He strides towards you brimming with confidence, one of those rare sorts who can approach strangers on the sidewalk without the slightest hesitation. He introduces himself and makes a forceful pitch. It seems so forthright, but there’s quite a bit of subtle manipulation at work. He inquires about your life, tailors his sell to your personal needs, and omits just enough detail to allow for mid-pitch adaptations if necessary.
You leave him wearing a chintzy watch you don’t need, marveling at his proficiency in the art of the deal. And then you realize you’ve heard that turn of phrase before, perhaps in a book title from many years ago.
Donald Trump is the ultimate street vendor, only the product he’s selling is himself and his coin is electoral votes. In this sense, he’s an idiot savant: he seems to know or care little about foreign policy or domestic policy or any other type of policy (usually a prerequisite when running for an office that regularly shapes policy), but he does have a sizable reservoir of knowledge when it comes to making cash registers clang. His latest venture is his most grandiose yet: a personal contract with tens of millions of voters, stipulating that he’ll be exactly what they want him to be, and nothing less.
This is Rorschach psychology applied to salesmanship and elevated to the level of presidential politics. Early on, it presented a problem: how could Trump sell himself to every potential customer when there are tens of millions of American voters and they’re riven by differences and disagreements? The answer was to take a few concrete positions that he knew would hook a majority of his target demographic — building an impregnable wall comes to mind — while remaining nebulous enough on other specifics to be everything to everyone.
Abortion is one of the thorniest topics in American political life. Trump’s solution? First, threaten women who have undergone abortions with criminal penalties to lock down the hardcore pro-lifers. Then, gradually back away from that position, until you’re claiming only two days later that “the laws are set, and I think we have to leave it that way.”
That gulf of opinion covers everyone from the Center for Medical Progress to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and leaves plenty of room for future calibrations. Thus did Trump score both the endorsement of Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, and most of the Republican delegates in the social issues-averse Northeastern states. Both feel comfortable with him on abortion. The sale had been made.
The same applies to Trump’s flimflammery over the minimum wage. Last year, when he was still untested by the Republican primary, Trump denounced the idea of a $15 minimum wage, and actually declared that wages were“too high.” Then, on last weekend’s Sunday shows, he suddenly said he was open but uncommitted to hiking the minimum wage, and asserted that “people have to get more.”
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post rightly observed that this wasn’t a flip-flop, but neither was it totally consistent. Trump had delicately Goldilocksed the issue, leaving voters with the impression that he was neither too Keynesian nor too Friedmanian, with plenty of wiggle room to adjust the pitch in the future. Indeed, the most striking quality of Trump’s salesmanship is how totally transparent he is about it: “You need flexibility,” he told George Stephanopoulos point blank.
That flexibility extends even to Trump’s pet issue, keeping illegal immigrants at bay. Trump has spent months rattling on about how he’ll bar Muslim immigrants from entering the United States until—that most ironclad of evidentiary standards—”we can figure out what’s going on.” Then, on Tuesday, he suddenly backed away, telling Fox News that the Muslim ban was “just a suggestion.” “I’d like to back off on it as soon as possible because, frankly, I’d like to see something happen,” Trump said.
There’s been much analysis about how Trump’s campaign represents the nexus of politics and entertainment; less has been said about how effectively it fuses politics to business. Trump Inc. is now wholly dedicated to closing their electoral sale. Expect them to muddle and equivocate even more as they pivot to their new general election customer base.
The question is whether the voters will awaken to the fact that they’re being fleeced.
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