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Resisting President Trump

I’m getting a little tired of the wailing, gnashing of teeth and rending of garments on the Left. Enough woe. Let’s talk action.

First, what truths might we hold self-evident about Mr. Trump?

  1. He cares more about his brand than anything else, more than money, more than power. It’s totemic for him.
  2. He’s deeply narcissistic with high dominance needs: he knows no greater torment than the humiliation of losing.

Conclusion: the best mode of resistance to Trump and Trumpism is to diminish his brand. Use consumer power to tilt his business enterprises toward failure.

That’s the way to turn electoral victory won through demagoguery into wormwood and gall.

The obvious target

Never stay at a Trump hotel.  Never schedule or attend an event at a Trump property.  Never dine there. Take no spa treatment there. Buy no apartment. Make sure your employer (or your employees) hews to these policies.

Consider how the vote for and against Trump broke down. Working class whites in the Heartland voted for Trump, while cosmopolitan coastal elites voted against him.

And who makes up the market for luxury hotels located on the east coast?

Less obvious but potentially more devastating

Over the years, Trump has licensed his name widely. It’s on a whole bunch of … stuff. Literally millions of items display his brand.

Action: never buy a Trump-branded item. Avoid stores that carry lots of Trump items (and give the store feedback as to why). If you have any Trump items, drop them off at Goodwill. If that action of returning items catches on, Goodwill stores will fill up with Trump-branded items.  Take pictures of marked-down Trump items for posting on social media.

The goal here is a symbolic violation of the totem: to make the Trump brand synonymous with thrift store discards—a sign of trash, not luxury.

More aggressive consumer action

This next action, while I believe it is legal, carries a modicum of financial risk for those who take it. It makes the most sense if you have other grounds for disliking or distrusting a retail store that carries Trump merchandise.

Buy the most expensive piece of Trump-branded merchandise that store carries. But first, be sure the store has a guaranteed return policy for a 100% cash refund.

Back home, open the box, and don’t be overly neat about it (but do not damage the box unduly–it’s enough to show the box has been opened.  Remove contents, and remove any internal packaging, again being very careful not to damage anything.  And then pile everything back in the obviously opened box and return it to the store.  Tell them, “Didn’t live up to its billing.”

The point here is that returns are tremendously expensive for retailers. Returned items go to liquidators and discount outlets for pennies on the dollar. No retailer can afford to carry merchandise which gets returned in any but a small fraction of cases.

No distribution = no viable merchandising strategy.  Trump can’t sell what he can’t get on the shelf.

And once again, Trump merchandise gets featured in low rent districts and very marginal outlet stores.

Perspective

The power of consumer action against Trump: it’s safe and legal. You can’t take someone to court for refusing to stay in a hotel. You can’t jail someone for not owning some brand’s merchandise.

Consumer action is also bullet-proof from a public relations standpoint. Too many “how to resist” posts err on the side of violent and / or illegal activity. I’m old enough to tell you there’s an Archie Bunker / Richard Nixon underlayment to Trump’s voter support, and it will be harder to peel off his loosely attached voters if you get typed as a 1960s-style protester.

We know how that effort turned out: Nixon was re-elected.  Voters will choose order over violent disorder, no matter how repugnant the man quelling the violence. Please don’t play into Trump’s hands.

Be a consumer and vote with your feet. Nothing violent or uncivil; just exercise your consumer franchise. Trump is more vulnerable to that action than any President we’ve ever had.

Help him see the Presidency as a money-losing proposition.   One he won’t want to continue.

Published inPolitics

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