What is Past is Prologue
William Shakespeare, The Tempest (Act 2, Scene 1)
From the Wikipedia entry:
In contemporary use, the phrase stands for the idea that history sets the context for the present. The quotation is engraved on the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. and is commonly used by the military when discussing the similarities between war throughout history.
In the modern political era, this phrase was used in the 2008 Vice-Presidential debate to contrast the two candidates’ world view.
Candidates Donald Trump (2000, 2016) versus Yetta Bronstein (1964,1968)
There are a number of startling parallels between their campaigns waged nearly 50 years apart. For those not of a certain age, who were not around or paying attention to the race for President in 1964, here is some context.
The eventual Republican nominee was Senator Barry Goldwater (Arizona).* His 1964 nomination is widely considered the birth of the modern Republican Party. He lost rather badly to incumbent President Lyndon Johnson in the November election, but Goldwater set the stage for the conservative resurgence and victory of Ronald Reagan 15 years later in 1980.
In 1964, the United States was at war in Viet Nam, there was racial unrest around the country, and there was widespread fear of a nuclear exchange between Russia and the United States.
Yetta Bronstein is a writer and film director from the Bronx, New York, who ran for president as an independent 1n 1964 and then again in 1968. Just as Trump is a writer and reality TV producer from New York 52 years later.
Trump first ran for President in 2000 on the Reform Party (Independent) ticket. He announced his exploratory committee run on the Larry King Show on October 7, 1999. He won two presidential primaries before ending his campaign in February 1980 ahead of the party convention. In 1988 and 2012 Trump thought carefully about running for President as a Republican, but ultimately backed out and didn’t officially declare. His 2016 campaign as a Republican is his second official run, and fourth attempted run for the nation’s highest office. Trump in 2015 refused to sign the Republican Loyalty Pledge to support the party nominee, but later recanted and signed. In March 2016 he renounced his signed pledge not to run as an Independent, due to unfair treatment by the Republican National Committee.
So, Bronstein and Trump have both run for President twice, Bronstein as an Independent both times, and Trump as an Independent the first time and as a Republican or Threatened Independent in 2016.
Campaign Parallels: Bronstein versus Trump
There are campaign organization similarities as well. Bronstein’s National Campaign Manager was Alan Abel, who had never run a national political campaign before. Ditto for Corey Lewandowski for Trump in 2016. Corey has both a bachelor’s degree and a masters degree in political science. Corey has one more academic degree than candidate Trump, He is 41. Abel earned only a bachelor’s degree in college. He was 34 when Bronstein ran for the first time. Trump and Abel are equal in the college education achievement department, and both one behind Corey..
Bronstein made a number of innovative policy proposals for her campaigns. She argued that Congressional salaries should be reduced to save taxes, and made performance dependent. She advocated for guns at home to provide better family safety (with some changes in ammunition specs) She proposed a national gaming law to cover the entire country fairly.
Compared to Bronstein’s positions Trump is a strong supporter of gun rights and the Second Amendment. He has not commented on national gaming, but has owned and operated several casinos as a business man, so he would probably agree with her. Trump has not taken a position on Congressional compensation, but he can afford to take a hard line position, since he doesn’t need the salary and perks of a Federal job, and limiting Federal salaries will surely please his frustrated core supporters. That makes him three for three on Bronstein’s policy prescriptions from 50 years ago.
What is Past Past Is Prologue.
Trump’s 2000 campaign took a bold approach on a limited number of issues.
Trump focused his campaign on the issues of fair trade, eliminating the national debt, and achieving universal healthcare as outlined in the campaign companion piece The America We Deserve, released in January 2000. He named media proprietor Oprah Winfrey as his ideal running mate and said he would instantly marry his girlfriend Melania Knauss to make her First Lady. Critics questioned the seriousness of Trump’s campaign and speculated that it was a tactic to strengthen his brand and sell books. Trump defended his candidacy as a serious endeavor and proclaimed that he had a chance to win the election.
For 2016, Trump has adjusted his top political priorities to advocate deporting illegal immigrants, denying U.S. travel entry for Muslims, making America’s allies pay their fair share to America for our material support, and expanding nuclear capability in the hands of U.S. friendly countries overseas. He has kept his 2000 campaign focus on unfair trade, but dropped discussion of eliminating the national debt, and achieving universal health care.
Campaign Self-Funding: Bronstein versus Trump
Bronstein’s campaigns were entirely self-funded, though it must be said that campaigns cost much less in the 1960’s. As her campaign gathered momentum, she did receive a number of individual contributions from supporters. All were returned to the donors, 100%, according to her Campaign Manager Alan Abel, though she appreciated their good wishes. Support groups formed as various “Youth for Yetta”, or more popularly “Young Yettas” chapters demonstrated her appeal to younger voters.
A Small Group of Bronstein Supporters Holding Political Signs (1964)
One of the most durable campaign themes from Trump 2016 is that he is so rich, he doesn’t need anybody’s money. He will be self-funding so voters need not worry that he can be influenced like other politicians. As often the case, the facts lead to a different conclusion.
An analysis of Trump’s campaign finance numbers through March 1 have recently been published by the Center for Responsive Politics (a worthy service for all voters).
The Trump Campaign has raised a total of $34.7 million dollars. Trump has provided $24.5 million of the total amount. He has $1.3 million on hand. Total individual contributions were $9.5 million. So he has spent at least $8 million of other people’s money on his campaign as of March 1st. The CRP analysis shows that Trump is partially self-funding at 71%. But there is a caveat to this self-help largess.
According to the finance reports, the Trump campaign has $24.4 million in debts, most or all of which are loans from Trump to his campaign, which are subject to repayment to him. It seems he my have actually contributed less than $1 million cold hard cash on the campaign so far.
As of the end of 2015 Trump was self-funding at a ratio of 66% compared to individual contributions of 34%, As Politifact reported on February 10, 2016:
Trump’s campaign brought in about $19.4 million by the end of 2015. Trump contributed nearly $13 million of that himself. Most of the remainder comes from individual contributions, which federal law caps at $2,700 per candidate per election.
It’s worth noting a couple more caveats. First, Trump’s self-financing only really picked up in the last three months of 2015. From the start of his campaign in April through October last year, individual contributions made up about 67 percent of total money raised for his campaign.
But in the last quarter, Trump gave his campaign a $10.8 million loan, turning that balance around.
That brings us to the second caveat: The vast majority of Trump’s contributions to his own campaign — about $12.6 million — are loans rather than donations. This means he could expect to eventually recoup these funds.
Further, of the approximately $12 million Trump’s campaign spent in 2015, about $2.7 million went toward reimbursing Trump-affiliated companies for services provided to the campaign, such as traveling in his own plane and helicopter, according to a New York Times analysis.
As of December 2015, Trump had contributed about $400 thousand dollars in cash to his own cause. Finally, 23% of the 2015 total campaign expenses ($2.7 million of $12 million spent) was reimbursed to other Trump companies for things like plane travel.
Trump has upped his game from the end of 2015 through the 1st quarter of 2016, increasing his self-funding by 5% from 66% to 71%. Regardless, his campaign expenses, by himself and others, dwarf Bronstein’s efforts of 50 years ago.
Personal Matters: Bronstein versus Trump
Bronstein has been married for 57 years to the same man (since 1959). They have one daughter. Trump did eventually marry his girl friend Melania Knauss in 2005 as he had promised in 1999. They have one son together. She is his third wife, and they have been married for 11 years. Oprah is no longer mentioned as a viable running mate this year. Trump assures us frequently that his 2016 campaign is not about strengthening his brand or selling merchandise, since he already has all the money he’ll ever need. His campaign is a serious endeavor, and he is in it to win it.
Both candidates have a snappy, upbeat political slogan. Yetta’s slogan was original to her campaign and not borrowed or plagiarized from anyone else:
Vote for Yetta… Things will Get Betta
Trump repurposed Ronald Reagan’s famous 1980 Presidential campaign slogan to make it his own (by dropping the word ‘Let’s’ from the original:**
Make America Great Again
Trump has far outdistanced both Bronstein and former President Reagan, monetizing the value of his ‘creative’ work by embroidering the slogan on baseball caps and selling them on his campaign website for $25-$30 each, along with T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, signs, ¾ sleeve, raglan dog sweaters in 6 sizes, including 2XL (No, this is not a April Fool’s Day joke. Look it up), pom-poms, campaign buttons (2 for $5), bumper stickers, rally signs, yard signs, and drink Koozies. The signature Trump slogan hats come in four different styles and six different colors: white, black, red, navy, royal, and camo. Lord preserve us!
Even 50 years later, Bronstein campaign buttons, distributed free, can be found on the eBay auction site. A one page letter she wrote to President Johnson during the 1964 campaign, later signed on the back by Robert F. Kennedy is up for auction at the prestigious Bonham’s auction house in New York on April 11, 2016 [AUCTION 23256: TREASURES FROM THE CAREN ARCHIVE II (How History Unfolds on Paper), Lot 318]. It is estimated the letter will be sold then for $800-$1200.
We don’t know whether Trump will be the Republican nominee in 2016, much less what Trump’s political memorabilia and campaign materials might be worth in 50 years. Or whether any value will reflect genuine collectability or the detritus of a failed political adventure. We do have at least one small value marker. Empty bottles of Trump Vodka, his defunct liquor venture from ten years ago, have been found on eBay offered for prices from $3-$10. It would be impossible to handicap whether their value (the bottles and his political merchandise) will rise or fall over the next 40 years.
Bronstein wrote a political memoir about her Presidential campaign published in 1966. It is still in print (Avon, 11th edition) and available for purchase on Amazon.com. Trump has written a number of books. His first, and most favorite book next to the Bible, was ghostwritten by Tony Schwartz, and published in 1987. It was a personal history about financing, development and construction in N.Y. real estate, and not about Presidential politics. It is still available after 30 years. It is certainly possible it will make it to 50 years in print.
