As a former strategist for Bill Clinton, I can tell you why Donald Trump is so uniquely successful

Having worked as a branding expert in politics, I recognize what the president is doing: he's harnessing Chaotic Outrage

Nike. McDonald’s. Coca-Cola. Patagonia. These are some of the world’s top brands and they have three things in common: authenticity, consistency and emotional resonance.

Successful branding binds consumers to products and voters to candidates, creating a deeper level of emotional connections that transcend the rational mind or policy preferences. And the preeminent political brand of our time is Donald Trump.

How can I say that? Anybody who’s vaguely sentient can tell that the president is impulsive, erratic, and seemingly unhinged. But that’s exactly the point. His brand? “Chaotic Outrage”.

Trump has used Chaotic Outrage to attract and cultivate a fanatically loyal base of support and constantly keeps his opponents off-balance. His Chaotic Outrage allows him to act and behave in a manner far outside of the norms and standards of previously accepted political discourse.

Let’s demystify how he has been so successful:

Trump is authentic

Voters can smell this - or the lack of it - a mile away. The graveyard of US presidential hopefuls is filled with the bodies of those who tried to be something they weren’t and failed miserably.

Al Gore in 2000, John Kerry in 2004, and Hillary Clinton 2016: all three of these candidates failed to open up and show their true selves for fear of being seen as less than or, worse, unacceptable to the coveted swing voter.

On the other hand you have the winners: Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. Trump in particular has never hidden who he is. In fact he has gone out of his way to tell anyone with a smartphone, internet connection, or television exactly what he thinks, feels, and believes at all hours of the day and night. You may not like it, but you can’t get away from it. He has created a sense of closeness and visceral connection with his supporters while infuriating his detractors.

Trump is consistent

Any savvy marketer knows that consistency is king. You must deliver the same experience wherever and whenever you touch the customer. Donald Trump does exactly that - virtually every major decision, pronouncement, media interaction, tweet, or speech is filled with Chaotic Outrage. He has been behaving like this his entire life, so why should we think he would be any different as president?

Trump is emotionally resonant

Trump has this in spades, at least among his base, who stick with him like nothing I’ve ever seen in politics. His vitriol, swagger, and arrogance is like catnip to tens of millions who feel displaced, marginalized, and scared of all the changes they see taking place at work, in culture, and in their communities. They want to punch back. And once you buy into Chaotic Outrage, you accept everything that comes with it and want even more.

So who’s to blame, and what can we do about it? As is the case with most issues, we have to look in the mirror and take responsibility. Of course, we’ve had loads of help from social media. The closed loop of communication that is the internet serves as a kind of petri dish for the growth of this malevolent bacteria.

Trump, the first internet president, knows that outrage is most powerful driver of engagement, making his brand perfectly tailored for our modern digital world, exponentially augmented by online culture.

However, the Trump brand market share in the US seems to have a ceiling. Loyal customers account for about 37 per cent of the electorate and Chaotic Outrage seems to be waning in appeal for many of the independent swing voters who put him over the top in a handful of states the last time around. Most notably, suburban white women seem to have grown weary of buying what he’s selling, and he’s not about to change his brand. In fact, he’s likely to double down on it.

His fanatical base of support doesn’t come close to a majority of the US population, and most people don’t like him or approve of the job he’s doing. He is divisive and not seeking to unite the country or expand his electoral playing field.

Trump has the same electoral map as 2016. He knows exactly what he needs to do, and where his campaign needs to spend resources. But his strategy leaves little margin for error, and remember Pennsylvania and Michigan (two states vital to his 2016 winning coalition) swung Democrat in 2018.

No analysis of a brand (consumer or political) would be complete without consideration of the competition. Top Democratic hopefuls exist in two brand camps: outsiders (Sanders, Warren) vs. return-to-normalcy candidates (Biden, Harris, Buttigieg). So do they fight fire with fire, or appeal to the better angels of our nature? Do they succeed by winning back Obama-Trump voters, or converting educated suburban Republicans and Independents to their cause?

Which brand will excite new and infrequent voters most? Maybe the Democrats should just call Coca-Cola to find out.

Bernard Whitman served as pollster and strategist to President Bill Clinton and NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and advises some of the world's best-known brands. He is founder and CEO of Whitman Insight Strategies