against the “elites” who won almost 1,000 elected offices for Republicans in the era of Obama, Trump Republicans are proud to be rid of the tools and techniques that won the White House.

As important, the post-Republican Trump party has left the ancient power of rhetoric and speech-writing behind. There was no cohesion or strategic underpinning to the speeches in Cleveland, and with a few exceptions, the Republican convention speakers were a hot rhetorical mess. Closing with a nearly incoherent Castroesque 76-minute shoutfest, delivered with the volume and hate turned up to 11, told viewers that the art of Republican speech-writing is in mortal danger. This was no shining city on a hill but a dumpster fire on a burning tire pile.

Monday night, the first lady reminded this Republican that a passionate speech with heart, poetry and grace is still one of the most powerful and effective tools in the political toolbox. It was the instrument of the speech itself that impressed me, not its politics. Even if you’re not a Michelle Obama fan, it was authentically her voice, beautifully crafted and strategically on point.

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In 20-plus minutes, she helped unify her fractured party, brilliantly rebuked Trump and played perfectly to the Clinton campaign’s not-so-secret target audience: suburban, educated women, many of whom are behaviorally and temperamentally Republicans. It was a perfect antidote to the Democrats’ fractious morning.

The parties get this moment every four years to talk about their bigger principles, their higher aims and the better angels of their natures. In our Twitter-centric, quick-hit media climate, the longer form of the major public address is lost on many. We proved that in Cleveland.

Trump Republicans believe volume and venom are substitutes for meaning and vision.

Can a sharp-edged and effective critique of the opposing party include some rhetorical heat and contrast? It should. However, a party that forgets that there are objectives beyond its base and emotions beyond rage will reflect that in the speeches of its leaders.

They will inevitably deliver higher volume instead of the moments of poetry and inspiration that touch the hearts of voters who don’t already have your party label after their name.

Rick Wilson is a longtime Republican ad-maker and message strategist. He tweets at @therickwilson.

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