The rule of three is a writing principle which suggests that a trio of entities such as events or characters is more humorous, satisfying, or effective than other numbers. The audience of this form of text is also thereby more likely to remember the information conveyed because having three entities combines both brevity and rhythm with having the smallest amount of information to create a pattern.

~Wikipedia

I thought about the rule of three as I prepared for a one-on-one breakfast with the LaShonda Holloway (she goes by L.J.), the Democratic candidate for Congress in Florida’s Fourth District.  What were the three things I could share with her which exhibited the “brevity and rhythm” that would resonate with voters?  I am sharing them with you because they also apply to any conversation you might have with voters who are open to NEW information about the candidates.

1. Do not run against who your opponent is.  Run against what he/she says and does.  In L.J.’s case she is running against Aaron Bean, a member of a multi-generational, well-connected local family.  A representative of each of the last three generations has been elected mayor  of Fernandina Beach.  They also have been major contributors to many civic projects. But as our Congressman, Aaron has no legislative accomplishments and says or does something stupid almost every day.
   On his website, he says REPUBLICANS forced Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle to resign, ignoring the fact ranking member of the Oversight Committee Jamie Raskin (D-MD) also signed the letter.  He said the assassination attempt against Donald Trump was horrific and unacceptable, but refuses to condemn the violence on January 6, 2021.  He accuses Joe Biden of appeasing Hamas but voted against aid to Ukraine.  It is not who Aaron is; it is what he has become since hitching his star to Trump and the MAGA agenda.
   The reason for taking a similar approach to Trump is just the opposite.  He was never a decent human being.  But everyone already knows that; so why waste time or money trying to convince those who do not care.  Focus on what he says as evidenced by his remarks Friday at the Turning Point Summit.  According to NPR, he told the Christian gathering this was the only election that mattered.  “You won’t have to do it anymore.  Four more years, you know what?  It’s fixed, it’ll be fine.  You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.”  A WTF moment if there was one.  Only Trump could promise Americans will become both a dictatorship and theocracy in one sentence.
2. Attack the fear factor.  Trump and his MAGA lemmings tell you armed IRS agents are going to show up on your front porch.  That the FBI is going to conduct pre-dawn raids at your house.  That immigrants are going to kill you.  Whenever or wherever someone makes those claims, ask them, “How many of you have had an armed-IRS agent show up at your door?”  The answer, of course, is none. You know why?  First, IRS auditors don’t carry guns, and second, they only go after people when there is probable cause that they cheated on their returns.  “How many of you have been subjected to an FBI raid?”  Again, no one raises their hands.  Maybe because you are not concealing classified documents or destroyed evidence in a criminal case. Finally, if Trump and the MAGAverse are so concerned about immigrant crime, why did they block the toughest border security proposal in U.S. history?  Must not be that big an issue.  However, the misguided 20-year-old who took a shot at Trump was not an immigrant.  The shooters at New Town and Uvalde were not immigrants.  The mass murderers in Orlando, Las Vegas, Charleston, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and El Paso were not immigrants.  The insurrectionists that beat up police protecting the nation’s capitol were not immigrants.  What about them?
3. When talking about the difference between Democrats and MAGA candidates, be specific and make it personal.  It is easy to attack Project 2025 by reciting the laundry list of bad ideas contained in the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a second Trump administration.
   Read the audience.  Pick one topic in Project 2025 that is most likely to resonate with them.  If they have children in Head Start programs tell them that it will cost them an average of $8,200/year in daycare if the program is eliminated.  If they are salaried workers, focus on the Project 2025 tax proposal.  Tell them if they make $100,000/year, their taxes will increase by $4,118 compared to the current tax code while a household making $1 million/year will save $23,625.  Ask an elderly audience how many are worried about long-term health care and spend the rest of the time on what it means if Trump, et. al. eliminate or reduce Medicaid benefits.  And again, make it VERY personal. Point to the audience and remind them, “YOU and YOU and YOU would have to pay…”

One can only hope the rule of three applies to the trifecta of female candidates on the ballot in Florida’s 4th Congressional District:  Vice President Kamala Harris, Rick Scott opponent Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, and L.J. Holloway.

POSTSCRIPT: A GOOD WEEK

It’s a good week when Friday’s Wall Street Journal includes the headline, “Harris Erases Trump’s Lead, WSJ Poll Finds.”  However, the better news is that Americans know when politicians don’t believe what they are saying.  And sadly, since the June 27 debate, defense of Joe Biden’s chances in November came off as unauthentic.

That is no longer the case.  There is no better evidence than the appearance by former New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu on Sunday’s edition of MSNBC’s “The Weekend.”  Prior to Biden’s announcement last Sunday, Landrieu, who is a co-chair of the now Harris National Campaign, would talk about the party’s ground game as the antidote for the president’s disaster in the first (and maybe the last) debate between the two major party nominees.  This morning he talked in terms of using the field offices and volunteers to make sure the momentum and enthusiasm Harris brings to the ticket will translate into votes on November 5.

And this time, you could tell he actually believed they would.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP