Electoral
campaigns are always captivating, it is fascinating how the contestants with
poor records manage to compel voters to focus on the trivial to conceal their
failure on the vital.
It is similar to an
illusionist presenting a distraction to deceive his audience that he did actually
pull a rabbit from his hat.
A recent instance of such
a deception is occurring in Pennsylvania state during the Senate race.
Back in April, the
Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz released a video of
him buying food items such as broccoli, asparagus, guacamole, and salsa in a
grocery store.
https://twitter.com/DrOz/status/1511822274998984709
The goal was to
highlight how Bidenflation has rendered essential food items unaffordable for regular
people.
You would assume the
Democrats would have no counter.
However, Oz’s rival
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s campaign was quick to point out
Oz’s blundering of the grocery store’s name. Oz called it Wegner’s which
seems like a clumsy fusion of Redner’s and Wegmans, two Pennsylvania
supermarkets.
The Fetterman
campaign also pointed out what Oz referred to as “crudité,” which Pennsylvanians
would normally call a “veggie tray.”
https://twitter.com/JohnFetterman/status/1559207673698127872
Fetterman’s
campaign reportedly fundraised
more than $500,000 off of the Oz video and $65,000 from one sticker along with
the phrase “Wegners: Let Them Eat Crudité.”
There were two
narratives being pushed.
The first: Oz who
moved there from New Jersey in 2020 in order to run for office isn’t a true
Pennsylvanians.
The second: Oz is an
elite who is out of touch with the issues faced by
regular Pennsylvanians.
Fetterman with his
bald head, tattoos, and fondness for hoodies with shorts is attempting to
project himself as a regular guy.
Oz claimed he was
“exhausted after 18 hours a day. He then added that he has even “gotten my
kids’ names wrong” and it shouldn’t be a measure of someone’s ability to lead
the commonwealth,”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Vfx4EKLB0&t=1s
It was a feeble
defense.
Polls have
shown Oz consistently trailing Fetterman by 11
percentage points and this narrative certainly doesn’t help.
So where did Oz err?
If there is one thing
the voters can detect it is inauthenticity.
Oz whose net worth is around
$100 million has probably never shopped personally at a supermarket
for a very long time and he also isn’t personally affected by inflation.
Oz could have driven
the point by getting one of his staffers to do the very same and merely endorse
the idea.
It is surprising that
Oz’s campaign didn’t have any Pennsylvanians to review the video before it was
released, but the arrow has left the quiver.
So can Oz stage a
comeback?
Oz needs to look no
further than the man who endorsed him during the primaries, Donald J Trump.
On October 7, 2016,
one month before the Presidential election, a video from 2005 of
Trump and television host Billy Bush engaging in ‘lewd’ talk was
leaked to the media.
The leak occurred a
day before the second Presidential Debate. All Democrats and some
Republicans ordered Trump to drop out. The polls showed him trailing Hillary
Clinton by dual digits. 'Experts' thought this tape would doubtlessly destroy
both the GOP and Trump personally
So what did Trump do?
He issued an apology
video and moved on by darting straight to the debate.
Most expected Trump
to be on the defensive, instead, Trump was on the offensive. He focused on
the issues, Hillary’s lies, Bill Clinton’s sex scandal, and the corruption of
the Clintons. It caused even some of Trump’s worst critics to call it a
remarkable comeback.
A month later Trump
won the election.
The truth is the lewd
talk was merely a narrative amplified by the media and pre-election polls were
rigged.
The public looked at the bigger picture and voted for Trump anyway.
The reason the tape
didn't shock anyone is that Trump is authentic. He never claimed to be a
celibate saint - his humor and his personal life are public knowledge.
In fact, authenticity
is the overall reason for his success. Trump never attempted to pretend to
be a regular person and never particpated any stunts. He instead embraced his wealth
and success to become an aspirational figure.
So how should Oz
react?
Like Trump, Oz must
be authentic and focus on the myriad disasters due to Democrat misgovernance.
They say you campaign
in poetry while you govern in prose.
Oz needs to tell
stories by touching hearts.
He must ridicule Fetterman’s
focus and call him insensitive for focusing on store names and terms for trays
rather than talk about the economic hardships that various American families
owing to the 40-year high inflation and the rise in the price of petrol
Oz must focus on
Biden's open borders and highlight the peril that the unrestricted influx
of illegal aliens particularly criminals. He must highlight how the open border
is exploited by drug traffickers and human traffickers and how Biden is secretly
transporting migrants to Philadelphia.
Oz must remind people
about the totalitarian proclivities of the Democrats specifically the COVID-19
lockdown imposed by Democrats and the mandated vaccine back by Democrats,
despite knowing the vaccines were ineffective and even had harmful side effects.
Biden’s Disinformation Governance that intended to sit in judgment
of the public utterances of citizens deserves to be highlighted.
Oz must also highlight the Stalinist January 6th trial that
denies Trump his democratic right of allowing his lawyers to cross-question
witnesses.
Oz must focus the
Democrat agenda to use Climate Change to impose draconian restrictions on small
businesses, high taxes, and increased spending of taxpayer money.
Oz must remind everyone
about Democrats supporting and promoting transgenderism among young children.
Oz must remind people
of Democrats supporting BLM riots and calling for defunding of the police which
places regular folks in peril.
He must also focus on his opponent
The Philadelphia
Inquirer noted, “for a long stretch lasting well into his 40s, his
main source of income came from his parents, who gave him and his family
$54,000 in 2015 alone. That was part of the financial support his parents
regularly provided when Fetterman’s only paying work was $150 a month as mayor
of Braddock, a job he held from his mid-30s until he turned 49. Partway through
his tenure, in 2013, he moved to an industrial-style loft he purchased from his
sister for $1 after she paid $70,000 for it six years earlier.”
Oz must remind people
that Fetterman pursued
a man in 2013 and pulled a shotgun on him because he wrongly believed
the Black jogger had been involved in a shooting. This could be characterized
as a racist act.
He must also highlight Fetterman’s poor health after he suffered a
stroke.
Fetterman’s record as Pennsylvania Lt. Gov was poor and Oz must
expose it.
Pennsylvania has long been an important swing state.
The GOP is on the
right side of all issues that matter to the people, it would be a great shame
if the opportunity is squandered by allowing the Democrats to focus on
the trivial while the vitals are going away due to Democrat misgovernance.
The midterms race is crucial for the future of the nation and so is every seat.
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