Lessons in the much-abused Art of Insult.

Deplorables have been on my mind. Of course, they have been in the news a lot lately.

Guests on a recent CNN show lampooned the deplorables who support President Trump. (CNN anchor Don Lemon and panelists Rick Wilson and Wajahat Ali mocked the intelligence of Trump supporters.) In response, Trump lovers lightning-zipped that video around the internet. It shows the world how the uppity elites scorn and belittle Trump supporters.

Hillary Clinton set this particular ball rolling with her “basket of deplorables” remark in the 2016 presidential campaign. Many on the left (and Never Trumpers on the right, like Wilson) have been happy to kick it along. Which is how it ended up on CNN, among many other programs.

Deplorables are fat targets for those who see Trump as their enemy. Hollywood types, politicians, political mouthpieces, commentators — so many of them go beyond criticizing or attacking the president.

They also belittle his voters. Let me strengthen that verb. They insult his supporters. They call them rubes, idiots, and disgusting repulsive illiterates. 

The politicians and political strategists opposing Trump are organized. They pow-wow, shape, and follow the party line. Frequently that line is to attack not just Trump, but also the deplorables who support Trump.

To me, such a strategy is a puzzlement. But what do I know?

The political class studies lots of polls that tell them whether their strategies work or flop. All I have are scraps of what we think we know about behavior. One tidbit is that if you want to persuade a person to agree with you, you don’t call him or her a doofus.

I hear a few readers shrieking, “Nah, nah, the other guys do it too.” Yes, they do. But the guys on the left hog the spotlight and microphones at the moment. Only because Trump lives in the White House and dominates the dialogue these days.

Those who insult voters, left or right, don’t do their causes any favors. Their insults repel those who might support their cause and vote with them. 

When I hear the insults, I think of a big-time business guy. He was the number two man in the world’s largest shoe manufacturer. He told me that in the depths of the Great Depression his company was desperate for business. Any amount of business at any price, just to keep the plant open.

The owner dispatched his son on an urgent mission: to win a big order from a major chain store company.

The son met with the top buyers of the chain stores. He sent a telegram back to his father. Something like “No order. I can’t get anywhere with these stupid SOBs.”

The number two executive decided to try. He too called on the buyers at the chain. He won them over. He brought back a large order. “Our profit was a penny a shoe,” he told me. “But it kept the plant going.”

The son was gob-smacked that the exec succeeded where he had failed. He asked the exec how in hell he got it done.

“Well, for starters,” he told the son, “I did not regard my customers as stupid SOBs.”

The Left has a challenge. They need to persuade a number of Trump voters to vote their way. Something tells me that spending four years telling them they are moronic rubes ain’t gonna help that effort.

I am pretty certain the shoe executive would back me up on this.

From Tom…as in Morgan.      

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home in upstate New York. You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com or read more of his writing at tomasinmorgan.com.

At the time of the American Revolution, the future United States was a small, colonial backwater on the world stage. There were an estimated 2 million to 3 million people living here. Yet, the U.S. somehow produced an array of talented, creative thinkers and politicians — Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Hamilton, Franklin, and others — who forged this republic we still inhabit.

 It’s not just that they began the effort of crafting a new nation. They also designed it — the multiple sources of power, the delineation into federal, state, and local levels, and the idea that there ought to be a balance among legislative, executive, and judicial equals. We’ve never really matched the convergence of political creativity and insight produced by that era. 

 To be sure, there are plenty of what-ifs and caveats. The leaders of that time failed to confront and find a way past the stain of slavery. Their blind spot when it came to the treatment of Indians was just as troubling. And one of the great what-ifs of American history is what this country would have looked like had women been able to hold and exercise political power. What if Abigail Adams, Phyllis Wheatley, Mercy Otis Warren, and Elizabeth Willing Powel — the Philadelphia salon hostess who brought together and often advised the men whose names we all know — had been more than wise counsel? 

 Nonetheless, when I think of the history of political leadership in this country, I’m struck by how the founders still stand out after almost two-and-a-half centuries. So, I’ve been going back to read up on them, and as I do, another thing strikes me —the qualities of leadership I think I discern in their biographies have never really gone out of style. At least, I see reflections of them in my experience of memorable political leaders in our time.

 For one thing, above all else great leaders of democracies seek to build a consensus. They’re inclusive. They don’t try to shut people out of the process. They’re good listeners, and not especially interested in coming into a room and trying to dominate it or impress everybody. They ask a lot of questions. They’re quick to grasp the consequences of problems that have been left unaddressed, and to try to think through the impact of what they’re proposing.

 For the most part, they’re articulate — describing problems understandably and approachably is a key part of leadership, as is persuading others that you’re right. They usually think in terms of practical options: what’s the problem, what are the facts, what options do we have for dealing with the problem? 

 Most of them, though by no means all, know how to deal with people. And many of our greatest leaders have had a kind of energy that most of us can only admire — the sort of drive, perseverance, and wide-ranging breadth of effort that people like John Adams displayed. Politics is not a game for low-energy people.

 Leaders are responsible for the performance of the groups they lead. They set the agenda, they identify the problems and issues to be tackled, the priorities for action, and the style: Will it be an inclusive or exclusive effort? Will it be a pure exercise in wielding power or focused on building broad support by identifying the problems and the resources to deal with them, and by forging common ground? 

It’s both a paradox and a gift of our system that we have a form of government that encourages ordinary people to solve the problems of their communities, states, and the nation as a whole, and yet effective leadership is vital. It mattered at our founding, and it’s mattered at every step of the way. Representative democracy is not a spectator sport — we all have to be involved. Yet to get anything done, to harness the collective energy and wisdom of ordinary Americans, we need leaders who possess at least some of the qualities and conscious public-spiritedness of our founders. 

 I don’t know if we’ll ever produce another generation of leaders like our founding generation. What I do know, however, is that every time we enter a voting booth, we have the opportunity to try.   ν

Lee Hamilton, 88, is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years (1965-1999), representing a district in south central Indiana.