The election of Donald Trump as the next president has confirmed a little-talked-about aspect of politics; it is rarely about ideas and competency. A political race is always a popularity contest. The better-known candidate and the one with more star power often prevails. Democrats looking for reasons to explain the November debacle should not ignore the fact that Mr. Trump for all of his flaws is a bigger star than Hillary Clinton. The business mogul has built a brand that has been part of the American economic landscape for over 30 years.
The name Trump tells a story in a way that Clinton could not. As the left is starting to put the pieces back together, traditional politicians like Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and New Jersey’s Cory Booker have been making moves indicating that 2020 is somewhere in the back of their minds.
While those political sensations could triumph against “normal” politicians, beating Trump might be a harder task for them. Some on the liberal side have started realizing that to beat Trump in four years, the Democratic Party will have to nominate someone with enough name recognition to remove the celebrity factor from the equation.
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, who was one of the first liberals to see the strength of the Trump candidacy, went in that direction. A few weeks ago, he told CNN’s State of the Union: “Democrats would be better off if they ran Oprah [Winfrey] or Tom Hanks. Why don’t we run beloved people? We have so many of them. The Republicans do this – they run [Ronald] Reagan and the Terminator [Arnold Schwarzenegger] and other people.” He also stated: “Why don’t we run somebody that the American people love and are really drawn to, and that are smart and have good politics and all that?”
Once more the director of Fahrenheit 9/11 is right. Democrats will need to pick someone, who has star power and is beloved by the American people. Very few names can match Trump’s celebrity status. Yes, billionaire Mark Cuban can handle the real estate mogul on Twitter, but he cannot match his name recognition in Middle America. Businessman Howard Schultz faces the same problem.
Right now only Winfrey and Hanks seem to have the necessary celebrity attributes to take on Trump. The TV legend is probably not thinking about a political run and her comments after the election suggest that she is open to giving Trump a chance. On the other hand, the Forrest Gump actor made statements that signal he might entertain the idea.