Democrats lack Trump’s campaign magic in New Hampshire

Trump derangement isn’t enough for the Democrats to win the US election. Voters already have factored in Trump’s faults and still credit him with a thriving economy, writes Miranda Devine.

The Democratic campaign machines have camped out for months all over New Hampshire to press the flesh before voters choose who they think is best suited to take on Trump in November.

But the booming economy is their biggest obstacle.

New Hampshire was hit hard by the Great Recession of 2008-2009 and disappearing jobs were replaced by one of the worst opioid crises in the nation.

Today, the economy is recovering, incomes and house prices are up and boutique “farm to table” restaurants such as Republic in Manchester are doing a roaring trade as campaign staffers and journalists set up camp before the results of the New Hampshire primary vote are announced Tuesday night (Wednesday afternoon, Sydney time).

For his campaign, Bernie Sanders has called in the big names with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and The Strokes. Picture: Joe Raedle/Getty

Taking credit for the economic good news is a president determined to rain on the Democrat parade.

People camped out in the snow and freezing rain overnight to get a good seat at a Donald Trump rally on Monday night, the primary eve in Manchester. There is no better visual one-upmanship than to fill a stadium and overflow area with 20,000 people just up the road from where Joe Biden is hard pressed speaking to rooms of 300.

Only Bernie Sanders, Trump’s 78-year-old populist doppelganger on the left, can compete for crowd passion. He vied with Trump by holding a rally the same night at an arena fifty minutes east in the university town of Durham, featuring his charismatic 30-year-old socialist ally, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a free concert by popular New York Band, The Strokes.

Trump’s Manchester rally had a huge turnout. Picture: AP/Evan Vucci

But no one beats Trump or crowd numbers or razzamatazz.

Mike Kriener, a 54-year-old and Trump voting truck driver-turned political merchandise salesman, who set up shop in his trailer outside Trump’s rally in Manchester on the weekend, gauged support for the president in the town at 60:40, judging by the reaction of passers-by.

“I voted for the greatest businessman in the world to run the biggest business in the world,” he said.

“I don’t care that he’s a d*ckhead. If I want a surgeon and the best one in the world is a motherf**ker I don’t care. I just want the best surgeon that’s going to operate on me.”

The biggest challenge for Democrats is results and competence.

Trump derangement won’t cut it. Voters already have factored in Trump’s faults.

@mirandadevine

Originally published as Democrats lack Trump’s campaign magic in New Hampshire