"I’m aware that the president of the United States likes to go on television and beg me to call and ask him for troops."

"I find this extraordinarily strange as Chicago does not want troops on our streets … I refuse to play a reality game show with Donald Trump."

Said JB Pritzker, quoted in "JB Pritzker: is the Illinois governor the Democrats’ best hope?/Clashes with Trump have boosted his profile, and while a third Illinois term looks assured, a tilt at the White House could see old scandals return to haunt him" (London Times).

We're told that Trump "continues to mock Pritzker’s bulk, posting an AI video showing him as a sumo wrestler grappling with Chris Christie, a large former Republican governor." In case you're having trouble picturing that:

pic.twitter.com/KBZz0iosQX

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2025

Isn't it amazing that the President of the United States is fooling around — and fat shaming — like that? Trump is fat too, of course. I think he fairly cheerfully admits it.

There's also this quote from Frank Luntz: "If you’re the California governor, you have to defend San Francisco. If you’re the Illinois governor, you have to defend Chicago. Democrats do not know how to talk about crime and they do not know how to lead about it, because, quite frankly, they’re seen as being in bed with the criminal and being too distant from the victim.... I actually think that Rahm Emanuel is a better representative because Chicago was better off when he was mayor.”

"The Trump phenomenon could be dismissed as a cult of personality, but Luntz believes otherwise."

"'You say to me, when Trump leaves, does this go away? I’ll say to you, absolutely not, because of JD Vance,' he says. Vance’s reputation among the Maga faithful has grown since his assured performance in the vice-presidential debate with Tim Walz, Luntz says. 'He presented an ideology behind the Trump cult of personality. Vance found a way to take all the individual aspects of Trump’s policies and put them in a way that will outlast Trump. It was masterful. This is also part of the de-alignment — now there is an ideology and it’s not just Trump’s persona.'"

From "America’s top pollster: What Trump voters think now surprises me/Frank Luntz says the new political reality of the US — and the world — can be summarised in one word" (London Times).

We were just laughing at Frank Luntz yesterday, here.

"He starts wiggling and loosening the collar as people disagree with him."

He starts wiggling and loosening the collar as people disagree with him. pic.twitter.com/8aqf7iZSVM

— Whatsup - The Purple Whale (@80strolls) April 26, 2025

"That speech puts Cory Booker as one of the leaders for the Democratic Party for 2028."

Said "Frank Luntz: Booker marathon speech 'may have changed the course of political history'" (The Hill).

Everyone's talking like Trump now. Just get rid of the weasel word "may" and you have Trump-style rhetoric: Booker's speech changed the course of political history.

And then there was Elon Musk the other day, saying that the Wisconsin Supreme Court election would affect the entire destiny of humanity. No, he wasn't that Trumpian. He had weasel words. He said "I feel like this is one of those things that may not seem that it’s going to affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will."

Speaking of speaking bluntly, here's Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley talking about that election:

I wasn't going to go out of my way to watch Trump's press conference, but now it's the next thing I'm going to do.

No longer the party of "when they go low, we go high." https://t.co/csA1q5WgMP

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) March 26, 2024

I'm even motivated to post the entire thing:

"The problem with woke and with cancel culture is that it is never done. The conflict and divisions never end. This is not what the people of the UK want — but it’s coming anyway...."

"Woke begets woke. It’s a narrative that Labour is promoting now but the Conservatives will pick it up as a reaction. The damage and the consequences of that chasm is awful. When you have decided that your country is institutionally racist and discriminatory you don’t normally go back.... I’m seeing things that you are going to see six months to a year from now. It’s already done significant damage to our system in the United States. It prioritises equality over meritocracy. We’re becoming intolerant of tolerance.... We are writing each other off and out of our lives. The damage and the consequences of that chasm is awful. The consequences are so significant, less cooperation, less compromise, more negativity."

Said the American pollster Frank Luntz, quoted in the London Times, in "‘Woke’ culture war is biggest dividing line among voters."

"It really does feel like Biden himself is almost the best candidate for this moment because of who he is as a person and his ability to talk about racial justice and racial equality in a way that sounds like a traditional white, suburban guy."

