For those that were following the GOP primaries you'll know that Ron Paul, aka Dr. No, was leading a revolution. Millions of Americans were donating and campaigning for Ron Paul and saw him as the only viable option to co-opted and corrupted politicians in both the Republican and Democratic parties.
About a month or so ago Mitt Romney sealed the GOP nomination and many of Paul's followers asked what's next? Paul after all ran on a platform that was almost entirely in opposition to Romney's. Paul made it very clear that voting for Democrats (Obama) or Republicans (Romney) made no difference as they were both beholden to the banks and military industrial complex.
While not winning the GOP primary, Paul amassed a good number of delegates, enough to be a thorn in the side of Romney at the GOP convention. Most of Paul's followers assumed Paul would use his base of followers to negotiate concessions from Romney in the GOP platform in exchange for an endorsement.
Many thought the most likely area where he could broker a deal would be on significant changes to the Federal Reserve.
So that's the backdrop on the Ron Paul Revolution in case you weren't in the know.
Even though he didn't win, he had millions of followers who would have avidly supported him if he left the Republican party and ran as an independent. They would have memorialized him as forever the champion of Liberty if he had decided to simply move on to retirement.
What is interesting is that Paul did neither of these things. In fact, Paul allowed his legacy to be one of selling out his entire base of supporters.
Phase One: Endorsing Romney
So how did this come about? It came about when his son, Rand Paul (a Republican senator), went on Fox news and endorsed Mitt Romney.
While Rand Paul is not Ron Paul, the reality is that the two are entwined so completely (both politically and ideologically) that anything Rand does happens with Ron's full knowledge. Rand's base are the same people who are Ron's base. In fact, Rand's base is primarily Ron Paul followers who extended their loyalty to the son because the son stood for the same things as the father.
So Rand's endorsement of Romney shocked Ron Paul supporters to the core. After the endorsement videos were everywhere on YouTube with people expressing how disgusted they were. Rand's Facebook page was filled with derisive remarks about how Rand was a traitor, a sell out, and about a 1,000 other ways to express outrage over his actions.
Now, let's turn to the PR aspects of this and talk about why this was an unmitigated disaster on Rand (and Ron's) part.
The reason behind Rand giving Romney an endorsement is fairly straight forward. Either Romney or Obama will be president in 2013. As part of the GOP, Rand is not going to endorse Obama, therefore, he has to endorse Romney. If he doesn't endorse Romney then it's fair to expect Romney to slam the door in his face when he's president.
So this is a very simple you scratch my back (give me your endorsement) and I'll scratch your back (I'll actually hear you out when I'm president and won't ignore you).
So from Rand's perspective, his options are to tell the future (possible) president that he doesn't endorse him and walk away with nothing. Or swallow his pride, endorse him publicly, and try to reap the benefits of that down the road.
This is where the PR aspects come in to play. Rand made a HUGE mistake in how he made his endorsement. He went on Fox news and basically said Romney's a great guy, we have a lot in common, and on some critical areas he's very receptive to our positions.
The reason this was just a disastrous messaging strategy is that it was tailored around Fox New's audience as opposed to Rand / Ron Paul's base.
What generic GOP fox news listeners heard / thought was "Great, Rand/Ron are on board with our guy. I like this Rand guy, he's pratical."
What Ron Paul supporters heard was "Hey guys, you remember that guy we called a serial hypocrite and who my dad said he'd have a very hard time supporting because they don't agree on anything? You know how we have been in the fight of our lives against two corrupt parties, both the Republicans and Democrats who are owned by the bankers and special interests? Well, that was all fine and good but it's time to get off our idealistic high horses and join the system now, so tonight I'm selling out and backing Mitt Romney."
This entire disaster basically comes down to Rand Paul taking in to consideration only the messaging concerns of Fox News viewers (or the traditional conservative base). He clearly did not consider (or did not care) how his words would be interpreted by HIS base (the Ron Paul supporters).
He could have easily used different wording in his endorsement such that both audiences would have been receptive to his endorsement.
Something very generic such as:
"I'm endorsing Mitt Romney for a number of reasons. First, I think he will turn around the economy. Second, he's indicated to me that he wants an open dialogue with the libertarian-leaning wing of the Republican party and wants our voice to be heard when policy decisions are made. Lastly, our base of followers have grown so tremendously, that I want to see their interests represented and I believe a Romney president will listen to them far more than an Obama president would."
