Monday, August 17, 2020

NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN BY HOWARD TULLMAN

 

How to Debate a Demagogue

Biden will have to debate Trump at some point. Here's how to keep it from becoming a circus

BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS@TULLMAN

How do you debate someone who won't debate? It's a little like trying to negotiate with someone who doesn't know that there's supposed to be give and take involved. This is Joe Biden's problem with the upcoming Presidential debates. I liked Tom Friedman's suggestion that Biden should refuse to debate unless Trump finally releases his tax returns, but that's never gonna happen. There are also naïve suggestions being made that Trump will bail from these debates entirely, but we all know that his bent ego and pathological narcissism won't let him miss these opportunities to strut his stuff. 

Ideally, for Covid-19 reasons, the debate commission will dispense with the live audiences, which are nothing but partisan cheering sections who must be constantly admonished to stop idiotically applauding random stump speech lines. And hopefully, the moderators won't be afraid to ask tough questions and fact-check the speakers in real time for phony and misleading answers. Learning only later that Trump lied about lives lost, vague vaccines, and our "roaring" economy doesn't do anyone much good. A lie in today's world repeated often enough without fear of contradiction can become a bastardized form of the truth for a depressingly large part of the population. 

But even with changes, Biden's got a serious task ahead of him because successfully debating with a reality TV caricature on live television is almost impossible. Decency and decorum can be a devastating detriment. The debates are all about one single idea: most people understand energy better than facts. In this crazy, misnamed and flatulent forum, it is speed, style and screaming that can easily overwhelm substance. Conviction, even if it's unfounded and baseless, comes blasting through the tube. This is much more about heat than light. The best liars actually do believe their own lies and sadly, on television, it sells. Sincerity, and calm competence, not so much.  

Joe's job is to show that all the noise, bluster and energy in the world doesn't move anything forward if it's not connected to the wheels of the train and to some reality. Pedaling furiously in place gets you nowhere. Trump always wanted the pomp and the power of the job but was never interested in actually doing the hard work of governing. He did a masterful job of running his Daddy's businesses into the ground over several decades and he's done no better for us. Every entrepreneur knows that it takes far more talent and skill to grow or change a business than to simply run one. Trump has done neither. 

Real entrepreneurs are constantly selling their own ideas to investors, regulators, team members and customers and often find themselves in quite similar situations. Whether you're facing lying competitors, know-it-all venture investors, regulators with a lot of power but no clue as to your business, or customers who don't want to hear the truth, you will need to figure out how to handle these conversations and conflicts and come out on top. So does Joe.   

The key is an old ju-jitsu adage: you want to manipulate and use your opponent's force against him rather than confronting him directly with a force of your own. Never was Muhammad Ali's Rope-a-Dope strategy more timely and fitting. What I'd love to see is that every time Trump goes off on a wild tangent, Biden just chuckles and simply quotes the old Reagan line: "there you go again".  

So here are three critical things to keep in mind. 

(1)   Don't Shoot Someone Who's Committing Suicide 

Trump is desperate and losing and he knows it. Don't get in his way or interrupt him as he digs himself deeper and deeper into the hole. He can't help himself. He does more damage every day to his own campaign and to what tiny bit of credibility he may have remaining (solely by virtue of his office), which hasn't already been trashed by his erratic and irrational behavior. People think that because he's the president, he must know something. This is why he's fond of pretending to "know" things without ever actually telling us anything.  

In business, when your competition is lying about his products or yours, the customers don't want to hear more of the BS; they want sensible solutions, not slander, and they want to get on with their business. People who have nothing real to offer also have nothing to lose and are willing to say anything. Eventually the world wakes up. You don't lose to the competition; you lose when you lose your own way. Stick to your script, tell your story, and get the job done. 

(2)   Don't Wrestle in the Mud with A Pig

The problem with rolling in the mud with a pig is that you get muddy and the pig loves it. When you sling mud, you lose ground and, as tempting as it is to call the other guy out for a multitude of sins, it's best to resist the temptation.  No one but Trump thinks you can win a race to the bottom and no one knows how low he's willing to go. Hopefully, the American people are sufficiently fatigued and looking for a way forward - not more of the same lies - but, as much as plans and policies are important, they have no real place in these debates. It's all about personality and passion.  

Leaders in politics and businesses can cast light or shadows and we've spent four long and painful years in the dark. Strength and stability are far more compelling right now than stats and specifics - especially since there's NO time in these debates to get into the details. Trying to catch Trump in a lie is easy but getting him to admit anything is like trying to nail Jell-O to a tree. This sorry situation will make life on stage very difficult for Biden because there's really no way to make sense of the mess Trump's made in the short time allotted. 

Joe can't let himself be sucked into the sludge. If he can simply be the caring, empathetic, compassionate, and decent human being that he is, the comparison to the Orange Ogre will be too stark for anyone to miss. Biden needs to make his case strongly, concretely, and swiftly. Get the key messages across and forget the gorilla in the room. They call it a race for a reason.  

(3)   Wield the Truth with Care 

Unfortunately, the truth is always messy. It rarely makes a good, simple story because very little in our lives these days is sharply contrasted. And, of course, many people live in a bubble of their own making and would just as soon not hear the uncomfortable and inconvenient truth anyway. Saying what no one wants to hear is never easy, but this awful task falls to Biden. This is his main and utterly thankless job in the debates. But it's an honorable responsibility. Tell us where we are, Joe, and show us where we hope to be. It's not going to be a short trip, there are no simple solutions, and there will be plenty of bumps along the way. But we'll never get there if we don't start now. 

Our best hope is that, in November, the truth will finally overtake the devious and damaged maniac in the Oval Office and the people will turn him out. 

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