A fictional Republican campaign-charades round. One name. Very famous. Runs the party. No, please do not say it into the microphone. We have paid good money for these thirty seconds.

Trump wants voters to imagine him on the midterm ballot. AP’s AdImpact analysis ranks him fourth among Democratic ad themes and 33rd among Republican ones in the House and Senate races examined. Not absent from GOP ads. Just considerably less invited.

Our imaginary contestant gestures at a tax cut. Now crime. Now a reassuring flag. The audience guesses the party leader. Incorrect! Technically correct, but devastating for the communications strategy.

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The Republican National Committee says Democrats’ Trump-heavy messaging reflects their lack of an agenda. Back in our invented game, the contestant is making the universal sign for please discuss literally anything else.

The president would like a referendum on himself. Some Republican advertising appears to prefer an interpretive dance around the subject. Democrats, meanwhile, are allowed to speak. This gives them an enormous advantage in a game whose answer everybody already knows.

Time’s up. The voter has guessed it. The candidate is still pointing at the tax cut.

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