There you go, you endorse Romney but you don't look like a sell out.
But that's not what he did. He clearly, and unabashedly, ignored all the concerns of his stakeholders and spoke completely towards the generic GOP base. This clearly made him look like someone who was angling, long term, to become an entrenched element of the republic party (as opposed to a Libertarian, critical element within the GOP, such as his dad was.)
So it's really not at all surprising that his followers viewed his endorsement, but more importantly the words he used to make his endorsement, as stabbing them in the back.
Phase Two: Handling the Reaction
So after the endorsement there was a wildfire of angry Paul supporters shocked and stunned by Rand's words.
How did Rand and Ron handle this? They didn't.
They said nothing. No tweets. No blogs. No videos. No interviews. Nothing.
As a result, supporters tried to figure things out among themselves. Rampant speculation about why he did this was everywhere.
Did he sell out?
What did he get?
Were the Paul's threatened?
Did Ron Paul ok his son to do this?
Paul supporters spent days hashing out every nightmare scenario of how they had been sold out and why.
This is the last thing you want to happen because leaving people's imaginations to run wild is perhaps the most damaging event that can happen to your brand.
They've forever seen you one way, but then they spend days wondering if maybe they had you wrong the whole time. Even if you eventually do respond to their concerns their minds have been opened to an entirely new (and negative) way of seeing you.
This is why it's critical to respond IMMEDIATELY - within 24 hours at the latest. Anything longer than 24 hours and it won't matter what you say because people won't believe it completely.
The way people see it, the truth takes no time to say. If you need 48 hours or longer to respond, odds are it's because you are spinning things versus telling the truth.
Phase three: Rand Speaks
Today (five days after endorsing Romney), this PR crisis went in to phase three, Rand's response to his supporters reactions. He did this via the Peter Schiff show.
Once again, Paul shows an amazing ignorance of his audience. His main message to his followers was that he was stunned by their reactions and that he feels they don't understand his strategy.
Essentially, he was saying was: "My followers just don't get what I'm trying to do, some of them are too stupid or zealous, and it's disappointing that they think I'm a sell out."
That is only going to enrage his supporters even further. Just look at the comments on the YouTube video of him talking to Schiff (remember this is Rand's first public attempt to contain the crisis):
Rand Paul- you're not gonna get anything from Romney. NOTHING! This endorsement is sickening to the stomach!
Liberty does not compromise to Tyranny. Rand has lost his way and is pulling many of us with him. Goldman Sachs owns Romney and Obama. Anyone who thinks different is a fool. Wake up!
You don't sacrifice the principles of Freedom for political gain.
About a month or so ago Mitt Romney sealed the GOP nomination and many of Paul's followers asked what's next? Paul after all ran on a platform that was almost entirely in opposition to Romney's. Paul made it very clear that voting for Democrats (Obama) or Republicans (Romney) made no difference as they were both beholden to the banks and military industrial complex.
While not winning the GOP primary, Paul amassed a good number of delegates, enough to be a thorn in the side of Romney at the GOP convention. Most of Paul's followers assumed Paul would use his base of followers to negotiate concessions from Romney in the GOP platform in exchange for an endorsement.
Many thought the most likely area where he could broker a deal would be on significant changes to the Federal Reserve.
So that's the backdrop on the Ron Paul Revolution in case you weren't in the know.
Even though he didn't win, he had millions of followers who would have avidly supported him if he left the Republican party and ran as an independent. They would have memorialized him as forever the champion of Liberty if he had decided to simply move on to retirement.
What is interesting is that Paul did neither of these things. In fact, Paul allowed his legacy to be one of selling out his entire base of supporters.
Phase One: Endorsing Romney
So how did this come about? It came about when his son, Rand Paul (a Republican senator), went on Fox news and endorsed Mitt Romney.
While Rand Paul is not Ron Paul, the reality is that the two are entwined so completely (both politically and ideologically) that anything Rand does happens with Ron's full knowledge. Rand's base are the same people who are Ron's base. In fact, Rand's base is primarily Ron Paul followers who extended their loyalty to the son because the son stood for the same things as the father.
