In the last election, Obama and Romney signs could alternate down a long stretch of road. No problem. Four years ago, we had relative civility. But something different is going on this year.
We all know who Trump is by now. Theoretically, a Trump yard sign could signify party loyalty, but then it would share the yard with down-ballot Republicans. Most Trump signs I see are the only name in the yard, and they seem to spring up on streets already overrun with Trump signs. If the patterns of Romney vs. Obama signs looked like debate, these skewed local outbreaks of Trump signs in rural to suburban areas look more like mob group-think and intentional intimidation. The yard sign clusterings remind me of Trump rally crowds, exciting each other and teetering on the edge of violence.
Have you seen the bad idea T-shirt, “I was deplorable before it was cool?” It’s not cool, and that needs to be called out. Think about two adjacent houses, both with Trump signs. They are telling each other “we are so damn cool,” like school children watching a bully pick on the smallest kid in the grade and thinking they are on side that’s winning. If just one person says “Hey, go pick on someone you don’t outweigh by 40 pounds,” the illusion of cool is gone and the bullying stops.
This is the year that one side’s behavior is so brazenly reprehensible that a yard sign for the Clinton/Kaine team says “Shame on You! Stop Thinking You’re So Damn Cool, Because You Already Know You Are Not!” This year, that message will change votes. “Wow, Mrs. R. just put up her first yard sign ever. Trump must have thoroughly disgusted her!” And people will realize they agree.
In the cities, the goal is turnout. Everyone knows that Republicans hate cities, and hey, the feeling is mutual. In the suburbs, the goal is winning undecided voters. I call on the Clinton campaign to make yard signs available in abundance, to trumpet the message that supporting Hillary is cool. I call on supporters in battleground neighborhoods to step up, get your yard signs, and display them proudly.