Believe it: Trump can teach us something about effective community journalism

By Rob Golub

I’m not going to get into what Trump II will mean for journalism or the country. You can get loads of that elsewhere.

Here’s what you’re not likely to see elsewhere: Trump keeps teaching us something that we can apply to journalism. The Trumpian lesson is that feeling your audience matters. Forgive me for this – it’s the art of the feel.

I could tell you from now until forever that we must emotionally understand our journalism audiences – that we must feel them. Although data can be very helpful, data alone is not enough. Data can’t replace the feeling you get in your gut after you chat with a mom from your audience at the supermarket.

I can say all these things, but better to show you, and I thus now present President-elect Donald Trump. He crushed the other side by knowing his audience. I’m sure the Democrats were steeped in data, in so much glorious knowledge, with endless tabs of spreadsheets and super-pretty presentations. The Washington Post reports there was a massive Democratic research machine, logging 14 million voter surveys in 10 months. Oh my. 

We’re told that what won the election for team Trump was a dissatisfaction with inflation and immigration, plus a need for change. I submit to you that just as much, if not more, what won the election was one man’s deep understanding of human emotion. Trump understands people like Reagan did, like Bill Clinton. Trump knows to pump his fist in the air, seconds after getting shot. He knows to swagger, like men sometimes do. He knows to say things that challenge his opponents, to earn hoots and laughter.

The next president of the United States doesn’t need a pie chart, though I’m sure his staff sought to show him such things. He experiences his audience, their needs flowing like wind through fingers held outside a speeding car, where one can almost feel the shape of something. At a base, earthy level, Trump knows who his people are, what they need to hear.

If he sounds to you like he has derailed when he speaks, maybe that’s because you’re not his intended audience. I’m not asking for you to love or hate the man. I ask only for you to take in what this emotional maestro is teaching us about audience connection – for the benefit of community journalism. 

I don’t know how Trump feels his audience, but I know how we can. Be in their little worlds. Spend time with them. Be in the elevator or on the farm. Go to an event. Chit-chat on the phone. Put your ear to the ground. Listen.

How we connect can look different – not Trumpian, but something else. As I’ve written before, we emotionally connect with our journalism community by being a cheerleader, by feeling challenges with them. We also emotionally connect when we cry, smile or laugh with them. There may be some in your community who could use a laugh or some sweetness right now. Consider how you can you deliver it in a way that nobody else can.

Emotionally connecting with your audience will earn their support and trust, and then – this is so important in 2024 – they’ll believe what you have to say.

Put your palm to the wind and hold the shape of gusts of emotion in your hand.

Channel what Trump teaches us, for journalism.