Both Bronstein and Trump were the subjects of articles in Playboy.
Bronstein is a writer and film director who has her own entry in the standard source Internet Movie Database (IMDb) under her married name, which lists multiple credits for her as director, writer, and producer, and one each as an actress and an editor. She has publicly disclosed that her writing and film work did not make her rich. Trump, too, has his own IMDb entry which lists multiple credits as a producer and an actor. He does not have any credits as a film director, writer, or editor. Trump is an accomplished reality TV star and celebrity who brags that he has made hundreds of millions of dollars as a producer and star of The Apprentice. He certainly wins the money prize compared to Bronstein.
Campaign Media Innovation: Bronstein versus Trump
Bronstein faced a significant problem in 1964 due to her limited campaign finances. Retail politics in that era involved long arduous road trips as candidates tried to visit as many states as possible to meet and connect with voters. National TV and political advertising were much less important to a campaign. There was no email, or internet, or Twitter, or cable TV. Local Radio and News Print were King.
Yetta had a solution. She gave hundreds of interviews by telephone to radio stations and print reporters to get her message across. She could stay home and reach thousands of listeners and readers, with no travel expenses. Most of the time, she didn’t even have to pay for the phone bills as reporters and radio hosts could call her. She also wrote numerous letters to political figures of all stripes espousing her policies and then leaked their contents. Any response from the politicians was a pure bonus for her campaign.
What is Past is Prologue.
In 2015-2016, Trump has pioneered a new wrinkle in achieving political media exposure by expanding the phone dial-in gambit beyond radio to national TV as a routine practice. His appetite and stamina for call-ins is near legendary. He has done as many as five Sunday morning news shows in one day without showing up in person at any of them. It can save lots of travel time and expense.
This pattern, of course, deprives TV viewers of looking the man straight in the eye when he answers questions, and assessing his behavior and body language. One might also question whether it shows sufficient respect for the serious business of choosing our next President.
Until recently, many of the national media were complicit in this tactic in offering Trump enormous unpaid media exposure. Now some outlets are calling a halt or reducing Trump’s audio drop-ins. Two interviews this past week with Anderson Cooper (fight with Cruz over wives) and Chris Matthews (abortion remarks) may accelerate this most welcome trend. Let him don his TV makeup and coif his hair to face the camera and the hot lights, like everybody else.
National Public Radio and Yetta Bronstein
National Public Radio recently aired a delightful story about Yetta’s Presidential Campaign yesterday. Yetta Bronstein’s married name is Jeanne Abel.
Listen here.
Her voice is clear and strong. She reminisced about her time in the political spotlight. Asked if she didn’t wish she was involved in the latest 2016 race, she said:
“I don’t think Yetta has a place in this particular election season,” says Jeanne. “I mean, people have asked me, ‘Don’t you want to get in the race?’ I said no, the comedy is already happening.”
She is almost as quick on the draw with a pithy comment as Trump. In the same NPR interview, she offered:
And another: “If you want simple solutions, then you gotta be simple.” When asked who would serve in her cabinet, her reply was just as simple: “I’ll have one.”
Yetta should have the Last Word, as a candidate who has watched our presidential races for 52 years, after competing in two of them.
However, I would bet that if this accomplished woman (at around age 90) were to debate Donald Trump today one on one, she would knock him flat on his behind. And then some.
Final Tally: Bronstein versus Trump
How does Bronstein stack up to Trump as a Presidential candidate. To borrow Trump’s method (removing one word from someone else’s established political slogan), I would respectfully offer:
Yetta is Betta
NPR: The Real Life Yetta: Jeanne Abel and her husband Alan. They live in Connecticut today.
I was a sophomore in high school during the presidential election of 1964. It was the first election season I followed very carefully from January onwards. I remember watching hours and hours of coverage particularly on the Huntley-Brinkley Report (NBC) and The Evening News with Walter Cronkite (CBS). Along with about 50 million other American TV viewers, I saw the “Daisy” ad for the Goldwater-Johnson race. Perhaps the most famous political ad in American history, it aired only a single time during NBC’s Monday Night at the Movies. on September 7, 1964 This ad for Johnson never mentioned Goldwater by name.
**In a move of stunning chutzpah, Trump applied to trademark the phrase “Make America Great Again” six days after the 2012 election. Worse, his application was granted, in a mind-blowing example of bureaucratic governmental ineptitude. See for yourself above in Red, White, and Blue.
In Hebrew, chutzpah is used indignantly, to describe someone who has overstepped the boundaries of accepted behavior. In traditional usage, the word expresses a strong sense of disapproval, condemnation and outrage.
Leo Rosten in The Joys of Yiddish defines chutzpah as “gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible ‘guts’, presumption plus arrogance such as no other word and no other language can do justice to”. In this sense, chutzpah expresses both strong disapproval and condemnation.
Chutzpah is not the only Yiddish word that illuminates Trump’s limited understanding. His misuse of “schlonged’ to refer to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign comes readily to mind.