So Rand's endorsement of Romney shocked Ron Paul supporters to the core. After the endorsement videos were everywhere on YouTube with people expressing how disgusted they were. Rand's Facebook page was filled with derisive remarks about how Rand was a traitor, a sell out, and about a 1,000 other ways to express outrage over his actions.
Now, let's turn to the PR aspects of this and talk about why this was an unmitigated disaster on Rand (and Ron's) part.
The reason behind Rand giving Romney an endorsement is fairly straight forward. Either Romney or Obama will be president in 2013. As part of the GOP, Rand is not going to endorse Obama, therefore, he has to endorse Romney. If he doesn't endorse Romney then it's fair to expect Romney to slam the door in his face when he's president.
So this is a very simple you scratch my back (give me your endorsement) and I'll scratch your back (I'll actually hear you out when I'm president and won't ignore you).
So from Rand's perspective, his options are to tell the future (possible) president that he doesn't endorse him and walk away with nothing. Or swallow his pride, endorse him publicly, and try to reap the benefits of that down the road.
This is where the PR aspects come in to play. Rand made a HUGE mistake in how he made his endorsement. He went on Fox news and basically said Romney's a great guy, we have a lot in common, and on some critical areas he's very receptive to our positions.
The reason this was just a disastrous messaging strategy is that it was tailored around Fox New's audience as opposed to Rand / Ron Paul's base.
What generic GOP fox news listeners heard / thought was "Great, Rand/Ron are on board with our guy. I like this Rand guy, he's pratical."
What Ron Paul supporters heard was "Hey guys, you remember that guy we called a serial hypocrite and who my dad said he'd have a very hard time supporting because they don't agree on anything? You know how we have been in the fight of our lives against two corrupt parties, both the Republicans and Democrats who are owned by the bankers and special interests? Well, that was all fine and good but it's time to get off our idealistic high horses and join the system now, so tonight I'm selling out and backing Mitt Romney."
This entire disaster basically comes down to Rand Paul taking in to consideration only the messaging concerns of Fox News viewers (or the traditional conservative base). He clearly did not consider (or did not care) how his words would be interpreted by HIS base (the Ron Paul supporters).
He could have easily used different wording in his endorsement such that both audiences would have been receptive to his endorsement.
Something very generic such as:
"I'm endorsing Mitt Romney for a number of reasons. First, I think he will turn around the economy. Second, he's indicated to me that he wants an open dialogue with the libertarian-leaning wing of the Republican party and wants our voice to be heard when policy decisions are made. Lastly, our base of followers have grown so tremendously, that I want to see their interests represented and I believe a Romney president will listen to them far more than an Obama president would."
There you go, you endorse Romney but you don't look like a sell out.
But that's not what he did. He clearly, and unabashedly, ignored all the concerns of his stakeholders and spoke completely towards the generic GOP base. This clearly made him look like someone who was angling, long term, to become an entrenched element of the republic party (as opposed to a Libertarian, critical element within the GOP, such as his dad was.)
So it's really not at all surprising that his followers viewed his endorsement, but more importantly the words he used to make his endorsement, as stabbing them in the back.
Phase Two: Handling the Reaction
So after the endorsement there was a wildfire of angry Paul supporters shocked and stunned by Rand's words.
How did Rand and Ron handle this? They didn't.
They said nothing. No tweets. No blogs. No videos. No interviews. Nothing.
As a result, supporters tried to figure things out among themselves. Rampant speculation about why he did this was everywhere.
Did he sell out?
What did he get?
Were the Paul's threatened?
Did Ron Paul ok his son to do this?
Paul supporters spent days hashing out every nightmare scenario of how they had been sold out and why.
This is the last thing you want to happen because leaving people's imaginations to run wild is perhaps the most damaging event that can happen to your brand.
They've forever seen you one way, but then they spend days wondering if maybe they had you wrong the whole time. Even if you eventually do respond to their concerns their minds have been opened to an entirely new (and negative) way of seeing you.
This is why it's critical to respond IMMEDIATELY - within 24 hours at the latest. Anything longer than 24 hours and it won't matter what you say because people won't believe it completely.
The way people see it, the truth takes no time to say. If you need 48 hours or longer to respond, odds are it's because you are spinning things versus telling the truth.
Phase three: Rand Speaks
Today (five days after endorsing Romney), this PR crisis went in to phase three, Rand's response to his supporters reactions. He did this via the Peter Schiff show.
