Imitation is, as we all know, the highest form of flattery. It can also be dumb.
Politics, where anecdote passes for evidence, is particularly susceptible to the dangers of imitation.
{mosads}I’ve heard so many candidates ask questions like: “Why can’t I have an ad like Paul Wellstone’s ‘Where’s Rudy?”; “Senator Proxmire always won without spending any money, why do I have to?”; “Why can’t we do just one killer negative and play it once like Johnson did with the Daisy girl?”; “Sally won her state Senate seat just going door to door, why can’t I win a U.S. Senate seat that way?”; “Bruce won with an all positive campaign, why can’t I?”
Believe it or not, right now there are candidates asking themselves, and even some around them, “Why can’t I do what Trump is doing?”
He’s not spending nearly as much money as the other guys, yet he’s kicking their behinds.
Marco Rubio may not have discussed it with anyone, but I have no doubt it’s what he was thinking when he suggested Donald Trump had wet himself during a recent debate and sports a small penis.
“Two can play this game,” he thought, “I can dish it out just as well as he can.”
Dumb.
There’s no doubt Trump has been wildly successful in his White House bid.
When he first contemplated the race, most everyone — including me — thought he wouldn’t cross the threshold of viability.
Others worried his billions could buy the nomination, but to everyone’s surprise he is one of the smallest spenders around. His $27 million is in the same league as also-rans like Carly Fiorina and Rand Paul — a fraction of what Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz have spent. Scott Walker, who dropped out before the voting began, spent $40 million.
Social media has been a central part of Trump’s game plan from the start.
Trump has 6.4 million Twitter followers. Rubio has corralled 1.2 million, by comparison, while Cruz has just 864,000. So far this week Trump had 49.5 million likes, shares and mentions on Facebook. Cruz had fewer than 11.5 million and Rubio under 5 million.
How does he do it while managing to dominate the traditional media as well?
Trump tweets at least 10 times a day. He posts clips to Instagram, Twitter’s Periscope and Vine and of course to Facebook. He (and presumably his aides) seem to wake up each morning asking themselves, “What is the most outrageous thing I can tweet?” Is it banning Muslims, attacking the pope, deporting Latinos, making Mexico pay to build a wall?
Then Twitter and Facebook kick up a storm, and because every reporter monitors those sites, it becomes their story of the day as well. Viola, Donald Trump is once again the center of attention.
It’s a great tale about the power of social media and “telling it like you see it.”
However, if Trump were an accountant from Ocala, Fla., instead of a New York billionaire, he would never have been able to pull it off.
If he hadn’t benefited from the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars in exposure through his TV show, he could not have done it.
If he had a normal personality, he could not have carried it off, all while being authentic.
If he were running for almost any other office in the land, it wouldn’t have worked.
If Republicans hadn’t felt betrayed by their leaders, Trump would likely have flopped.
If you aren’t Donald Trump or (all the difference in the world) Paul Wellstone — and you’re not — then don’t try to be.
You may not be damned if you do, but you are doomed.
Mellman is president of The Mellman Group and has worked for Democratic candidates and causes since 1982. Current clients include the minority leader of the Senate and the Democratic whip in the House.