En tu idioma / In your own language

Eduardo del Buey
Foto: Sean Delonas
La Jornada Maya

Martes 16 de agosto, 2016

As a strategic communications consultant, here are two letters I am writing: one to Hillary Clinton and then other to Donald Trump. I will let you know if they reply!

[b]“Dear Hillary"[/b]

One press conference a year is never enough for a presidential candidate, and questions are building up. Last week’s revelation of linkages between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department during your tenure as Secretary of State may not lead to criminal charges, but perceptions of impropriety on your part continue to challenge you.

Over a thirty-year period, none of the charges raised against you (Whitewater, Travelgate, Benghazi, the private server, and now this) have ever been proven in courts of law or Congressional investigations. But the fact that they have been raised and pursued by Congress has left a sour taste. Add to this the revelations that the Democratic National Committee acted on your behalf to hamper Bernie Sanders’s campaign and, well, you get my drift.

The media and voters have been looking for answers. When they don’t get them, they tend to speculate. Speculation leads to rumors, and rumors can quickly become facts in the minds of voters.

I would strongly suggest that you come clean about the relationship between the Clinton Foundation and your Department of State, clear up misconceptions, and admit if any perceived wrongdoing took place. Then we can all move on.

You have one clear advantage in a sea of disadvantages. While your credibility and popularity figures are poor, you are running against Donald Trump – even more unpopular than you.

You may be tempted to follow Napoleon’s adage to “never interfere with your enemy when he is making a mistake”. In this case, you appear to have made too many mistakes to merely stay on the sidelines.

You should develop a pro-active approach that you can take to get ahead of the story. You should also identify any other bombshells that may arise from your past activities and develop strategies for getting ahead of them. That is the only way to avoid an “October surprise” that could derail your campaign late in the game.

Yours sincerely,

Eduardo del Buey”

[b]“Dear Donald,[/b]

Watching you over the past week, I am led to conclude that, like Napoleon once said of the Bourbons, you have “learned nothing and you have forgotten nothing”.

You have not learned to transition from trying to attract right-wing voters in the primaries to enticing the general electorate in the Presidential race. And you have forgotten nothing because even the slightest criticism turns into days of ridiculous rhetoric and strategic mistakes.

Your vicious attacks on the Khan family (who lost a son in Iraq) have stoked once more the fires of opposition and created a backlash amongst potential voters and fellow Republicans. Your thinly veiled calls for violence against individuals, including a Hillary Clinton, are unforgivable for a potential leader of a democracy. You should apologize for any misunderstanding you may have caused by being unclear.

Following your comments that the Russians will never enter Crimea (when in fact they illegally annexed the territory in 2014) and that President Obama and Secretary Clinton are the actual founders of ISIS (even though ISIS was founded before either came to office), you have demonstrated a unique ability to mislead the public and deliberately misrepresent the facts by creating your own version of history far removed from reality.

This plays well to your core supporters, who have proven time and again willing to believe anything you say despite facts to the contrary. It is not a positive reflection on U.S. society when your followers prefer to follow your mouth rather than the truth.

But the majority of U.S. voters find your words to be nonsense – entertaining at first but worrisome in their reflection of both a fundamental lack of knowledge of vital topics and a lack of discipline. Your disdain for the truth brings to mind other populist leaders that history has since consigned to its dustbin. Not without first having caused tremendous damage!
If you are to win in November, you may have to change your approach lest your party move from supporting you to saving their own skins.

The choice is yours.

Yours sincerely,

Eduardo del Buey”

[b]Mérida, Yucatán[/b]
[b][email protected][/b]