Trump’s political communication and the never-ending election season

Photo: Michael Vadon/Wikimedia Commons

President Donald Trump has been at the center of political communication since the 2016 election season, when as candidate of the Conservative party he took the non-conformist use of social media to an unprecedented level of engagement with his followers.

Even the chaotic mode of governance of the Trump White House has ensured that Trump remains at the center of the political debate and media spotlight.

The Hill reported on Friday how the “tumultuous presidency has been good business for book sales.”

Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury” a New York Times best-seller since January, “Russian Roulette,” a book exploring Trump’s relationship with Russia, and James Comey’s “A Higher Loyalty” have all sold well and kept the discussion revolving around the president.

So, what actually is it that has kept Trump at the center of the political discourse between his election promise to “Make American Great Again” and the widely perceived contradictions that mark both his rhetoric and performance in the critical mid-term election year?

First of all, Trump continues to expand his reach to voters, supporters and the undecided citizens through regular messaging via Twitter. So much so that the U.S. policy positions on several issues flow from his early morning tweets.

His Twitter account, which partly was responsible in demolishing what his supporters call the two political dynasties – the Bushes and the Clintons – during the 2016 election season, has grown now to more than 51 million followers.

As a marketing professional, Trump realized early during the election campaign that Twitter, more than any other social media platforms or even mainstream media provided an effective avenue for straight talk. No complex labyrinths of being fuzzy, politically correct or savvy on a particular subject. While all social media platforms and major media outlets have their own groups of followers – like those who like photos on Facebook or Instagram, read newspapers and still other who like to watch news channels – Twitter appears to be one of the easiest ways of communication.

The platform has helped Trump to take his takes or messages on all kinds of issues to people through a variety of crisp, acerbic, small, incomplete descriptions to express his delight, anger, criticism or frustrations.

Trump’s use of the Twitter indeed seems to be an iconoclast of traditional ways of spelling out elaborate narratives. His followers get instantly what they want to hear, without having to wait for a long speech, read a news story or watch an interview to the end.

But, at times, it has worked both ways, sending out wrong signals to the intended targets of criticism and the world at large. For example, this week the White House had to explain that Trump did not imply that North Korea has agreed to denuclearization when he tweeted that North Korea has agreed to denuclearization.

Another dimension is that with his pressuring the GOP jopponents of his policy positions, Trump has put other centers of power like Congress on the back foot with implications for American democracy.

In his book The Dynamics of Political Communication: Media and Politics in the Digital Age,  author Richard M. Perloff, professor of communication, political science, and psychology at Cleveland State University, notes how Trump has effectively used the social media to build his own brand of politics and image that cares about the people.

“Numerous studies show that despite the multitude of communications avenues now available, voters feel less connected to politicians and less informed about government than previous generations,” Perloff writes.

“Donald Trump used social media to tap into this anger and bypass other communications channels to directly and authentically communicate with voters in a way many other politicians had failed to do.”

Secondly, Trump has made sure that he has a political adversary to vent his anger at. He can either revert to a volley of criticisms against Hillary Clinton or attack new targets like former FBI chief James Comey. Then he has been consistently attacking the media, terming major channels like CNN and newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post as fake news media. This helps him in three ways at communicating with his voter base. Firstly, he continues to fight the forces that try to stop him from draining the swamp in Washington D.C. Secondly, like many of his voters for whom the Fox News is the default medium, he remains angrily determined to defeat those trying to derail his America First agenda. Thirdly, he appears determined to discredit any reports or sources of news that suggest his campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 election season. In the same vein, he has called investigation into Russian interference, led by special counsel Robert Mueller as a witch hunt.

Trump’s performance at best has been a mixed bag so far, both domestically and internationally. He has said goodbye to “harmful’ trade deals like Trans Pacific Trade Agreement and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, presenting them as inimical to American interests.

Similarly, he has been consistently framing the immigration as a national security issue. While his stance on immigration issues has been seen as divisive for the nation, it continues to have a strong appeal for his support base.

On the Capitol Hill, the president has been having his way in most of the cases. For example, senators including those facing reelection, put aside their reported disagreements and approved the president’s nominee Mike Pompeo as the U.S. Secretary of State.

The president’s tax cut moves, job numbers, overall economic outlook and new investments into previously ignored American industries such as automobiles have been received well by a large number of Americans, despite concerns over trade war with China.

But the biggest achievement that Trump can claim to have achieved so far, is the progress on the longstanding issue of North Korean denuclearization and a halt to Pyongyang’s missile testing.

This week, Trump, who previously dubbed North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as “Little Rocket Man,” described him as “very honorable based on what we are seeing.”

Trump plans to meet Kim soon and the historic meeting between the North and South Korean leaders seems to be indicating progress toward the U.S. goal of denuclearization of the Peninsula.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has already suggested that a successful denuclearization of North Korea should win President Trump a Nobel Peace Prize.

Meanwhile, 16 months into his term, President Trump’s approval rating seems to be hovering around 40%. A Quinnipiac University poll, carried out between April 20-24, finds Trump’s approval rating at 39% while a Fox News poll, reported on April 25, finds Trump’s approval rating at 44%.

But perhaps Trump’s greatest tests vis-à-vis the art or science of communication are yet to come. This year’s midterm will be a tough barometer as Democrats are doing all they can to challenge the Republicans on two major issues including the #MeToo movement and the gun reforms in the wake of a spate of terrible school shootings.