How Donald Trump Became Batman

His own city rejected him. Corrupted by evil, it even tried to capture him and put him in jail.

No matter.

This scion of Gotham — the son of wealthy, influential parents who helped shape his destiny — continued undeterred. With or without his critics’ help, he would save the city.

And in the process, he’d save the whole damn country.

Yes, he was rich and powerful. A billionaire many times over. But it was more than that: In an age where selfishness reigned, one man emerged from the darkness — risking his wealth, freedom, and even his life — and not even an assassin’s bullets would deter him.

If anything, it only made him more resolute.

Amidst the chaos and despair, he became more than a man: He became a symbol.

And somewhere along the way, Donald Trump turned into Batman.

In the dying days of the 2024 presidential election, the Democrats’ closing argument is “Trump is Hitler.” It’s almost admirable how consistent they’ve been, but it’s an awfully self-indulgent PR strategy. 

Most of the time, when someone in PR or marketing makes a mistake, he has committed the error of marketing to himself: He has chosen something he deeply cares about and made it the lynchpin of his PR message. But it doesn’t really matter what YOU care about — all that matters is what your audience cares about.

I suspect someone at the DNC (or within the Harris-Walz campaign) is overruling his PR experts to pursue this “Trump is Hitler” close. Because it absolutely makes no strategic sense:

Anyone who truly believes that “Trump is Hitler” is already going to vote for Harris! Look, if you honestly believe the other candidate is Der Führer incarnate and you DON’T vote, you’re just an awful person! For the life of me, I can’t envision anyone being persuaded by the one-millionth “Trump is Hitler” comparison who wasn’t already moved by numbers one through 999,999.

There are far smarter closing arguments for the Dems, but I’m not going to list them all. (Our readers get cranky when I give the Dems PR advice.) So I’ll simply say that this is about the stupidest closing argument the Democrats could’ve made, and after the election’s over (and the finger-pointing is underway), I’ll betcha we’re gonna hear a lot of interesting stories about a Harris-Walz war room mired in backstabbing, infighting, and analysis-paralysis.

There are two big reasons why these Hitler comparisons failed in ways that the Democrats did Nazi coming. (C’mon, that’s a nice pun!) The first is good ol’ fashion fatigue: If you’re gonna call someone “Literally Hitler!” nonstop for a decade, eventually we’ll tune you out. All allegations have a saturation point; when you push beyond them, you’re just pouring money into an ineffective PR campaign.

It’s horrible for your ROI because of the (badly) diminishing returns: They fall off a cliff.

The only way this makes ANY sense for the Dems is if their internal polling is so shockingly bad that the game isn’t to win the White House for Kamala anymore but to tar and feather Donald Trump with the swastika as a preemptive strike for his second term.

However, the second reason why they’ve failed is that Donald Trump is no longer Donald Trump.

Bruce Wayne: People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy and I can’t do that as Bruce Wayne. As a man, I’m flesh and blood, I can be ignored, I can be destroyed; but as a symbol… as a symbol I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting. [emphasis added]

The dialogue from “Batman Begins” says it all. Sure, Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman might’ve done some crazy things: divorces, bankruptcies, lawsuits, and all kinds of controversies. After all, Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman was just a man. 

Now he symbolizes something greater than that.

He’s a symbol. And in the minds of millions of Americans, this symbol cannot be tainted or corrupted by the liberal cries of "Hitler." Even if they increase the volume and call him Hitler ANOTHER million times.

Because we know he’s not Hitler.

He’s Batman.