Strategic Distraction

As we watch in amazement while the Republican candidates for president and vice president seemingly try to outdo each other with outrageous and ridiculous statements, we must realize that their goal is not to convince voters of the veracity of their claims, but to claim as much attention as possible for themselves. As P.T. Barnum, “The Greatest Showman,” once said, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” Actually there is, and it’s incumbent on us to find and focus on it.

There are many parallels that can be drawn between P.T. Barnum and the Republican presidential candidate. In fact, I wrote about the latter’s penchant for garnering attention in The Abominable Showman. At the time, I was commenting on the barrage of lies and innuendo that he spewed at the Republican National Convention, a forum ripe for such spectacle. Little did we know that in a few short weeks, the presidential election landscape would experience a tectonic shift with President Biden’s withdrawal and Vice President Harris’s ascension to the head of the Democratic ticket.

Since Vice President Harris took the Democratic Party reins, she has deftly maintained momentum with her messaging and has managed to capture a reasonable share of media attention, although it remains unbalanced and rife with false equivalency. The Republican candidates have struggled to redirect the spotlight, and are resorting to desperate but tried-and-true measures to get attention. Their approach, irresponsible and dangerous though it may be, and full of lies and false accusations, is clearly working. Attention is shifting in their direction, and while not much of it is positive, it’s publicity nonetheless, and is drawing attention away from VP Harris and Governor Walz.

The danger of their rhetoric is no more evident than in their despicable characterization of Springfield, Ohio, as a crime-ridden city overrun by illegal immigrants who are eating the dogs and cats. It’s resulted in bomb threats, school lockdowns, harassment of innocent citizens, and cancellation of civic events. In a show of incredible arrogance and disingenuity, the Republican VP candidate confirmed that the story was false, but justified it as a way to focus attention on immigration, an issue on which they claim superiority (although the truth is that a largely conservative-driven immigration bill, negotiated in good faith by Congress and President Biden, was scuttled by the Republican presidential candidate because he didn’t want President Biden to be able to take credit for it).

As if on cue, a second alleged assassination attempt on the Republican presidential candidate has given them ammunition to blame Democrats for encouraging such actions by their supposed violent rhetoric. Of course, Democrats’ general cries for saving democracy pale in comparison with the Republicans’ direct calls for arrest and prosecution of their opponents and death to some whom they’ve called traitors. By making this ridiculous false equivalency argument, they hope to reduce the effectiveness of Democrats’ “attacks” while excusing their own.

At a National Association of Black Journalists interview earlier this week, VP Harris explained one of her core values in response to a question about the dangerous rhetoric being directed at Springfield, Ohio by the Republican candidates: that those in the public eye have a responsibility to speak clearly and thoughtfully, because their words matter. She said, “I learned a long time ago in my career, having a background as a prosecutor, when you have these positions, when you have that kind of microphone in front of you, you really ought to understand, at a very deep level, how much your words have meaning. I learned at a very young stage of my career that the meaning of my words could impact whether somebody was free or in prison. As Attorney General…of California, the fifth largest economy in the world, I was acutely aware that my words could move markets. When you are bestowed with a microphone that is that big, there is a profound responsibility that comes with that, that is an extension of what should not be lost in this moment, this concept of the public trust. To then understand what the public trust means; it means that you have been invested with trust, to be responsible in the way you use your words, much less how you conduct yourself.”

VP Harris and Governor Walz have been careful not to inflame passions against individuals. The same cannot be said for their opponents, who do so with abandon and employ a strategy of “flooding the zone” with all kinds of shiny objects, many of which are equally distasteful and destructive. But again, they draw attention and get publicity. Democrats are left to choose between chasing the shiny objects or ignoring them. Chasing them is tantamount to playing “Whack-A-Mole,” while ignoring them leaves them unchallenged and able to take root in the “alternate fact” universe. The challenge is finding the right balance.

To deal with the barrage of nonsense, perhaps the Democrats should hire a factchecker whose sole purpose is to keep track of the lies, misinformation, and disinformation purveyed by the Republican candidates. They could publish the ongoing list on the campaign website and publicize it as a scorecard. That might be enough for most things.

Taking a page from the Republicans’ playbook (not the one called Project 2025), the Democrats need to find a way to attract attention and use it to generate free publicity. Rather than playing defense, the Harris/Walz campaign should play offense and pick a couple of the most egregious Republican stunts, shine a spotlight on them, and keep it there. Springfield, Ohio, and the debacle at Arlington National Cemetery are two recent controversies that are emblematic of the divisiveness and lawlessness of the Republican candidates. To these, add their presidential candidate’s despicable claims about post-birth abortion and their advocacy for governmental interference in parental rights.

The Republicans’ inexplicable abdication of the Party’s basic tenets with the flouting of law and order, disunification of our nation, and violation of personal rights should be an albatross around their necks, adorning them until November 6.