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The Trump App, as a technical matter, is sound. It’s easy to sign up! There are social-media tutorials for the olds on how to spread the gospel online! The text messaging is seamless! They have merch! And oooh, look at all those nightly video “events” on live stream!

But the real question is who, besides the hardest-core Trump supporters, is going to consume all this Trumptastic content?

Probably no one. And that’s the point.

The Trump campaign isn’t trying to entice new voters by sneakily suckering them into their digital tractor beam; it’s radicalizing the people who are already on the Death Star. This effort has been called a “gamified campaign,” a “digital mousetrap,” and Candy Crush for MAGA-land—and all those descriptions that ring true. A Trump supporter uses the app to earn points redeemable for merchandise discounts, early event access, and even a photo with Trump. There are memes to be spread, hashtags to plant, and lots of prompts to donate and leverage contacts to recruit friends and family.

When Brad Parscale called this operation his Death Star, he was, no doubt, thinking like Grand Moff Tarkin and believing that he had built the ultimate power in the 2020 galaxy. It must have slipped his mind that the Death Star—and every subsequent Death Star ever built—included a fatal flaw so glaring and dangerous that it was able to be destroyed at minimal cost by a small band of rebels.

So in a way, Parscale isn’t wrong, exactly. The Trump campaign is loading their existing followers onto an all-inclusive Trump battle station that, despite all the bells and whistles, might very well blow up in their faces

Ivytalk wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 7:24 am Interesting piece. The subtler point is that the “Death Star” app(roach) likely won’t gain Drumpf a single new vote.

kalm wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 8:02 am

Ivytalk wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 7:24 am Interesting piece. The subtler point is that the “Death Star” app(roach) likely won’t gain Drumpf a single new vote.

But, Trump only cares about branding anyway. That’s how he’s won his whole life.

SeattleGriz wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 8:17 pm The Bulwark.

kalm wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 8:02 am

Ivytalk wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 7:24 am Interesting piece. The subtler point is that the “Death Star” app(roach) likely won’t gain Drumpf a single new vote.

But, Trump only cares about branding anyway. That’s how he’s won his whole life.

kalm wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 6:26 am

SeattleGriz wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 8:17 pm The Bulwark.

No kidding! A moderate conservative news organization! The horror!

kalm wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 6:26 am

SeattleGriz wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 8:17 pm The Bulwark.

No kidding! A moderate conservative news organization! The horror!