– Your mother is dead.
– No. What? Oh, my God!
– No, she’s not dead, we’re getting divorced though.
– Why – Why – What – What – Why would you say that she’s dead?
– That’s a business tactic. You drop the bomb, then you soften the blow. You never tried this?
The above dialogue is from Season 2, Episode 1 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia when Frank Reynolds, the fictional father of the show’s main characters, shows up after neglecting his children for years.
As silly as the tactic sounds, and while it can be viewed as deceptive, it works well. You never tried this?
It appears republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is working the same scheme on one of the most heavily debated issues facing the United States. The billionaire businessman was hard on illegal immigrants when he first came on the scene.
During early days of the primaries, Trump vowed to use a “deportation force” to round up and deport millions of illegal immigrants.
These initial comments, along with the infamous wall, were enough to startle people into paying attention. Some were outraged, others invigorated. Both sides were glued to the media frenzy that followed.
Once he had everyone’s attention (and the Republican nomination sealed) Trump began softening his aggressive rhetoric on the deportation of illegal immigrants.
“So you have somebody who’s been in the country for 20 years, has done a great job, and everything else,” Trump said. “Do we take him and the family and her and him or whatever and send him out?”
His question was met by some cheers over suggestions that immigrants be allowed to stay, while others responded in roars when he suggested deporting them.
The Republican nominee then said he “would come out with a decision very soon” about deportations.
Trump had been scheduled to outline his immigration policies on Thursday in Colorado, but that speech has since been postponed, likely until next week.
His latest comments at the town hall come as he may be moving away from one of his signature proposals during the Republican primary.
He is softening the blow. He even said so:
“There could certainly be a softening because we’re not looking to hurt people,”
We have a businessman running for president, and he is using tactics that work in business. Whether they are effective in politics will be determined in November.
As of August 27th, the statisticians at FiveThirtyEight are still 80% sure his methods will fail.
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This business tactic he used is called bait-and-switch.
He needed to win over a certain section of republican voters, and he did it. All the while saying nothing that he actually believes. I for one wish he would be himself, because the real version of him is probably not that bad at all.