First of all, it’s not about throwing insults and being a baby.

We get it, you’re so clever and witty that we all have to just change your diapers. Nice job on that fascinating bit of hatred. Heard. Thanks.

Politics is about persuasion, but it’s also about listening and being responsive.

But the art is being exciting and interesting.

It is not messaging and propagandizing people. That sometimes works, but not for long.

You can’t force-feed your message, or rely on the other candidate(s) being worse. You need to actually change peoples’ minds. You can rely on the choir, your hosts of mind robot lookalikes.

You’re trying to reach the 10% of people who are probably going to make up their mind on the day they go to the polls. That’s how you win. It’s subtle, but indelible.

And if you want to bring people into your political ideology, you can’t be rude to people. People realize that politics is a pathway for rude people to be rude. That’s why so many people don’t even bother—all you do is shrink the electorate.

You get a Trump not by not having enough voters, but by having too few people participate. Or you inspire too many people to vote against you because you aren’t very nice.

Not the candidate. The candidate can be whatever works for them. But the politically-active person.