The touch Trump and FDR share in common

Christine Wicker
Monday, October 30, 2017, 5:00 AM

As Democrats cast about for ways to win back the working-class voters seduced by Donald Trump, they are being urged by some to moderate their principles. But as the granddaddy of the modern party, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, would have surely told them, high principles aren’t the problem. It’s their politicking that’s at fault.

The ironic reality is that Trump — stumping for shallowly populist goals and advancing a regressive economic agenda with ideas and values that are as right-wing as they come — has employed many of Roosevelt’s most successful political tactics far better than the Democrats have.

The first and most obvious similarity between the two men is their embrace of the medium of the moment. FDR innovatively used radio to go directly to the people; Trump has similarly done an end-run around the media on Twitter, and by delivering long rally speeches that eat up chunks of time on cable news channels.

Here are five other, less frequently noticed tactics FDR and Trump both used effectively in pursuit of opposite aims:

1. Find enemies, target them and don’t let up.

Trump promised to clean out the swamp of Washington, D.C. FDR promised to drive the money-changers from the temple.

In doing so, both channeled Americans’ frustrations that the system wasn’t working. Neither worried about hurt feelings or cared if they fostered class warfare.

Were he around today, I suspect FDR would pull no punches in targeting fund managers, currency manipulators and Wall Street speculators. They’ve garnered enormous fortunes. They don’t do work that ordinary Americans understand. They don’t produce tangible products. They get rich fast and don’t often give enough back.

2. Pinpoint what’s good in the American people and praise it loudly.

Nobody likes a nag, and Roosevelt never was one. One of FDR’s first tasks in his 1933 inaugural speech was to point out that the good, hardworking people of America were not to blame for their misfortunes.

Trump used the same strategy, just as brilliantly. People believed that in voting for him they were supporting the military, the traditional manufacturing base of America and the rule of law in immigration. In many respects, they were being quintessentially pro-America. The dispute over the national anthem at football games has animated the same impulse.

Democrats need to find a way for people to express their profound patriotism even as they back their more liberal ideas.

3. Honor Americans’ belief in self-reliance and personal freedom.

Working hard is so integral to American values that it has the force of the sacred. Trump’s crusade to bring back coal mining jobs makes no logical sense, but logic rarely wins against emotion. Coal-mining holds a place in the American mind as one of the hardest, dirtiest, scariest jobs anywhere.

FDR emphasized that the Americans his programs were helping — Dust Bowl farmers, the jobless — wanted to work for their money, and he was putting them back to work. You can trust in each other, he told Americans. When one group or industry suffers, the others go down too, he said.

Democrats need to do a far better job championing individual initiative and linking it to their larger ideas.

4. Make it fun.

FDR wasn’t a particularly witty man, but he liked to have fun. He had a great laugh and he used it often. His buoyant spirits raised everyone’s energy.

Trump isn’t very witty either. But he is outrageous, and at his rallies, he does seem to be enjoying himself. Old Donald is always giving it to someone, right in the kisser.

Democrats, sad to say, generally aren’t fun. They’re pious. They’re earnest. They’re well meaning. And boring. That makes them hard for many people who are tired of politics to root for.

5. Keep it simple.

Trump is nothing if not simple, flattening policy to an often Manichean “great” and “terrible.”

Roosevelt simplified things, too. A famous example was his speech about helping Great Britain before the United States entered the war by passing a lend-lease plan for American ships and bases. He likened the plan to lending a garden hose to your neighbor when his house is on fire. When the fire is out, your neighbor will return your hose, Roosevelt said.

Change makes people fearful, and fearful people think more about what they might lose than what might be gained. With that simple story, he assured his listeners, “You are good people. You want to help. You can help. And nothing will be lost.”

Democrats, too often addicted to policy nuance, must look back to look forward.

Wicker is author of the forthcoming book, “The Simple Faith of Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Religion’s Role in the FDR Presidency.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/t...icle-1.3594242