In a December 5^th, 2019 New York Times opinion piece, the headlined screamed, “Donald Trump is a Clear and Present Danger to the 2020 Election.”  The insinuation was obvious: President Trump is so corrupt that he will rig the 2020 election.  As if to underscore the point, the sub-head read, “Who gets to pick the next president of the United States -- President Trump, Russia, or us?”  Again with the Russia thing.

While it’s no secret the Times is doing its level best to derail Trump’s re-election bid, the headline is the real indicator of the left’s narrative for the eleven months heading into the 2020 election.

The ridiculously bumbled attempt on the part of Democrats to remove President Trump through impeachment has been justified by leftists with the mantra trumpeted by the Times headline.  Their narrative is plain:  “Because of how he interfered in the 2016 presidential election, impeachment was necessary since Trump poses the danger of doing it again in 2020.”

Any level-headed American who has an interest in U.S. politics knows that President Trump did nothing to interfere with the 2016 election. Likewise, it would be a huge misstep to attempt to interfere with the election process in 2020.  Because of the microscope he’s under, the president’s political steps throughout 2020 will be carefully calculated.

Still, the preposterous notion that Trump manipulated the 2016 election and will do it again in 2020 will be the highly dishonest narrative the left and their brethren in the mainstream media echo relentlessly.  Their objective is clear: as election day nears, ensure that doubt is so deeply permeated in swing voter’s minds that their inclination will be to vote against Trump.  That doubt, they believe, must be based on suspicions the president is using corrupt methods in order to win, just as he has before. Never mind the absence of specifics as to how the president would accomplish this. Casting doubt is essential to their strategy.  Leftists, after all, are masters at creating and delivering one-sided narratives.

One of the latest narratives making the rounds is that Trump supporters are cult members guilty of drinking the Kool-Aid.  The narrative suggests that if you support the president, you too are a member of the Trump cult.  The left’s narratives are quite sinister because, from the moment they conceive the narrative, they are anticipating that average Americans will swallow the lie.  Unfortunately, they oftentimes anticipate correctly.

Every narrative pronounced by the left follows a similar strategy.  Develop a narrative according to a desired outcome, distribute it to key figureheads on the left, then play it out to the media to be promoted as news.  The objective is always the same; deceive the public, rile their base, and sway voters.

None of the left’s leaders nor the media elite believe these narratives, but that is an issue they consider inconsequential.  For the left, it’s simply a method of attack that can be carried out through a variety of willing accomplices.  Using unrelenting messaging, leftist elites know the “issue” will drive their disciples into a deranged fury which results in carrying signs and zealously attending protest rallies.  At this point, the protests become the story, the media reports the indignation, and the narrative is given legs.

This tactic by the left and their media cronies has become all too commonplace.

Average citizens who follow politics on the right can spot dishonest leftist narratives the moment they are uttered.  Yet conservatives feel helpless because many have resigned themselves to the incredible power wielded by the leftist media along with its eagerness to spoon-feed the left’s narratives through highly biased reporting.

But contrary to Democrat’s persistent attempts, something extraordinarily constructive has come out of the House’s impeachment committees.

House Republicans Doug Collins (R-Ga), Louie Gohmert (R-Tx), and Jim Jordan (R-Oh) have been so deeply sickened by the left’s baseless impeachment efforts that they have expressed justifiable outrage through an unintentionally common but truthful narrative: the House impeachment is a sham led by corrupt Democratic chairmen.

Has their narrative worked? A Quinnipiac University poll released in late October revealed that 55% of those polled supported impeaching the president.  In sharp contrast, the Quinnipiac December 16^th poll reported that support for impeachment had fallen to 45%. In political terms, a 10% drop in impeachment support is massive.

By expressing their outrage toward impeachment and repeating it in front of every microphone and camera they could possibly muster, the message from Collins, Gohmert, and Jordan channeled past the dense filter of the mainstream media and, with a big assist from social media, found its way to the broader public.  When their outrage was further articulated by historically leftist academics such as Alan Dershowitz and Jonathan Turley, the message gained even more credibility and traction.

How to proceed, then, as the left and their media cohorts thrust their narrative of Donald Trump endangering the 2020 election? By expressing the same high-energy outrage exhibited by the three representatives during impeachment hearings.

Senators Ted Cruz, Lindsay Graham, Tom Cotton, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Tim Scott must partner with key representatives in the House to get ahead of the left’s 2020 narrative.  They should express outrage in the very simplest of terms using a coordinated message regarding the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and the FBI’s attempts at interfering with the outcome of the 2016 election.

Their message should be concise, include just enough specifics to solidify a base understanding, and should be repeated over and over again in front of every podium, microphone, and camera possible.  The first narrative would ideally come right after the first of the new year so that it is precedes the Department of Justice investigation report regarding criminal behavior on the part of the FBI, the DNC, and the Clinton campaign.

The initial narrative after the new year should be, “We’re hearing about very serious and credible instances prior to the 2016 presidential election where high-level criminal activity within the FBI, the DNC, and the Clinton campaign,“  occurred in an attempt to sway the election.  This narrative is simple and straightforward, taking advantage of the distrust Americans have toward Hillary Clinton and the FBI.

When the Department of Justice investigation is completed, high-visibility outrage by Republican leaders should be coordinated, simple, and ceaselessly repeated throughout 2020.  “Just as they did in 2016, we must never again allow criminal efforts such as those attempted by the Democrats to target a presidential candidate and alter the outcome of a United States presidential election.”

As we’ve seen with the House impeachment trial, a narrative that is consistent, expressively made, and repeated over and over will find its way to the American public.  When such a coordinated message is delivered with authentic ire, it will have a genuine and significant impact that helps counter the left’s dishonest narratives.