Clinton needs an immediate change of strategy

Hillary Clinton will continue to lose ground if she continues to defend herself against Donald Trump’s attacks and focus her offensive on his questionable character and presumed unfitness to be president.

Trump has gained momentum by bashing Clinton’s track record of actual behavior/performance during her tenure as secretary of state, e.g., the e-mail debacle, alleged conflict of interest between the State Department and Clinton Foundation and international positions taken. In turn, Clinton has taken a defensive posture against these attacks; focusing her offensive on Trump’s “character” and unfitness to be president. She will continue to lose ground unless her campaign strategy is dramatically altered.

So how must she position her case going forward? Public perception is shaped more by actual behaviors than by abstractions such as “character.” Thus Clinton needs to highlight Trump’s record of past actions and contradictions in his positions that clearly point to his unfitness for the presidency of the United States. For example:

• Scamming people with Trump University.

• Bankrupting small business people by not paying bills for work performed.

• Discriminating against minorities in his rental apartments. 

• Accruing a sizable debt … much of it to the Bank of China, thereby compromising his ability to be objective and tough in dealing with China.

• Selecting key advisors with questionable ethics, decency and dangerous ideologies (e.g. Manafort, Ailes, Christie, Bannon).

• Admiration of Vladimir Putin and other world dictators. How will this shape his leadership style and the United States’ relationship with Russia?

• Unethical use of monies donated to the Trump Foundation.

• Lying to his constituents, e.g., he will restore coal mining as an industry.

Clinton must act quickly. Once the undecided make up their minds, they are not apt to be swayed otherwise. Cognitive dissonance will set in … a psychological phenomenon that prevents an individual from altering a strongly held opinion. Simply put, cognitive dissonance refers to the anxiety or discomfort that is experienced by an individual who simultaneously holds two or more contradictory beliefs or values. In seeking internal consistency, the individual reduces the anxiety by avoiding or dismissing any new information. Thus Clinton will have an uphill battle trying to convince conflicted voters that she is the superior choice. 

Danella Schiffer, Ph.D., is an organizational psychologist who lives in Salisbury. She is the author of “CareerWise: Proven Strategies for Thriving at Work.”