As Trump immolates, we are in a unique moment of flux in which the narrative for the rest of the election will be set. Republican strategy (backed by Koch and other campaign funding) will be to create narratives that maximize their chances for maintaining their majorities in the House and Senate. From the 1996 campaign against Bill Clinton comes the narrative that control of Congress was necessary to protect against the perceived (projected) evils and excesses of the Democratic nominee. We are also likely to face another Republican narrative focused on the case for change — painting Hillary as the old order and blaming her for everything that has gone wrong.
You can’t beat a narrative with facts or by arguing that it is logically inconsistent. You only beat a narrative with one that is more compelling.
As Trump evolves into toast, Hillary Clinton should focus on gridlock as the barrier to change. We all know the narrative of gridlock — at several points in the past it has been a powerful way that voters have thought about Washington. The Clinton campaign should now use the narrative of gridlock to make an argument for voting for Democrats in the House and Senate. This is a real pivot from the narrative that she has been using to get Republicans away from Trump, but his new trajectory means that we are facing a fundamentally different scenario, and the old narrative will not take maximum advantage of current circumstances.
The status quo is a divided Congress that does nothing but pocket their paychecks and create turmoil. Make the case to voters that what’s wrong with Washington is extremism, government shut-downs, 50 meaningless votes against Obamacare and no commitment to improve it, the Senate for the first time since the Civil War refusing to even hold hearings on a President’s Supreme Court nominee.
Follow the first rule of politics and ask people for their vote. Ask them to vote for a Democratic Senator, a Democratic Representative, and if she is given a working majority in Congress, then hold her and the Democratic Party accountable for getting stuff done that helps ordinary Americans.