Donald Trump had the greatest comeback in American political history.
He didn’t follow the usual playbook to return to the White House.
And Donald Trump brushed off the establishment with one plan that wrecked Democrats.
Donald Trump’s unconventional campaign strategy pays off
President-elect Donald Trump had the biggest victory for a Republican since the 1980s on election night.
He became the first Republican since former President George W. Bush in the 2004 Election to win the popular vote.
But he threw out the typical Republican establishment playbook to win a historic victory.
The Trump campaign relied on outside groups, Turning Point USA and the Faith and Freedom Coalition, to turn out voters this year as part of its ground game.
Critics in the establishment and the Democrat Party mocked Trump’s campaign tactics, but they set the stage for his massive win.
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk said that the Trump campaign broke the usual rules of politics this year by focusing on low-turnout voters during an appearance on the PBD podcast.
“The Trump campaign was brilliant because they threw the Republican consultant playbook out,” Kirk explained. “Trump came in and said we’re going to focus on low-propensity voters. The welder, the electrician, the carpenter, the police officer, or the person that’s just not registered to vote.”
Kirk said his group focused on turning Trump supporters into voters.
New Trump voters helped win the election
The Turning Point USA founder said that, unlike most elections, most of the country had already made up their mind about Trump.
Instead of focusing on trying to persuade a suburban soccer mom on the fence about Trump, the campaign turned voters who liked the President-elect but who didn’t regularly vote or weren’t registered.
“Turning Point spent time in very Republican areas targeting non-registered or what we called ‘disengaged voters.’ People who liked Trump and his worldview, like the ‘bro vote,’” Kirk stated. “At Arizona State University, for example, we registered thousands of young men to vote in fraternities. That was far easier than trying to win over swing voters. We did a bit of that, but generally, the Trump campaign was brilliant because they threw out the traditional Republican consultant playbook.”
Republican establishment consultants focus on the small group of voters in the middle who are undecided.
The Trump campaign focused on expanding his base by turning don’t cares into cares.
Instead of focusing on high-turnout suburban voters, the emphasis was switched to low-turnout voters.
“These voters get their information from TikTok, not from CNN. They aren’t watching cable news; they’re exhausted from work and more likely to watch NFL games,” Kirk explained.
Trump tried to reach these voters where they got their information with appearances on podcasts and live streams.
“The Trump campaign hacked the 2024 election — not in the way people think — where they recognized that everyone has a supercomputer in their pocket, why are we worried about what CNN is saying? Why don’t we focus on winning the information war? They went on the most ambitious, over-the-top low-propensity voter communication strategy on Theo Von, Joe Rogan, Nelk Boys, and Logan Paul. There’s the whole reservoir of voters,” Kirk said.
Donald Trump upended the typical Republican playbook and delivered the biggest win for the GOP in decades.