"He doesn’t particularly sound woke, but you also understand that he gets it and that he’s trying to look at these problems in a realistic way."

Said Vaughn Derderian, the chair of the Democratic Party in Oakland County, Michigan, quoted in "Why Biden could still lose the suburbs to Trump/Among local party officials, there’s an undercurrent of uneasiness about how quickly the president shifted the focus of the campaign away from his coronavirus response and toward public safety" (Politico).

Biden said of the public’s response to Trump’s law-and-order posturing last week that “they ain't buying it.” And most Democratic political professionals — and some Republicans – believe that’s probably true at the moment. Frank Luntz, the veteran Republican consultant and pollster, said in an email that Trump “is talking about the right issue, but he's talking the wrong way. Suburban voters want ‘public safety’ even more than law and order. They want ‘safe streets’ rather than ‘dominating the streets.’ His rhetoric is over-caffeinated.”

People always say Trump is "talking the wrong way." He was talking the wrong way in 2016, and then he won. Talking the wrong way is Trump's super power. The question isn't whether people will say Trump is talking the wrong way, but whether, in the end, they'll vote for him, and they voted for him in 2016 when he talked the wrong way, and I assume they'll do it again. Who cares what's "probably true at the moment"?!

Republican leaders opposed to Trump are unleashing 100-day campaign beginning with the Wisconsin primary.

The NYT reports.

I'm glad to see that Wisconsin looks important, but I don't understand what these people think they can do. Spend a lot of money on ads? Ads don't seem to be working.

Here's Frank Luntz making that point — the ads don't work — and showing an ad:



And here's an ad that came out recently that seemed to enthuse some people (whether it works within the range of those who might vote for Trump is another matter):

"Asked who they thought won the debate, the voters overwhelmingly agreed on John Kasich. "

"He was praised as the 'only adult in the room' and appearing to be more 'mature' than the others.The low point of the night, according to the voters, was a moment when Rubio slammed Trump University, prompting Trump to argue that the senator 'couldn't get elected dog catcher' in Florida. 'We've never tested something so low,' said Luntz, adding that Kasich also scored very high during remarks on foreign policy."

I agree. Kasich came across as clearly the best. For me, the low point — or, I should say, my high alarm point — was something I'm going to put in a separate post.

"If [Trump] were the Republican nominee he would get the highest percentage of black votes since Ronald Reagan in 1980."

"They listen to him. They find him fascinating, and in all the groups I have done, I have found Obama voters, they could’ve voted for Obama twice, but if they’re African-American they would consider Trump."

Said Frank Luntz, quoted in a Politico article titled "How Donald Trump defeats Hillary Clinton/Obama’s black supporters are crucial to a Trump win, and pollsters say he has a chance with this bloc."

Another longtime Republican pollster and veteran of multiple presidential campaigns has tested Trump’s appeal to blacks and Hispanics and come to the same conclusion. “He behaves in a way that most minorities would not expect a billionaire to behave,” explained the pollster, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid damaging relationships within the party. “He’s not a white-bread socialite kind of guy.”

"Attacks on Trump just make these voters like him more."

David Weigel describes efforts by Frank Luntz, the Republican media consultant, to shake a group of Trump supporters by showing them some very negative advertising.

"Why Do So Many People Hate the Sound of Hillary Clinton's Voice?"

A piece by Elspeth Reeve, who seems to have the Hillary + gender gig at the New Republic.

Clinton "has a loud and clear voice," Stanford linguist Eckert says. "A ‘nice’ woman tends to have a breathy voice," she explained, sounding a little Marilyn Monroe-ish. "There’s nothing breathy about Hillary Clinton’s voice. And if somebody doesn’t want a woman to be powerful they’re not going to like that voice."

Nunberg agrees: "People have become so conscious of the semi-coded ways in which people communicate these sexist notions of aggression." Like Frank Luntz noting he would get "hit" by Media Matters, for example. "Voice will be the place where that comes home to roost. ... It’s just another way of saying ‘shrill.’"