This Attack on MAGA Republicans is Irresistible
What Writers Can Learn About Building a Villain From Political Campaigning
Apparently, the only remaining strategy for politicians is to relentlessly attack their opponents.
I mean… sure, you could explain your plans.
Pull out the statistics on fossil fuels.
Show the icebergs melting.
Point out how CO2 levels are changing.
But nobody wants things explained to them. Especially not in a world where you could say “this Republican made a video where he murdered Representative AOC” and still get the result you need (votes).
Look, you should know before we go any further:
I am not a political writer
I have no political aspirations or agenda
I do not want to influence your vote
I’m just a guy who collects advertisements, analyzes every sentence and brings the lessons to you.
So when I received an envelope from the “Democratic Headquarters…”
Well, I had to dig in.
Whether you’re a…
fiction writer trying to build a good villain,
copywriter trying to aggravate a problem,
an actual political speechwriter
…you’ll be fascinated to learn what this letter does right.
Let’s dig in.
Lesson 1: When you’re building a villain, imply evil as soon as possible
Why wait until the debate?
Why pray the recipient clicks the email?
Why hope someone opens your snail mail letter?
Instead, you could throw punches at your villain immediately. Take a look at this. Before I can even open the letter, the writer is persuading me.
Imagine you’ve never heard of a “MAGA Republican.” Doesn’t matter. If you read English, this sentence makes you scared.
The dirt is thrown.
Watch how this same effect plays out in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. (Philosopher’s Stone, if you eat fish and chips).
This is Draco Malfoy’s second line of dialogue.
He’s instantly unlikable.
Lesson 2: Show credible examples of “bad” behavior
“Bad” is relative to the reader, of course.
What do Democrats consider bad? How can they show their enemies participating in these behaviors?
Watch.
For the nerds, note that this is a congeries, or a “heap” of details, laid on for effect. Also worth noting that the list goes from specific to general, another classic great writer move.
Do these details really matter?
Well, let’s see how the sentence would read without it.
Same claim, but it feels empty.
In fiction, dialogue also works to provide credible examples of a villain. Let’s look at Draco Malfoy’s second appearance:
The point here:
Don’t tell us why someone is bad.
Show us.
Lesson 3: Show credible examples of “good” behavior
Good is relative to the reader, of course.
The world is made of opposites. You can’t know darkness unless you see light. Black is meaningless without white.
Whoever wrote this letter for the Democrats knows this.
After 7 paragraphs of painting an impure villain, they claim the purest values of America as their own.
(For now, we’re passing over the hilarious fact that Republicans also claim to have these things on their side, and they probably also use the same inexplicable capitalization of “American People”).
The point:
Contrast is required for every great piece of writing. The higher the contrast, the bigger our emotions.
Once more, in plain language.
It is not enough to write about why something is bad.
You must also point out why the opposite thing is good.
The worlds we occupy — both fiction and nonfiction — are full of good and evil. Darkness and light. Joy and sorrow. Pain and pleasure.
Great writing shows both sides of the coin.