The shot heard round the world on November 9 wasn’t as much that Donald Trump had been elected president, but that nearly 50% of middle and rust belt America still felt oppressed or left behind during a Democratic presidency.

It’s been almost a month since Hillary Clinton was shockingly defeated in perhaps one of the most consequential elections in our generation. Since November 9th, the Democratic leaders have spent a great deal of time fantasizing alternate scenarios, posturing and fabricating flaws untested in the campaign. Moreover, very little time was spent strategizing how to move the Democratic Party forward and what ought to be done to frame the real issues for 2018 and 2020. In addition, the message from the more vocal Democratic leaders has been inconsistent and incoherent. The shot heard round the world on November 9 wasn’t as much that Donald Trump had been elected president (we’ll get to that), but that nearly 50% of middle and rust belt America still felt oppressed or left behind during a Democratic presidency. Why did the Democratic message not resonate with them? Was the breakdown in leadership at the State level? Where is the system broken? Is it the message or the messenger?

My post is an attempt to clearly outline a comprehensive approach for the Democratic Party as they advocate for and define the core issues shaping our Nation in its current Global Ecology (no longer just a Global Economy). My strategy focuses on 5 key points – F.I.G.H.T. These are not new strategies. Rather, as I critiqued the playbooks used by both parties throughout the past campaign, and campaigns throughout history, I proved once again, what we don’t learn from history we are doomed to repeat! These strategies sound more like old school wisdom, salt-of-the-earth reasoning, and common sense logic than political posturing. Democrats would be wise to adopt this in their next campaign playbook.

Focus

“If you’re not on the campaign trail, the focus is on her, and we win. Whoever the focus is on will lose.”

The Democratic Party needs to focus on their message, their goal and their leadership. There are many reasons why Hillary lost the election but the Democratic Party’s message was not one of them. When there is a lot of noise around us, it distracts us from what’s most important. Unfortunately, 2016 was a year with a lot of noise. A lot of good messaging from the Democrats was drowned out by the amount of noise created by Donald Trump, the Alt-Right, FBI scandals, WikiLeaks and Russia. When you talk to folks from rural Pennsylvania, they heard a lot more (misinformation) about Hillary’s emails than about her plans & policies to revitalize the manufacturing industry in United States, to bring jobs back, to raise the minimum wage to $15, to make the college tuition free for poor and the middle class, and to improve and enhance health care coverage. Trump and his campaign’s purpose of creating noise was to drown out all the positive & optimistic messages from Hillary and what she wanted to do. For example, Paul Manafort accurately predicted to Trump, “If you’re not on the campaign trail, the focus is on her, and we win. Whoever the focus is on will lose.” So when FBI Directory James Comey sent the needless political letter to Congress, it did have a significant impact on Hillary’s image, momentum and her positive message.

Moving forward, it’s absolutely crucial for the Democrats to refocus on their message if their goal is to gain back responsible leadership in 2018 and 2020. They need to stop getting distracted by all the noise from the media and keep an eye on the prize. Democratic leaders (that includes the progressive leaders) should stop the infighting (Bernie, finger pointing) and refocus on framing the rhetoric.

Inform

There are people who live in this country who don’t have access to even basic internet, Twitter or New York Times. Their primary source of information are people like Joe Scarborough or Sean Hannity who consume their life with misinformation every day on cable TV.

Few days ago, I went on a long twitter riff about why the main stream media in this country is broken. Over the past few decades, the primary goal of main stream media has shifted from accurately informing the public about the reality, to create hype, peddle fear & confusion, and promote showmanship only to get more ratings. Main stream media thrives on sensationalism every non-trivial issue. That’s how they make their money: by manufacturing chaos – banging a bunch of pots and pans over here so you don’t pay attention to the things you ought to be paying attention to – so more of us watch their shows to “see what happens next” and more dubiously, so that more serious things can happen under the radar. Let me tell you one thing: no CEO from CNN, MSNBC, NBC News or Fox News cares about reporting the truth or the facts. They will probably laugh at me if I suggest it to them. Based on recent trends, it’s naive for us to expect the MSM to change its ways and reprioritize their goals or their approach. Yet, the typical middle American turns on the news and expects that message to be informative. Orson Wells “The War on the Worlds” radio drama taught us this lesson already – that the news can be a scam. We got past the joke that Martians had not landed on the planet, but we still expect some level of ethical journalism from what we hear on the news. Because of this, there’s a massive information gap in America, and unfortunately the right wing media and fake news from Russia are taking over.

Ultimately, it comes down to us – We the people – to do our own research, to parse information from various credible sources, and to understand WHAT is exactly happening, WHY it is happening, and HOW it will impact us. The Democratic Party’s goal is to help the people to do just that – by educating the people about the real stories. The party should reach out to folks who live in rural areas with little to no access to factual information. There are people who live in this country who don’t have access to even basic internet, Twitter or New York Times. Their primary source of information are people like Joe Scarborough or Sean Hannity who consume their life with misinformation every day on cable TV. It’s just absurd for the Democratic Party to not try to reach out to those folks and educate them about the real facts. It’s not just about explaining WHAT is happening behind the curtains, but also explaining WHY something is happening and HOW it will affect their lives.

