Donald Trump should stick to two P’s and three F’s as he accepts the GOP nomination for president later this week.
The two P’s are peace and prosperity. The three F’s are faith, family and freedom.
Peace: Just about every single person, including Joe Biden, who advocated for the Iraq War from the foreign policy and military establishments is openly campaigning against President Trump. Trump has been notably resistant to getting America involved in another Middle East war, a fact that makes him a pariah to the military industrial complex but a hero to many of the troops. The American people usually reward presidents who keep us out of war with another term in office.
Prosperity: Most rational voters don’t blame the president for the COVID-19 debacle, especially when it comes up to its impact on the economy. They also credit him both with the remarkable economic performance before the ’rona. Most polls give him an edge on the economy over Biden, who has proclaimed for all to hear that he wants to raise taxes if elected. And most voters understand that the president is pushing to get small businesses open and people back to work now, not wait for a vaccine that may or may not happen.
Faith: The president need not talk about his own religious faith nor the religious beliefs or lack thereof in either party. But he does need to talk about his faith in America and its special place in world history. After the doom and gloom of the Democratic convention, where they portrayed this nation as a dystopia beset by racial and class conflict, a more optimistic vision for America is both necessary and will prove popular with most voters. Ronald Reagan talked about the shining city on a hill. Trump doesn’t have to be that utopian, but channeling Reagan would make a nice contrast to the dark vision of the Democrats.
Family: It’s unclear where the Democrats really stand on the traditional two-parent family. But the Republicans should have no ambiguity when it comes to promoting family values and more importantly supporting working parents as they struggle with the COVID economy. Getting kids back to school five days a week is a central difference between the two parties. The Democrats are beholden to the teacher unions. Teaching our kids is not optional and doing it remotely is not effective. We are now all seeing firsthand the ugly face of a union movement that doesn’t seem to have the best interests of the kids in mind as it negotiates with school boards across the country.
Freedom: One thing we have learned through COVID-19 is that the Democrats who run most of the big cities in America will use any pretext to use their power to shut down small businesses and restrict freedom of their constituents. They don’t trust the people to be self-reliant, nor do they believe that most Americans should be trusted to be responsible actors. The reason is simple. Freedom doesn’t jibe with collectivism. It’s not clear if most Americans care about protecting their own ability to live their own lives in their own way but promoting freedom and personal responsibility is an important American principle and it deserves to be promoted.
The Democrats are vulnerable when it comes to the three F’s and the two P’s. Sure, they have the support of the military industrial complex, but can we really afford to go to war again? Joe Biden’s plan to raise taxes and impose new regulations will kill economic growth. The Democrats clearly have lost faith in America, they have thrown in with the teachers unions and they distrust freedom in their mad pursuit for collectivism.
Feehery is a partner at EFB Advocacy and blogs at www.thefeeherytheory.com. He served as spokesman to former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), as communications director to former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) when he was majority whip and as a speechwriter to former House Minority Leader Bob Michel (R-Ill.).