Donald Trump will never be president again, says renowned pollster Frank Luntz – Sydney Morning Herald

Resentment is someone else is doing better than me, revenge is I want to bring them down; we had resentment over the last 20-30 years, we did not have a desire for revenge, that desire came into being in 2016.

New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.Credit:AP

He said the rise of squad leader Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reflected the Democratic Partys desire for revenge via woke politics, something he warns MPs against because of the long-term destruction it will cause to society.

Once you put it in your bloodstream you can never get it out, thats the danger populism on the right and wokeism on the left, and Im seeking here in Britain, to warn people of both, he said.

He defined woke as intolerance, cancel and the drive to punish people in the future for perceived mistakes of the past.

Thats the worst kind of politics because its all about definitions and you cant figure out a way to work together, he said.

He said countries need look no further than the US to see the damage it causes.

Frank Luntz, who has worked as a political consultant for decades, says Australias divisions over climate policy are fixable. Credit:Getty Images

We should be the shining light and instead were a shit show and Im a part of that shit show and I have been for the last 20 years.

He says the way to fix America could be out of reach.

Social media is what allows the polarisation to occur, he said.

If you fix social media, you fix America, but our culture wont allow it and perhaps its correct, he said, noting the fierce protection Americans have for the first amendment, which states Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech.

But its poisoning our minds, its an acid, it genuinely is toxic, its dividing us, its killing our attention span, its killing our ability to reason and most importantly were being fed 24/7 what we already believe and thats the problem, he said.

In 2007, Kevin Rudd swept Labor to its last majority victory. Luntz had a ringside seat, working in Australia conducting focus groups for Sky News and News Corp.

Rudd was elected to deliver an emissions trading scheme, but the campaign waged against it by Tony Abbott, who reversed Coalition support for a carbon price, contributed to the downfall of four prime ministers, including Abbott, and the governments reluctance thus far to sign up to net-zero reduction targets ahead of the global climate negotiations next month.

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Abbott relied heavily on the work of Luntz to destroy political support for a carbon price; in 2001, Luntz advised George W. Bush to refer to global warming as climate change.

I was trying to say the science wasnt settled prove it, Luntz says. He says this is now his biggest regret.

Between 2007 and 2009 and by the time Tony Abbott toppled Malcolm Turnbull for the Liberal leadership and reversed the then oppositions support for an emissions trading scheme, the work that Luntz did with the Environmental Defence Fund had convinced him the science was settled.

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Instead of damning me for getting it wrong 21 years ago, recognise that I was willing to acknowledge my mistakes 12 years ago and the media doesnt do that even today, he said.

Bring me to Australia and let me tell your people about the journey. It is fixable and I know how to do it, he said.

Luntz, who has been conducting research for the Centre for Policy Studies on how to prevent the Americanisation of British politics, says his advice for politicians wanting to avoid Americas divisions is to take a zero-tolerance position towards any kind of ugliness, citing the throwing of rocks at Canadas recently re-elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Because if you start to justify it, if you start to legitimise it, it will get out of control immediately, he said.

And on policy, he says its important for winners to give the losers a voice.

The winner gets to choose policy, but the loser needs to be heard, he said.

Id operate on an 85/15 mentality, which is the winner gets 85 per cent and the loser gets 15 per cent. Give them a voice and they wont want to cancel you, deny them a voice and theyll hate you forever.

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Donald Trump will never be president again, says renowned pollster Frank Luntz - Sydney Morning Herald