Democrats should forget about policy and take down Trump’s ‘personality cult’: GOP strategist

Democrats are overthinking what they need to do to defeat President Donald Trump, according to Republican strategist Rick Wilson.

The 2020 election is a referendum on the president, like any other re-election campaign, but Democrats aren't going to sway voters with policy papers and plans to reshape the government, warned Wilson in a new column for USA Today.

"I’m not judging your policies," wrote Wilson, an outspoken Trump critic. "I literally don’t care one whit. I’m just telling you that they don’t matter, and never do. Trump’s policy fit on a trucker hat. Obama’s fit on a poster or in a three-word call of 'Yes We Can.' Policy is a delusion."

Democrats must instead focus on defining Trump's character and corruption, Wilson wrote, and show how the former reality TV star is transforming the U.S. into "a statist personality cult."

"To win, your candidate needs to be the most effective counterforce to Trump, a remedy for the disease with which he has infected our body politic. That’s it," Wilson wrote. "Heart, guts and being great on TV beat brains and policy over and over again."

Wilson cautioned Democrats against focusing on blue states or even campaigning in red states, and instead devote their attention to delivering a centrist message to winnable swing states.

"If you don’t win the Electoral College, nothing else matters," he wrote.

"In the heat of a Democratic primary, it’s tempting to think that America is so very, very woke and that all the people in this country crave is a massive government plan to hand out free stuff," Wilson added. "For Democrats, the primary incentivizes a race to the left edge of the ideological spectrum and — again, I’m not judging their policies — but just telling them what the polling and politics look like outside the Democratic primary bubble."