Trump gives GOP chance to re-brand — but will they take it?

Everyone asks us, ‘How did you do it? Tell us how you guys pulled this off.’ It wasn’t us, folks. The Republican Party did not recruit Donald Trump. He recruited us.

{mosads}His gold “T” brand intertwined with our grey elephant brand. The GOP pretty much fought him tusk and nail throughout the whole process. So, what do we all do now? Is our brand now gold, encrusted with the letter “T?” Or is it trying to remain a different shade of grey?

Either way we are forced to change. But the bigger question is who will change with us and are we going to be a more moderate party or are we going to push Trump into molding to our same old brand that has not worked in years? Lets face it, we have had a problem attracting minorities, reasonable live-and-let-live people, and even women. 

Additionally, one sector we have not focused on was the disgruntled working family — and they overwhelmingly went to Trump. I always thought this voting demographic aligned more with the Democratic Party due to the fact so many working families were part of unions. But there are many more of  “middle of the road folks” that really did not think any party fit them particularly well.

Then in comes Donald Trump, who filled the need. Trump is not a die hard Republican and that is where a lot of fear comes in on both sides. No one really knows how he will lead and how he will act with all this new power. Democrats fear him. Some Republicans fear him. The media fears him. 

With all those groups biting their nails and wearing the suit of the Batman character The Riddler, it is no wonder why we are all focused on politics 24/7.

President-elect Trump has an odd challenge ahead of him. Since the middle man in this whole scenario was the hardworking person that felt ignored by both parties — how does Trump run his White House to give them what they were promised?

If he lets the more palatable Republicans fill positions that were against him all the way, does that disappoint the people that elected him? Do they feel like the same old guard will be running the government? After all, they did not want to elect anyone associated with the establishment GOP, and instead bucked the system, went off track ,and jumped on the Trump train all the way to victory. They want Trump.

They want Trump to get rid of the good ol’ boy network, “drain the swamp,” and stop the same type of government reward system that is typically in play after winning.

Maybe the voters liked Trump-supporters Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Pete Sessions, and Newt Gingrich because they expect to see them helping Trump drain the swamp and turn Washington on its heels. But what about having some of these other characters that went against Trump and his movement like Mitt Romney and other Republican elite?

If Trump folds them into important governing roles, do the people that voted him in feel like they got a little short changed? Maybe not. It depends on how they govern and how close to the Trump way of management they stay. How the voters respond to Trump tapping South Carolina Nikki Haley, a long-time critic of the president-elect, as U.N. ambassador will be a test case. 

Trump picks SC Gov. Nikki Haley to be UN ambassador: https://t.co/Rv0AQGGi6g pic.twitter.com/5qePALUxg8

— The Hill (@thehill) November 23, 2016

In order to make Trump’s voter happy and satisfied, anyone Trump appoints needs to stay on point and get down with the message and tone that Trump sets.

As to the Republican Party and their brand, this will be a very tricky situation and has the potential to either form around Trump and become gold elephants or continue on a path of being the grey elephant and resistant to change.

Remember, Trump recruited the GOP, so does the GOP brand have to change to fit Trump now? Do the donors that never contributed or voted for him leave the party or continue to fund the party and support it’s platform? If some of the old guard leave the GOP, is this a good thing or does it mean the GOP is dead — or at least dead as we know it?

The irony is that we will not know this until we move forward and watch it unfold. It’s kind of like what House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said about Obamacare, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what’s in it””. 

In a sense we won’t know the future of the GOP and its brand until we see how Trump will lead us and how rank and file Republicans will react. Will the GOP be a stronger brand and or party? Will it attract more Independents?

Also, what happens to the Democrats and their brand? Will the donkey get up and start kicking again or will it keep its head down and keep trotting down the same trail with blinders on? How will the Democrats try and win back some of the middle class hard working men and women?

I don’t have the answers to these questions and really, no one else has a clue either. We are all going to watch it unfold together. We gave Trump a chance and it’s on his shoulders. 

Not only does he have the pressure of leading the nation, but he has the burden of rebuilding the Republican Party, carving out its future and new brand.

We need to help him by being united as a country. We know the world is watching him and most of all they are watching how we react to him. By working together we show the world we are strong, our dollar remains strong, and attract more people to America because of the opportunities we offer.

In a way, it is what Trump has been touting all along, “Make America Great Again.”  Regardless of whether you think America is already great and you want to keep America great, or you did not like the direction our country was going and you want to make America great again, you have to help support our new leader.

In the end, politics aside, we are Americans and we live in a free world. If you have learned anything from this past election, you have learned what the most powerful commodity is here. It’s your vote.

Nikpour is a national Republican pundit and author of “Branding America.”