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I frequently see posts like these on Bluesky and Twitter.  They started when JD made an ass of himself in a donut shop, but yesterday’s incident when he held up two dozen eggs and claimed that eggs are $4 a dozen when a sign showing $2.99/dozen was legible behind him is another example.  He’s consistently had small crowds and there’s been more than one example where his staging looks awful.

I don’t think the answer is as simple as “they hate him and want to embarrass him.”  Instead, I think he’s the “out-guy” on the sales team.  He’s Shelley in Glengarry Glen Ross, if you remember Jack Lemmon’s character in that film.

I’ve spent a lot of time observing sales culture, especially sales culture where sales is in charge of other parts of the company, and don’t know what they’re doing.   The Trump organization is a pure bottom-feeding sales team, selling a dubious “brand” that they try to slap on everything with Donald as the head of sales..  That’s the only thing he’s somewhat good at – everything else he’s done is a failure.  Some characteristics of a sales-led organization:

• Sales thinks they’re incredibly bright, insightful and important.  They’re some of the biggest fart huffers on the planet.  They watch videos and attend conferences where other salespeople convince them that good ideas, positivity, and savvy dealmaking are all that’s needed to succeed in business.  Actual planning or follow through isn’t part of their success formula. 
• Sales loves to do things that look like action but are basically nothing.  COVID put a crimp in their game, but old-school sales guys like Trump love nothing more than hopping on a plane for a meeting.  The meeting might not accomplish shit, and it could just as easily been a Zoom or a phone call, but flying to a customer’s location is a way to look busy, gain frequent flyer miles, and have a couple of nice dinners on the company’s dime.  It’s no surprise that Trump loves his private plane with the gold toilets.  The 2016 campaign was heaven for him, because he could fly everywhere and just riff for an hour or two to his adoring fans.
• The head of sales is highly influenced by the “in-guys” on the team.  These guys can whisper in his ear and get him to do things that he might otherwise have second thoughts about.  Don Jr is an in-guy (at times) and he apparently pushed Donald to choose JD.
• When the organization is struggling, instead of systematically addressing the issues, the head of sales looks for a new savior to come and fix everything.  This is a point where ambitious wannabe in-guys can wield outsized influence.  
• If the organization is doing fine but needs to grow, the a new savior with a new strategy will catapult the organization to new heights.  The in-guys often start out as a savior.
• When the in-guys think the new savior isn’t doing well, or some other team member isn’t doing well, they shit talk that team member to the head of sales, and also passive aggressively work within the organization to strew banana peels in his path.  Sales leaders hate negativity and are too chickenshit to fire anyone (that’s one of the ways that The Apprentice is total fiction), so the out-guy is generally forced to quit since they can’t endure the stream of shit falling on their head.

So, in the case of JD, Don Jr (in-guy) whispered in daddy’s ear to convince him that JD was a new savior. The new savior strategy was to get more incels to vote for Trump.  At the time, the campaign was (in their view) doing great, so JD was sold as the guy who could whisper the right things into a group of voters who would vote for Trump if they could only get out of their mom’s basement.

JD shit the bed almost immediately, and then Harris arrived on the scene, so there’s panic on the streets of West Palm.  The sales leader, Donald, lashes out at everyone.   The bat signal goes out, and people like Corey Lewandowski and Laura Loomer now have Trump’s ear.  Whoever the current in-guys are, they quietly find ways to fuck Vance.  They advise Trump to distance from him, and they also cut the advance budget and put the biggest fuckups on JD’s advance team.  

So, I guess from one perspective, his advance people hate him and want to embarrass him.  But the reason isn’t just random animus.  JD’s getting out-guy treatment, and poor advance work is just one of many indicators.

JD is the Out-Guy on the Trump Sales TeamPost + Comments (160)