While Kamala Harris refuses to do interviews with anyone, Donald Trump is taking a different approach. The former president has been appearing with podcasters and streamers as part of a strategy to reach new voters.
There’s certainly some merit to the idea. Why should Republicans spend all their time talking to people who hate them and who want to use every utterance during an interview as a way to defeat them? What makes CNN more worthy of a sit-down than someone with a podcast that (in some cases) reaches millions more people?
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That brings me to Trump’s recent interview with comedian and podcaster Theo Von. To put it simply, it’s incredible content. For example, in one clip, the former president counsels Von on his drug and alcohol use, and it’s hilarious.
VON: No, I would just do cocaine, that was really…
TRUMP: Whoa
VON: Yeah so, nah, just yeah…
TRUMP: That’s, that’s down and dirty, right?
VON: Yeah, and this is, yeah, I mean, it as yeah…
TRUMP: But you don’t anymore
VON: No, I don’t do it anymore man, and I’m not doing it.
TRUMP: Is it too much, too much to handle?
VON: Some of this stuff started to get a real rattle in it too. I don’t know where we were even getting it from in this country, but yeah, it started to make me feel like I was a mechanic or something.
TRUMP: So the thing you go back to is alcohol for the most part.
VON: Well, right, but what I want probably is cocaine, but I know that if I have a drink, then it’ll give me, it’ll like, it’ll like be, “Okay, well I had a drink, then I can do this.”
TRUMP: Is cocaine a stronger up?
VON: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
TRUMP: So you’re way up with cocaine, more than anything else you can think of.
VON: Cocaine will turn you into a damn owl, homie. You know what I’m saying? You’ll be out on your porch. You’ll be your own street lamp. You’re freakin…
TRUMP: And is that a good feeling while…?
VON: No, horrible.
TRUMP: It’s a miserable feeling.
VON: But you do it anyway, just like the guy you were saying with the scotch.
Was any of that about policy? No, but it served a different purpose. I don’t think there’s much confusion at this point over what Trump will do if he’s elected president (or at least what he says he’ll do). That’s not the former president’s primary obstacle to winning the White House, though. Rather, his biggest issue comes from Democrat attacks that seek to dehumanize him. To some extent, those attacks have worked over the years in driving down Trump’s favorables and making him seem like a cartoonishly evil figure.
Sitting down with Von and talking about substance abuse in a funny way humanizing the former president. It reminds people that he’s not “literally Hitler.” Sure, that can’t take the place of a policy-centered campaign, which is still important, but letting Trump interact on a more down-to-earth level helps soften the blow of the attacks against him. It makes the hysterical proclamations about democracy ending and fascism seem stupid and pathetic.
Of course, there was a little policy discussed.
Trump should keep doing this stuff mixed in with more serious interviews. No one thing is going to win the election for him. It’s going to be a collaboration of multiple things that form the winning strategy. Do the rallies, do the town hall events, do interviews, and show up in diners. With the DNC coming to a close later this week, the time is now to start barnstorming, and making people laugh has never hurt anyone with voters.
