As trial lawyers, we spend significant effort developing our themes and messages to convince a jury of the merits of our case. We conduct focus groups in advance of trial and post-verdict analysis to learn from our experiences and mistakes. In a similar vein, I have spent many hours since the election soliciting input from voters, communication experts and political strategists from both parties as well as lawyers from across the country, both Republican and Democrat, to assist in analyzing the election outcome. In this regard, I offer the following perspective as a trial lawyer’s attempt to analyze the development of the message that resonated with the American electorate.

While I take great issue with many of the hurtful public and private statements made by Donald Trump, the fact that he was elected despite these transgressions must be part of any post-election message analysis. It is a given that good and decent people voted for Tump despite his obvious flaws. Thus, in analyzing the winning message in this election, we must answer this essential question: Why was Donald Trump elected without the support of party leadership, and despite his ill-advised rhetoric, which most political strategists expected would destroy any chance of winning? The answer appears multi-faceted. The candidates’ “message” is one explanation.

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