Trump’s base is overwhelmingly made up of white people without a college education. How do we turn those people off on Trump, when they haven’t been turned off by his racism, sexual abuse of women, his shameless acts of helping only the rich in his actual policies, etc.? He is obviously touching some strong chord with them that creates a bond that appears to be-- as he claims-- indestructible. But it’s not.
The missing piece with a significant share of the white non-college educated population is that they are (along with the non-college-educated people of color population) the overwhelming majority of the people who serve, have served or have close family members who have served in our military. When you visit them in their mobile homes, apartments, or houses, you see the photos on the wall of their family members in uniform. When you talk to them, you hear about their and their family’s military service. I’ve grown up and stayed friends with, worked with, and visited with non-college educated whites throughout my lifetime, so I have a pretty deep familiarity with these folks, despite otherwise being a prime member of the educated white liberal bubble. I certainly have seen their frequent unthinking and casual racism, made abundantly clear during Trump’s rise. I hate the racism and confront it when there is space to do that. But if you want to reach people, you have to know them, and we can’t afford to write them off. There is plenty of good in these people, and the patriotism they show by serving in the military is to be respected, just as is the patriotism of people of color who serve.
Trump knows of this military connection and opportunistically poses next to the flag and soldiers all the time. But that is also his biggest area of weakness if attacked correctly. The precise way to attack it is to link Trump’s repeated disrespect and very pubic disdain toward our actual American military heroes who have paid huge sacrifices, with Trump’s obvious physical cowardice. It is doubtless true that Trump had always hated John McCain even before McCain voted against the ACA because he is jealous of McCain’s heroism, knowing it contrasts vividly with Trump’s own abject cowardice. Likewise, Trump has said disrespectful things repeatedly to and about Gold Star families because he compulsively must downplay their unbelievable sacrifice since it highlights his own cowardice.
Why is making the link between Trump’s disrespect for our military heroes’ sacrifice and his cowardice so important in peeling off at least part of Trump’s base? Because some will no longer want to identify with him. They are happy to identify with his swaggering Americanfirstism and pokeatthelibs. They will not be happy to identify with a man who is a blatant physical coward and to cover that cowardice he disrespects military sacrifice and true patriotic heroism. Many of these folks will feel shame when they see that and won't want to stand for Trump. Shame is a powerful emotion. But they have to see the link.
Political advertising that shows that link will be devastating for Trump. And it should start now. I’ll post how to do that later.