The Presidential Campaign’s Halloween Connection: It’s Frightening
(Author’s Note: This is the 15th in a series of political articles for CommPRO.biz that I’ll be writing leading up to Election Day. FYI – My first public relations job was with a political firm, where I worked on local, statewide and presidential campaigns. If this column is a trick or a treat is up to you.)Arthur SolomonThere are lots of things to be afraid of this Halloween. The most important one, of course, is being infected by the coronavirus.
But there are other scary things:
- Normally, when a child rings the bell and says “trick or treat” you can look out a window and see if you recognize a parent accompanying the youngster. This year is different. You might not recognize the adult because the person is wearing a mask. It might be a person you’ve seen around the neighborhood; then again it might be someone who is casing your home and using a child as a decoy.
- Even more dangerous is when someone accompanying a child is not wearing a mask.
And then there’s the presidential campaign connection to consider:
- Be careful, very careful, of the candy you dispense. Giving candy wrapped in blue to a child of a Trump supporter can damage your relationship with the youngster’s parents. Likewise, giving candy wrapped in red to the child of a Biden supporter.
- If you have a Trump or Biden lawn sign, remove it before dark. If you don’t someone accompanying a child might instruct the youngster to squirt shaving cream on you when you open the door.
- Be on your guard against political operatives using children as trick or treaters to hand out campaign material about why voting for a certain candidate will end life as we know it. Do not refuse the partisan material if a youngster hands it to you. Doing so can result in your receiving continuous phone calls asking for your vote.
- Pollsters are more desperate than ever to find out how you will vote because so many people refuse to answer phone calls unless they recognize the name or number of the caller on displays. So don’t be surprised if when you give a youngster candy, the youngster politely says, “Would you like a Trump or Biden pin?”
And then there are Donald Trump’s statements that were scary before Halloween, will be scary on Halloween and will be scary after Halloween. Too many to mention. Here’s a sampling:
- On January 22, (about the coronavirus in the
- On February 28, The coronvirus is a “Democratic hoax.”
- Numerous times, “It will magically disappear and we are rounding the corner.”
And at last there’s the president’s October surprise:
- Because Halloween falls on October 31, it will be the last day before November.
And then there’s the most terrifying aspect of political programming:
- Watching Laura Ingraham, Sean Sanity and Tucker Carlson on Fox.
- Listening to Rush Linbaugh’s radio program.
- Listening to the nonsense provided by the pundits on all cable stations.
And then there’s the two most terrifying things that can happen to you on Halloween.
- No one shows up for trick or treating and you eat bags of candy yourself and then try to lose the weight.
- When you open the door a youngster says, “I’m Jane Doe, and my daddy asked me to ask you to vote for him, and have the father run up to the door and say, “And I’m the candidate. Can I have your vote?”
About the Author: Arthur Solomon, a former journalist, was a senior VP/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller, and was responsible for restructuring, managing and playing key roles in some of the most significant national and international sports and non-sports programs. He also traveled internationally as a media adviser to high-ranking government officials. He now is a frequent contributor to public relations publications, consults on public relations projects and is on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at