Another important thing to note is that the Democratic leaders should focus on speaking directly to the people – without using fancy phrases or words. They need to ignore the soundbyte their pollster asked them to use. They need to speak to voters directly like they did in their first successful campaign. They need to get to know their audience and that audience includes poor and middle class voters from OH, PA, WI and MI and other parts of this country. They should explain to the people like they would to their friend at a town dinner. No politician ever wins an election by speaking English in a way only a PhD grad can understand.

Grassroots

No party has ever been successful from a top-down approach. It’s time for the Democrats to spread their message and rebuild from the grassroots level.

The Democrats need to expand their message beyond the urban and suburban counties to rural counties. It is myopic for the Democrats to completely ignore the rural voters. There are no shortcuts to success. For long term success, Democrats need to build a true grassroots movement which includes running for local and state elections. It also includes listening to the people, holding conversations and organizing town halls not just during the election season but also during the years when there are no elections. No party has ever been successful from a top-down approach. It’s time for the Democrats to spread their message and rebuild from the grassroots level.

Hubris

Focusing on this question, “How is this going to help the Don?” will ultimately help the Democrats defeat him and the GOP.

Donald Trump’s hubris is his biggest asset and also his largest liability. Ultimately it will be his hubris that will lead to his downfall. Democrats need to understand that everything Donald does is always about him. His tweets, his rallies, his interviews on Fox News, his cabinet appointments, his phone calls to world leaders – it’s ALL ABOUT HIM. This is a man who built his fortune by screwing the common American and then bragging about it. It’s in his nature to continue to do the same and now from the White House. He will NEVER change. Everything he does, every decision he makes, every bill he signs, the first question the Democrats need to ask is not “How is this going to help America” but rather, “How is this going to help the Don?” Focusing on this question will ultimately help the Democrats defeat him and the GOP.

It’s not a question about whether or not Donald will screw up something. It’s about when. And when that happens, will the Democrats be ready, united and focused to save the country from an unmitigated disaster?

Target

Behind the scene actors such as Rebekah Mercer and the Koch Brothers need to be exposed so the American working class person sees how real wealth is driving the agendas and Trump’s rallies are simply the stage time to stroke his ego.

It would be a folly for the Democrats to politically target only Trump and ignore his support structure. The Democrats need to politically target each of the key players in his defensive layers. Let me try my best to help you visualize his multiple layer of defenses.

At the center, is The Don.

Family & Advisers

The inner-most layer consists of his family and advisers; some of the more dangerous people advising him are his daughter, Ivanka, her husband Jared Kushner, his sons, Don Jr. and Eric, and advisers such as Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus, Kellyanne Conway, Corey Lewandowski and Paul Manafort.

Trump Businesses

The next layer consists of his businesses and hotels around the world. Democrats need to keep an eye on his business to identify new conflicts of interests, pay-to-play deals, and backroom deals funded by American taxpayers’ money. It is already widely known tax laws are being exploited. Mitt Romney urged long ago, THE BOMBSHELL lies waiting in Trump’s tax returns. The Democrats need to be all over these conflicts of interest “like a cheap suit.”

GOP Leaders

The next layer consists of all the GOP leaders who supported Trump, or stood silently by him. This includes people such as Jeff Sessions, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and others. They are classic politicians and will change their tune to keep their job. That’s a dangerous leader.

Money

Next layer consists of Trump’s key donors and backers, e.g, Rebekah Mercer, the Koch Brothers and more. Although Koch Brothers are relatively well known for their adventurism in right wing politics, many may not be quite so familiar with Rebekah Mercer. Her efforts in funding, backing and helping Trump deserves a special future post by itself. Behind the scene actors such as Rebekah Mercer and the Koch Brothers need to be exposed so the American working class person sees how real wealth is driving the agendas and Trump’s rallies are simply the stage time to stroke his ego. At the end of the day, it’s all about making Trump and his donors and supporters richer.

Media

The next layer consists of all the CEO, Executives and Producer buddies of Trump who own and work at various main stream media outlets such as CNN (Jeff Zucker), MSNBC (Joe Scarborough and Mika), NBC (Mark Burnett), Washington Post (Chris Cillizza) and many others who were too eager to target anything remotely bad about Hillary and the Democrats but are now spreading Trump’s propaganda and normalizing the Alt-Right.

External Actors

And lastly, there’s an outermost layer that has helped Trump win the election and will do anything and everything to protect him. This circle consists of Putin’s Russia, WikiLeaks led by Julian Assange, and even the White Supremacists such as David Duke. Again, investigating Trump’s conflict of interest (money owed to China, to Germany, to Russia) will show allegiance that is not in the best interest of the American people, much less the American Midwest and rust belt.

The Democratic Party needs to watch out for each of the Trump backers here and can never take their eye off any of these. And it’s not enough to be aware, but to rally every access to legal and social means to bring about justice. Without this, the upper 1% will truly take over the world. And if Middle America feels left behind and oppressed now? Just wait!

Bottomline

It is easy for someone to sulk, feel depressed about the results, and become cynical. In the end, what matters is what we can do to move forward instead of dwelling on the past. I strongly feel that the five strategies listed here are the right way for the Democrats to move forward and fight in a focused, united & agile manner to win again. Like Hillary taught us, it’s not about how we get knocked down, but rather how we get right back up and F.I.G.H.T.

Follow me on Twitter @ThinSkinTrump