By Gabriella Ciuffetelli
Editorial Editor
Senior Presidential Fellows Ed Rollins and Howard Dean sat down with former George W. Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan to discuss this year’s presidential election during the “What’s the Message in 2016? Public Communication and the Race for the White House” panel on April 14.
The discussion was sponsored by the Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency. It focused on defining the overall message driving the 2016 presidential election and the presidential candidates’ abilities – or lack thereof – to effectively perpetuate this message to voters.
McClellan believes “the biggest message this year… [is] the betrayal and distrust that is felt by voters.” He spoke to the dissatisfaction the electorate feels with the political establishment, and credited Donald Trump’s rise to the top of the polls as a result of this.
McClellan also said that while Trump’s candidacy embodies this message of disdain, he was quick to add that the real estate mogul has not “taken it to the next level” and has yet to introduce substantive policies or build on the movement he is trying to lead.
Andrew Wagner, a senior video and television major, agreed with McClellan and said that both Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders embody the peoples’ distrust of the government.
“The people who are supporting Donald Trump are very definitely fed up with everything, and it’s a similar thing going on with Bernie Sanders,” Wagner said. “But I feel like the Republicans who are voting for Trump are more angry with the government itself, while people voting for Bernie Sanders are angered with society.”
Speaking to the Democratic side of the campaign, McClellan noted that Sanders also represents this message, and that he and Trump are trying to lead a movement and shake up the political process while doing so.
According to McClellan, the intense competition between the Sanders and Hillary Clinton campaigns is indicative of the moder-day collision of the people’s “distrust of the status quo” and politicians’ reluctance to let go of “the culture in Washington.”
Dean deviated slightly from McClellan’s line of thought, and said “the medium is the message” of this election cycle and the election has been muddied by the intersection of “reality TV meet[ing] politics.”
Dean also said it is Clinton, not Sanders, who best embodies this message on the Democratic side, and portrayed her as a pragmatic leader, who “has a history of reaching out” and uses her platform as a medium to address voters’ desire “to actually get something done” and keep the country moving forward.
Rollins spoke last, and gave the most candid response, saying that in this election cycle, “the message is chaos.”
Like McClellan, Rollins agreed that Trump is leading “a massive marketing campaign” that uses momentum and flashy rhetoric to push the candidate – rather than a platform – forward.
Regarding the Republican campaign, Rollins said that the chaos has affected the Republican Party at all levels, with some delegates refusing to attend the convention because of threats of violence against them and some governors refusing to associate with the presidential candidates.
“It’s not about fairness, it’s about winning,” Rollins said when discussing the Republican National Convention and the potentiality of a brokered convention, which is something all three speakers see as a likely outcome.
Other attendees also offered their own ideas regarding the message in 2016. Mirabai Siegel, a sophomore political science student, said the main message is more substantive and is “focused on the matter(s) of terrorism … and education.”
Siegal said that while Sanders and Trump have both talked extensively about these points, “they are too radical, and a happy balance is needed” if a candidate wants to successfully push these ideas onto the public agenda.
While there was a general consensus among the speakers and the attendees alike that this election cycle is unconventional, the event showed there is no singular message driving the candidates, or voters in 2016.