WHEN Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was introduced as the running mate to Democratic nominee for president Kamala Harris, one of the first things he said in his speech in Philadelphia was: “Thank you, Madam Vice Presi-dent ... for bringing back the joy.”
It’s easy to instantly think of these latter traits as being undesirable and “bad”. But I have been in this business long enough not to underestimate the power of leveraging these emotions.
The way in which Trump has successfully tapped into voter anger and resentment is to be ignored at our peril.
The good news for Americans is that the Harris-Walz ticket is in many ways showing the world how a different approach and narrative may well be able to overwhelm and overrun Trump’s brand of negativity.
Those of us around the world who are invested in exploring ways to develop alternatives to the politics of hate that is running rampant may have some interesting new data to analyse by the end of this campaign.
Even at this early stage, we are seeing some intriguing new lines of attack from the Democrats that have been finally able to – perhaps more effectively than ever before – get under Trump’s skin.
A lot of this is coming directly from Walz. Many credit Walz’s rise from obscurity to candidate for vice president in mere weeks to a single word that he helped to popularise: “weird”.
I personally think there’s a lot more to his strategy than just one word, but for anyone interested in the art of political communication, there is definitely much to dive into here. Prior to this, a lot of Democrats were describing Trump and what he represented using big words like “existential threat to democracy” and things like that.
As many have conceded, this is of course technically true – what with Trump essentially alluding to destroying all checks and balances, and giving himself the dictatorial powers of an absolute monarch. But put simply, these lines of attack did not seem to really connect with voters.
If I had to simplify why this was, I would say that these kinds of ideas (about how democracy is run, and so on) were too cerebral, and too distant from the day to day lives of most Americans. But when Walz started appearing on cable news, calling Trump and his running mate JD Vance “weird”, it seemed to strike a chord.
This line became so successful that within days, all the Demo-cratic heavyweights were using this term to describe Trump and his allies.
There were two other observations that Walz kept repeating that I found even more impressive.The first was another simple question that Walz asked: “Have you ever seen Donald Trump laugh?”
The first time I heard this simple but absolutely scathing observation, I was nearly impressed out of my chair.
The second example Walz likes to use is about how he would come home from work after a long day, play Frisbee with his dog, give him a belly rub, and call him a good boy. He would then ask: “Can you imagine Trump doing something like that?”
What Walz is really communicating to voters here is: Trump is not like you. Walz is communicating that a “normal” person would care about Americans, enjoy similar things in life, and want good things for all their neighbours; but Trump is not a normal person. He’s a weird person.
Quick caveat: I don’t consider myself a normal person either. Most of my friends think I’m just plain weird too. I’m all for celebrating diversity.
But in the context of the American elections, Walz has brilliantly encapsulated how Trump is going to take America in a weird direction – a direction that most Americans simply do not want. And Walz has done this in a way that demonstrates great understanding of what is perhaps the golden rule of political communication: voters think differently than politicians.
Politicians who are steeped in the world of politics obsess about things like existential threats to democracy. Normal voters simply do not. Arguably, a lot of voters vote based on a vibe.
Get a good vibe from someone? Vote for them.
Get a weird vibe from someone? Don’t vote for them.
I must confess I’ve also found it greatly entertaining to watch Trump fall apart in the face of this attack. This is because Walz is forcing Trump to break what is perhaps the second golden rule of political communication: Don’t issue denials.
In this case, it’s devastatingly simple: The more you say “I’m not weird”, the more you sound like a weird person. One of the reasons the weird label sticks in this case, is because in contrast, Walz comes across to many as your all around normal American dad.
One commentator said: “Even if you’ve never met this guy, you’ve met this guy”, referencing the fact that many voters can think of someone in their life that Walz reminds them of – the corny dad, the high school coach, the good neighbour. Two other words I find very important that keep coming up when people describe him: genuine and authentic.
Walz seems to always be speaking off the cuff and from the heart, communicating in a way that seems to speak directly to you – connecting human to human. That’s the real Walz magic.
He is able to do this because he means what he says – and voters have an uncanny ability to differentiate people who are authentic from people who are not.
It’s hard to overestimate how absent this has been in a world of over-polished politicians, demagogues, and hatemongers.
To have someone who comes across as someone who’s just like the good guy in your neighbourhood trying to do the right thing is refreshing in exciting ways.
If Harris and Walz do make it across the finish line this November, this model of political communication may inspire a reinvigorated brand of positive politics across the globe – something to definitely look forward to.
Nathaniel Tan is strategic communications consultant. He can be reached at nat@engage.my. The views expressed here are solely the writer’s own.
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