Should Trump have talked more about his accomplishments and his second-term agenda?

[darklordoftech]

?

[LBJer]

I voted no, because I think doing so would have turned off at least as many people as it would have pleased.  His "accomplishments" were only regarded as such to people who supported him to begin with.  

[RGM2609]

I voted no, because I think doing so would have turned off at least as many people as it would have pleased.  His "accomplishments" were only regarded as such to people who supported him to begin with.  

In addition to that, any kind of realistic second-term agenda from Trump would have been massively unpopular to anyone but the MAGA base.

[Pericles]

He should have talked a lot more about the economy, that was his best issue. He didn't really have a coherent message for 2020, not like 2016, even something as simple as reminding people a lot more 'The economy has been great under me, and I'll keep it that way'. If he'd done that, I think he would have won.

[DPKdebator]

He should have talked a lot more about the economy, that was his best issue. He didn't really have a coherent message for 2020, not like 2016, even something as simple as reminding people a lot more 'The economy has been great under me, and I'll keep it that way'. If he'd done that, I think he would have won.

Trump's lack of clear message in 2020 was perhaps his most fatal mistake. In 2016 you could boil down his core policy proposals into simple one liners- Make America Great Again, Build the Wall, Drain the Swamp, etc. It's pretty clear that the roaring economy was supposed to be his best selling point for round two, but the pandemic threw a huge wrench into that. The muh socialism lines show that Trump and his team thought Bernie was going to be the nominee, and it's such a tired line for Republicans to use that it fell flat (except for groups like Cubans and Venezuelans).

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

He should have talked a lot more about the economy, that was his best issue. He didn't really have a coherent message for 2020, not like 2016, even something as simple as reminding people a lot more 'The economy has been great under me, and I'll keep it that way'. If he'd done that, I think he would have won.

Would this really have worked that much, though? For me it seems that it would be a bit tone-deaf to go on and on about how great the economy was when there was mass unemployment, in a crisis that he himself mismanaged.

[dw93]

It's not so much that the Trump campaign didn't talk Trump's "accomplishments," they did. They were quick to gloat about how great the pre COVID economy was, the problem was that by the time the general election campaign kicked off, it was no longer good and they had no solutions to the problem, and one could easily point out (and Biden did this, though not nearly enough) that Trump had very little, if anything to do with the pre COVID economic conditions. Once "wasn't that pre COVID economy great" wasn't enough, the Trump campaign became a full on campaign of grievance, and one that lacked a clear message and resonated with no one outside of people that were gonna vote for Trump from the start.

I do agree however that he had no agenda for a 2nd term and this proved costly. In short, much like the Bush campaign of 1992, the Trump campaign banked on running for a 2nd term on conditions that existed a year prior to the campaign, not realizing that a year in politics is a long time, and as was the case with Bush in 1992, Trump and his team failed to adjust their message and campaign to the circumstances that arose in the 8-10 months leading up to the election, and it cost them.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

He should have done a better job responding to covid and attacked China more for it.

[Pres Mike]

I voted no, primarily because Democrats were expected to keep the house regardless who won the presidency so there wasn't much Trump could do that he wasn't already do (bullying immigrants and poor people and giving our allies chest pain)

His strongest accomplishment, the economy, was in shatters. He did say he would rebuild it and to his credit I do think that was smart. Most people expected a second term Trump to fight all closures and mask mandates, and force the economy to reopen faster,

[Bootes Void]

he did talk about his accomplishments though

[All Along The Watchtower]

What accomplishments?

[Mr.Phips]

I voted no, primarily because Democrats were expected to keep the house regardless who won the presidency so there wasn't much Trump could do that he wasn't already do (bullying immigrants and poor people and giving our allies chest pain)

His strongest accomplishment, the economy, was in shatters. He did say he would rebuild it and to his credit I do think that was smart. Most people expected a second term Trump to fight all closures and mask mandates, and force the economy to reopen faster,

Had the environment been just a little better (with Trump winning), the House probably would have flipped.