7) Put out of a press release highlighting Pence's life accomplishments that the thousands of reporters writing pieces can crib from.
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 15, 2016
Donald Trump’s VP rollout of Mike Pence shows his campaign is still a shambles
Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images
Donald Trump’s selection of Mike Pence as his running mate didn’t just seem chaotic; it really was chaotic, as made clear by the somewhat shambolic rollout.
As Politico’s Shane Goldmacher explains in an excellent series of tweets, the Trump political operation simply didn’t do any of the basic nuts-and-bolts digital campaign work that you would expect to do with a major announcement of this kind. The normal approach would be to make a decision, then get a whole bunch of supporting work done and in position, and then throw all the switches right after you announce.
But it didn’t happen.
A few easy digital things Trump's team didn't do before announcing Pence:
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 15, 2016
1) Update Trump's website with the news. pic.twitter.com/dOzlCTjAkA
2) Update Mike Pence's profile on Twitter to say he is on the ticket pic.twitter.com/AOnntDMXNE
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 15, 2016
Those two don’t really matter in a concrete way but just reflect a kind of basic disorganization. These next two, though, signal a lost fundraising opportunity for a campaign that could use some cash.
3) Or update the pinned tweet on the top of Pence's account linking to his reelect page, as people flood there: pic.twitter.com/seGkITrHlr
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 15, 2016
4) Buy Google search ads for flood of searches (See comparison for Clinton search): pic.twitter.com/VA5UFQn6wG
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 15, 2016
Then you just have a lack of internet best practices:
5) Secure top domains. See --> https://t.co/rF8YK8p3Rv
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 15, 2016
5) Secure top domains. See --> https://t.co/rF8YK8p3Rv
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 15, 2016
Nor was there any kind of media strategy:
7) Put out of a press release highlighting Pence's life accomplishments that the thousands of reporters writing pieces can crib from.
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 15, 2016
8) One thing the Trump folks DID do was post on two social networks: Facebook and Twitter https://t.co/T2SE3fWeDx pic.twitter.com/dJodJa2dJZ
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 15, 2016
8) One thing the Trump folks DID do was post on two social networks: Facebook and Twitter https://t.co/T2SE3fWeDx pic.twitter.com/dJodJa2dJZ
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 15, 2016
10) Again, these are the precious first 30 minutes that hundreds of thousands, even millions, of voters are seeking information about Pence.
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 15, 2016
There’s also a failure to keep faith with campaign loyalists:
11) And another thing: In Trump's initial tweet, he didn't tag @mike_pence so his nearly 10 million followers could follow his VP.
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 15, 2016
12) Follow up on his promise to text supporters the news https://t.co/QPs5b2n5nL pic.twitter.com/NVNi01vMuS
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 15, 2016
13) At least so far (45 minutes or so), send an email to his massive list asking for money. VP day is big small-dollar potential day.
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) July 15, 2016
Now, what I think Donald Trump would tell you is that he won the GOP nomination and is putting up respectable numbers in the general election without doing these so-called campaign basics. Maybe there is a corrupt and incestuous circle of professional political operatives and professional political journalists who want the world to believe — perhaps even personally want to believe — that the whole rigmarole of an expensive, highly professionalized political campaign is essential even as Trump is proving it isn’t true.
Or maybe in politics nothing matters unless the race is close, in which case everything matters.
The whole campaign is, for better or worse, a fascinating political science experiment.