Once again, Paul shows an amazing ignorance of his audience. His main message to his followers was that he was stunned by their reactions and that he feels they don't understand his strategy.
Essentially, he was saying was: "My followers just don't get what I'm trying to do, some of them are too stupid or zealous, and it's disappointing that they think I'm a sell out."
That is only going to enrage his supporters even further. Just look at the comments on the YouTube video of him talking to Schiff (remember this is Rand's first public attempt to contain the crisis):
Rand Paul- you're not gonna get anything from Romney. NOTHING! This endorsement is sickening to the stomach!
Liberty does not compromise to Tyranny. Rand has lost his way and is pulling many of us with him. Goldman Sachs owns Romney and Obama. Anyone who thinks different is a fool. Wake up!
You don't sacrifice the principles of Freedom for political gain.
The video was just posted today and already there are over 1,000 comments on it (almost all of them like the above comments).
To add insult to injury, Ron Paul has still not come out and expressed his opinion on all this. This is FIVE DAYS after Rand endorsed Romney.
The Fallout
The fallout from this can no longer be contained. Rand has shot himself in the foot beyond repair with his base of followers. As a result he is now completely dependent on the 'inside Washington' Republican party for his future survival in politics.
His somewhat arrogant response to his supporters fury only further solidifies that he was not who they thought he was.
Even if in the future he manages to pass bills that his supporters agree with, they will never forgive him for how he handled this situation and left them out in the cold in their final push for Liberty.
Ron Paul, because he has said nothing this whole time, has irrevocably damaged his legacy. While Ron Paul supporters will always think of Ron fondly for all he has done, they won't remember him as the uncompromising man who put his principles above all else. Because it's clear in this situation, his principles took a back seat to Rand's political ambitions.
The fact that he has not addressed his supporters five days after their outrage began, has also stained him with an air of cowardice in many of their eyes.
Some Ron supporters will ultimately see him more like Obama now, promising one thing and then ultimately selling them out.
Others will simply choose to remember him fondly but will take him down off the pedestal they put him up on.
And a select few will continue to view him as the champion of Liberty.
It's all about PR
This whole situation though is purely about PR. It's about communication. It's about knowing your audiences and knowing how they will react to various messaging.
There was no reason for Rand's endorsement of Romney to have caused the ire it did. It did not have to destroy the Ron Paul legacy. But it did because of very bad PR messaging and strategies.
An Alternative Thought
My final thought on all this is that the only scenario in which all this makes sense (other than simply horrendous PR that is) is if Rand purposely wanted to cut ties with his base.
It's entirely possible that Romney sat him down and gave him a Come to Jesus talk in which he said:
"Look Rand, do you want to spend the next 30 years of your life in politics fighting a system and never changing anything like your dad did? You are not your dad, and one day when your dad passes away, his supporters will not follow you the way they followed him. But if you want the opportunity to actually have a career in politics with the connections to make things happen, then this is the time for you to let go of your father's base and join the mainstream republican party."
In such a scenario I could see Rand and Ron weighing their options, weighing the future and ultimately going the safe route and taking Romney and the GOP's offer.
It's not inconceivable that Ron would not wish upon Rand what he experienced as a politician, which was 30 years of fighting the system only to receive some mass attention in his last days / years in office. He may want an easier road for his son, who can really say?
It's very easy to rationalize why going mainstream makes sense. While you can't take hard stances in ideology, you may get what you want here and there as a result. As the old saying goes, 'something is better than nothing.'
The price unfortunately was pissing off millions of Ron Paul supporters and proving, once again, that the system is fixed and the only options voters get are what the Democrats and Republicans offer them (which for Ron Paul supporters is the equivalent of having no options at all).
If Rand had understood PR better he could have had his cake and eaten it too. He could have endorsed Romney and kept his base from wanting to toss him in river.
That's the thing with PR though, you only get one kick at the can. Do the wrong thing and you can undo all the trust and goodwill that took years to build up.
And so ends the Ron Paul Revolution.
The people will ultimately rise up in protest, but it unfortunately won't be in connection with Ron Paul's name. When the revolution Ron Paul spoke so much about happens, it will likely take place under another banner of some sort. Hopefully whoever picks up the revolution baton learns from Rand and Ron's mistakes and learn that you serve your base, your base is not there to serve you.
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