Donald Trump's Stunning Victory: Exploiting Communication in the Information Age - Essay Sample

Introduction

Donald Trump easily won the 2016 U.S. elections by a wide margin against his opponents to become the forty-fifth president of the United States. His win was a result of his fierce and successful elections campaign and strategies. Which had not been fully exploited by previous contenders? Don't forget communication is 50% of the battle in the information age, say it once, say it twice and keep on saying it, and when you have finished, you will realize still not said it enough. There was extensive use of social media platforms, mostly Facebook, Twitter, and others, as the mode of selling his candidature and manifesto to the technology-savvy electorates. This strategy proved to be a significant boost and gave him a head start against his main rival Hillary Clinton and others who stuck to traditional ways of technology. This paper seeks to advocate for the adoption and active use of modern technology as the primary campaign strategy by critically analyzing Trump,2016 elections win, and his 2020 re-election win as a case study to the 14 November 2020 upcoming presidential elections.

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The Fact Trump ran the most well-organized Facebook presidential campaign has been acknowledged by Hutchinson when he attested that digital technology played a vital role in his inaugural election. (Hutchinson,2020). His Digital campaign team focused on Facebook adverts to reach and woo the voters who could gain access to data, thus were able to get information at the tip of their hands instantly and first. The report indicates that Trump spent over twenty million dollars on more than two hundred and eighteen thousand Facebook adverts alone. It, therefore, made it possible to get realtime data of the voters and getting their thoughts about their campaigns, and the voters' impressions made them either go back to the drawing board to re strategies.

Smith opines in the Guardian Trump seeks to follow his 2016 strategy in his bid to win his 2020 re-election by using xenophobia as the ultimate tool. He twitted that he would suspend immigration into the united states backing up this threat by claiming that those who sought green cards did so to reside in the states permanently. (Smith 2020). He made kind of this threat by signing it into an executive order, and he received massive support for this action.

Furthermore, he introduced divide and rule tactics by using Facebook adverts to create a wedge between the whites against the blacks and other immigrants. He marketed himself as the only man who could stop illegal immigration into the United States. Furthermore, he introduced religious prejudice when he threatened to deport all Muslims residing in the united states on behalf of the American soldiers who had died in Afghanistan and Iraq. This statement target Barrack Obama, whose presidency had been opposed by the white supremacists who held the notion that Obama wasn't born in the united states.

Trump was already an established brand in the market, thanks to his products, whose consumption is universal. Hillary Clinton was also a brand in her political world. However, Trump capitalized on his celebrity status to muzzle Clinton, whose celebrity status was appealing to the political class alone. (Rivero 2017). Other candidates were remote, known; therefore, they were not popular with the voters with the media giving them little coverage compared to the top two contenders who got more airtime.

The financial stability of Donald Trump was also a factor. According to (Peters and Sh2016). Even though Trump spends half the amount of what Hillary Clinton spent, he got more sponsors than any other candidate. Trump was able to reach far-flung states such as Michigan, which had been declared unreachable by, political commentators, and he got most of the votes.

Trump approached the elections by adapting slogans, which resonated well with the voters. His speeches were fiery and hard-hitting not only against his opponents but also to those perceived to be enemies of the United States. His attacks were touching on the economy, security, and general well being of the Americans by Castigating and, pointing out their failures, these speeches and slogans attracted voters to his camp. His opponents, however, took a liberal approach compared to his radical statements.

He referred to Hillary Clinton as the "crooked Hillary," the Lyin Ted, among other appalling names, he further went ahead to frame him as part of the American problem while portraying himself as the savior to the mess created by Hillary Clinton and others. (Rivero 2016).He further whipped the emotions of the voters using extreme messages in coded language, he sent through his digital campaign, for instance, when publicly claimed that choosing a candidate to vote for was similar to a high-risk buying decision. Therefore he was able to convince voters that he was their best bet who could not gamble with their trust in him.

Trump directed his energies in public rallies, where he created a lot of buzz on the ground compared to Hillary, who did not participate in many demonstrations. In these rallies, he marketed himself to the voters in different dimensions based on social income, ethnicity, and opinions.

Make America great again campaign slogan was the most effective slogan which he used as the clarion call to his republican supporters to vote wisely. In his motto was intended to create an impression that The United States which were, losing its Supremacy to the rest of the world, Americas was steady,y losing its export market to countries like China, there reducing its global influence. Some citizens, too, felt that they were losing power in their own country to foreigners majority of them undocumented aliens. Trump positioned himself as the only candidate who could restore the United States lost lory. (Lu and Sofia).

The 14 November elections will be between Trump and Biden, and Trump will win. For he has fulfilled most of his election pledges, and he leads in digital strategy matters due to his use of social media sites compared to bid.

From the above points illustrated above, digital, modern technology has cemented its place in the united states presidential elections, and it's threatening to overtake traditional ways as it's more effective as it creates an all-round, interactive platform with instant feedback. Most of the young voters are active users of Facebook and Twitter compared to other forms of communication. The 2020 elections will not be different from the previous one since the digital platform expected to be widely used to woo voters. And Trump has the upper hand since he has heavily invested and has been actively using these social sites to reach the intended voters. He shall adopt the same strategies with few changes and new slogans to defeat Joe Biden.

Works Cited

Hutchinson, Andrew. "Analysis Reveals Key Facebook Ad Strategies of Trump Campaign." SocialMedia Today, 30 January. 30 January n.d., https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/analysis-reveals-key-facebook-ad-strategies-of-trump-campaign/571346/.

Smith, David. "Donald Trump Set to Fall Back on Xenophobia with Re-Election Plan in Tatters." The Guardian, 26 April. 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/26/donald-trump-xenophobia-re-election-campaign-2020.

SOFFEN, K.I., M, and DENISE LU. "Campaign 2016 When Was America Great? It Depends on Who You Are." THE WASHINGTON POST, 7 October 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/when-was-America-great/