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Ronald Reagan told fellow Republicans to “paint in bright colors.” But if you listen to most people with “R” after their name, you’d have a hard time separating them from academics. Most of the arguments are lifeless, and they won’t win over black voters. They won’t win over squishy Democrat voters. They have forgotten that their problem isn’t winning debates, because unless one side fails as dramatically as Biden did, nobody will notice. Most debates are performance art, full of sound and fury but signifying nothing.

Sonnie Johnson makes this point again and again on her weekly XM radio show. It may take a little while for those of us who didn’t grow up on hip-hop in the hood to get our heads tuned in, but she’s got a lot to say. But if we aren’t willing to go into the hood, nobody in the hood will hear us. By the way, when we go into the hood, we can’t try to imitate the hood. We have to be authentically ourselves, like Donald Trump when he rose back up with “Fight, Fight, Fight!”

Once we set foot into the battle of hearts, we must hear what the breaking hearts in the hood are crying about. Only then can we start to make connections. Notice that I didn’t say we would win hearts. Those breaking hearts are already with us. They just don’t know it. Think about what Donald Trump asked. “What do you have to lose?”

Image: YouTube screen grab (cropped).

Much of the ghetto black community is already at rock bottom. The only way is up. The Democrats promise but never deliver. So Trump met them where they were and made a connection. But don’t ever think that you’re talking with a black community. Let them know you regard them as Americans.

Incidentally, this applies to every poor community. I’m just making the sentences easier. You don’t want me to talk about the “black/Hispanic/Oriental/Native American/XYZ community.” Too complicated.

So, what do Americans want first? I don’t know… Let me think…

If it took you that long, go back to your basement and exercise your thumbs.

The first thing every American wants is safe streets. Without that, you can’t get groceries. You can’t go to work. Your kids can’t go to school. No mother wants her kids shot by the neighborhood gangbangers, snatched off the sidewalk by pedophiles, or tricked into addiction by the curbside pharmacist. We have to find ways to make the streets safe.

Gangbangers are the same as everybody else in one sense. If the risk is too much, they just won’t do it. If they know that the cops will take them downtown for assaulting an officer, they won’t assault an officer. If they know that the judges won’t let them out on bail for the umpteenth time, they’ll think twice about doing the crime. And if Grandma is holding a gun, the bad boy from around the corner will be very polite around her home. No protection racket there.

But Democrats don’t want Grandma to be able to protect her family. They want to be “compassionate.” But there’s nothing compassionate about letting their constituents get killed.

So how do most “Rs” get the message through? First, what horrible thing happened in your neighborhood? Make it the message. Use a very quick verbal hit that can’t be turned off. It goes something like this…

(For Atlanta) Laken Riley was a beautiful college girl brutally murdered by a criminal illegal alien brought to you by border czar Kamala Harris and the democrat party. (For Chicago) Fifty-five people were shot in the city last weekend in a crime wave brought to you by the Democrat party.

And on and on.

Every locale has its own horrible event that was made possible by the Democrat Party. On the illegal alien stuff, use “illegal alien” because that’s what they are. The law calls them “illegal aliens.” Any other term uses pale pastels, and you need to paint in bright colors.

You don’t need to sugarcoat anything. Stand up, be brave, and tell the truth.

Trump made it clear that the Dems haven’t done anything for minority communities. And those communities heard him. They didn’t vote for him in droves because they didn’t know whether he was just another politician or not. But they did see that he was authentic. They saw it again on J13 when he leaped to his feet with a raised fist and blood on his face. They’ll trust him more this time.

Any Republican who sounds like a politician is worthless. Even my own Senator, Marco Rubio, doesn’t sound authentic because he uses politician speak. His Cuban roots may lead him to hate socialism, but where’s the passion? Where is the emphatic voice and total body commitment to his message?

Most on the left have very short attention spans. Imagine that you made a series of short TV and radio ads with those one-line messages. They wouldn’t be able to get to the remote fast enough to mute it.

Some messages might have a slightly more “tailored” variation. “The devastation in downtown (city) was brought to you by a century of Democrat rule.” Or (for California), “You can’t eat at Rubio’s Coastal Grill anymore because of policies brought to you by the Democrat party.”

I think I’ve pounded the table enough. Democrat policies are destroying America, starting with the most vulnerable. But we’ve spent the bulk of our time dealing with nuances of the right to vote, “color blind” policies, and so on. None of that is unimportant, but when you can’t safely do the essential parts of life, why do you care?

Republicans must be loud, proud, and authentic. It’s OK to have American flags on your car windows, but Democrats have painted that as white racism. You must find a way to be one-on-one authentic and help your fellow Americans. That sort of campaign has a chance.

Ted Noel MD is a retired physician who podcasts and posts on social media as DoctorTed and @vidzette. His “Doctor Ted’s Prescription” podcast is available on most podcast outlets. He is a great-grandfather, pilot, golfer, shooter, and “Papa fix” who is conversant in many scientific, legal, and political disciplines. His greatest skill is critical thinking.