Running or not, should Trump be the policy guru for the GOP?

Back in the early 1980s, a popular commercial used the tagline, “Is it live or is it Memorex?” For the Republican Party of 2022 — as well as all those who loathe or love Donald Trump — the tagline echoing in many of their heads has become, “Is he running or not?”

Again, hate him or love him, there are credible reasons why the former president would want to drag out the answer to that question as long as he can. The main reason is viability.

The constant curiosity and even angst about whether he’ll run for president in 2024 — and when he might make such a pronouncement — is, in itself, fueling the Trump brand. On any given day, the Trump “franchise” is getting hundreds of thousands of dollars in free advertising simply because those who hate him or love him are constantly putting the question out there and theorizing how his running for office again might be bad or good for the GOP and the country. 

“Cha-ching!” rings the Trump name-recognition cash register. Meanwhile, in our increasingly polarized nation, millions of Americans, including policy influencers, can articulate in minute detail why it would be disastrous if Trump runs again — just as there are millions more who could spell out precisely why they believe Trump is the only one capable of steering our country out of its death spiral. It’s hard to find anyone who hasn’t taken a side in this, who has no preference when it comes to Trump’s political future.

This political mystery will be settled on “Trump time.” By then, his free advertising haul may well exceed $100 million.

But as it plays out, more and more voters are extrapolating on the question that Ronald Reagan famously posed to the American people during his Oct. 28, 1980, debate with Jimmy Carter: “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”

It was a question that helped to propel Reagan to a landslide victory. And today, more and more voters are recognizing parallels between the disastrous policies of the Carter administration and those of Joe Biden. Unfortunately for Biden and the Democrats, these voters are taking note of his administration’s mounting failures one month before the midterm elections.

More than that, millions of voters are dealing in one way or another with record-breaking crime, quality of life-robbing inflation, unchecked illegal immigration, rising gasoline prices, high utility bills, critical supply shortages, and the resurfacing of the nuclear threat. Many of them fondly recall Trump’s policies.

The anti-Trump wing of the GOP can join with the Democrats, liberal media, academia, Hollywood and other Never-Trumpers in hating on Trump. But they would be smart to remove emotion and personality from the equation and ask themselves a 2022 version of Reagan’s iconic question: “Was America better off under the Trump administration than it is under President Biden?”

It’s a simple question and the answer is obvious for many: We were dramatically better off under Trump’s policies.

Many who believe that would then logically ask which Republican would be the party’s best bet to resurrect or expand upon Trump’s most successful policies to put the country back on the right course, without the baggage attached to Trump.

So, what are the most pragmatic, commonsense solutions to the problems now plaguing our nation? As some in the GOP and the more conservative-leaning editorial pages continue to condemn the rhetoric of “Trump, the personality,” they also should contrast his policies with those of Biden. Even if they decide to exile “Trump, the personality” to the political version of Elba Island, they might want to resurrect the best of his policies.

They need not even talk to the man to do so. They simply have to go to the Trump White House archives and look up “Administration Accomplishments.” Yes, you can hate the man — but can still love his policies and use them to win back the White House in two years.

Douglas MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant, was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communications at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration.