There's A Relative Absence Of Chants In The 2020 United States Presidential Election. But Democrats Are STILL Fired Up & Ready To Go.

DNC War Room Nov 4, 2008

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents an online excerpt that documents slogans attributed to the Donald Trump's 2020 campaign for re-election as President of the United States and slogans attributed to Senator Joe Biden's 2020 campaign for the Democratic candidate for President and the Biden/Harris campaign for the office of United States President and Vice President. for President. 

This pancocojams post also provides a few examples of what I consider to be a paucity of chants in the 2020 Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns. 

In contrast,  I present a YouTube video as a reminder of the call & response chant "Fired up! Ready to go." that was very widely used in Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign-  That chant was also used, but less often, in President Barack Obama's 2012 presidential re-election campaign.

Although I don't think that chant is used in the 2020 presidential campaigns, all signs point to the fact that people supporting the Biden/Harris Democratic slate are "Fired up! And ready to go".

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The content of this post is presented for historical and socio-cultural, political purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/fired-up-ready-to-go-fired-up-ready-to.html for a September 2016 pancocojams post entitled " "Fired Up! Ready To Go" & "Fired Up! Ready To Vote" Political Chants And Slogans". The November 6, 2012 pancocojams post http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/11/fired-up-ready-to-go-chant-comments.html "Fired Up! Ready To Go!" Chant (Comments & Video), entitled also focuses on the Obama's "Fired Up! Ready to go" chant.

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EXCERPTS FROM A FEW ONLINE PAGES THAT LIST SLOGANS FOR 2020 UNITED STATES PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

Excerpt #1
From
https://www.google.com/search?q=What+is+Biden%27s+slogan+for+2020%3F&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjq08yawYfsAhU9j3IEHSobCiUQzmd6BAgLEBY&biw=1024&bih=625 Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign
"Biden for President

Slogan   Restore The Soul of America,  Our best days still lie ahead, This is America, We are America, second to none Anything is possible, No Malarkey!, Build Back Better, Unite for a Better America"
-snip-
This is how this quote is given except for the commas between each slogan.

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Excerpt #2
From https://www.google.com/search?sa=X&q=trump%20slogans%20list&ved=2ahUKEwj0-q-Sw4fsAhWlj3IEHSBMCPcQmoICKAR6BAgOEEY&biw=1024&bih=625
"Trump has confirmed in several stump speeches that the slogans for the 2020 race will be "Keep America Great" and "Promises Made, Promises Kept". " 

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Excerpt #3
From https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/why-trumps-new-campaign-slogan-transition-to-greatness-sends-a-disastrous-message WHY TRUMP’S NEW CAMPAIGN SLOGAN, “TRANSITION TO GREATNESS,” SENDS A DISASTROUS MESSAGE

A veteran media strategist for three presidential campaigns assesses the meanings of Trump’s (and Biden’s) use of the word “transition”: Where, exactly, are they transitioning to?

BY MARK MCKINNON, MAY 25, 2020
...."Recent history is filled with presidential campaign themes about the future. Bill Clinton declared he would “Build a Bridge to the 21st Century.” Barack Obama promised, during the middle of an economic meltdown, that he’d provide the “Change We Need” for the challenges ahead. But Trump ran for president during a unique era, one in which more voters liked the idea of moving backward—toward a familiar and comforting past.

 

It was no surprise, then, when Trump announced that his reelection-campaign theme would be “Keep America Great.” On brand. Direct but sort of meta. He was saying that he’d made America great. And he’d keep it that way. And to underscore the point, the campaign mantra became “Promises Made, Promises Kept.”

 

So, count me among the perplexed that Trump, who clearly considers himself a marketing genius, suddenly announced on May 8 that he was changing his theme to “Transition to Greatness.” He described his decision this way: “It’s a great term. Just came out at this meeting. That’s right. It came out by accident. It was a statement and it came out and you can’t get a better one. We can go to Madison Avenue and get the best, the greatest geniuses in the world to come up with a slogan but that’s the slogan we’re going to use. Transition to Greatness.”

 
[...]

Biden has repeatedly talked of “transition,” of being a transitional figure. “I view myself as a transition candidate,” Biden said during an online fundraiser with Mayor Pete Buttigieg. “My job is…to bring the Mayor Petes of the world into this administration…and even if they don’t come in, their ideas come into the administration.”

[...]

Remember Donald Trump’s pronouncement at the 2016 Republican National Convention that “I alone can fix it”? Well, Biden seems to be suggesting just the opposite. He appears to recognize that the challenges of the presidency require a lot more than one person. They require an A-team, as opposed to the ad hoc pickup squads that Trump has put on the field. They require people, like Biden, with experience in governing. Especially now. Biden’s message is, We, together, can fix this mess.

[...]

In truth, neither candidate’s use of the word or the concept suits this moment. What America needs is real leadership, competence, and proven economic and medical reassurance—in the here and now. Trump’s use of the word, however, has more downside for him than it does for Biden. I can only imagine the gnashing of teeth that accompanied Trump’s mid-campaign-season audible to switch to “Transition to Greatness.” Sure, it made sense that he was acknowledging how the pandemic had altered things (from, say, Great to Not So Great). And that the campaign should adapt. But his proposed solution might actually create openings for Biden to jump in and say, Transition to greatness? Why wait? I’ll deliver day one. I’ve done it before."...
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I'm definitely NOT a supporter of Trump or the Republican party, and perhaps I've missed the use of that political party's 2020 slogans. But it seems to me that the slogan that is most often used by trump's presidential campaign is "Make American Great Again" and (less often) "Keep America Great Again".

I'm definitely a supporter of Biden/Harris and the Democratic party, but without looking this subject up online, I couldn't think of any Biden or Biden/Harris slogan for 2020. That said, I strongly affirm the sentiment of these unofficial 2020 Democratic slogans: "Dump Trump",   "Anyone but Trump" ("ABT"), "'m voting for the other guy", and "I'm Ridin With Biden".  

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Excerpt #4    
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._presidential_campaign_slogans 

[...]

2020

Republican Party candidates

"Keep America Great" – used by Donald Trump's campaign

"Promises Made, Promises Kept" – used by Donald Trump's campaign

"Buy American, Hire American" – used by Donald Trump's campaign

"Make Our Farmers Great Again" – used by Donald Trump's campaign

"Build the Wall and Crime Will Fall" – used by Donald Trump's campaign

"Jobs not Mobs" – used by Donald Trump's campaign

[...]

Democratic Party candidates

”Build back better”  – used by Joe Biden's campaign

”Restore The Soul of The Nation”  – used by Joe Biden's campaign

"Our best days still lie ahead" – used by Joe Biden's campaign

"No Malarkey!" – used by Joe Biden's campaign"...

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A FEW CHANTS FROM SUPPORTERS OF TRUMP'S RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN 
-Make America Great Again!
-Lock them (or her or him) up!
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These chants are documented on various online sources.

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A FEW CHANTS DIRECTED AGAINST TRUMP (2020)
-Vote him out!
-Honor her wish!
-snip- 
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1irGJPUGYuk&ab_channel=MSNBC for a video clip entitled '' 'Vote Him Out!': Protesters Boo Trump During Visit To Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Casket | MSNBC'- September 24, 2020 " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX-DdOUlcqs&ab_channel=NowThisNews

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TRANSCRIPTION OF THE BARACK OBAMA "FIRED UP! READY TO GO" SPEECH THAT IS SHOWN IN THE EMBEDDED VIDEO

[Pancocojams Editor's note: This transcription is from that video's summary, but is presented in this blog with minor punctuation corrections.] 

Manassas, Virginia, 11/3/08

"Obama: Finally we get to Greenwood. We pull up -- first of all, you don't know you're in Greenwood right away when you get to Greenwood, there aren't a lot of tall buildings there. We pull up to a small building, a field house in the park. We go inside. And lo and behold, after an hour and a half drive, turns out there are twenty people there. Twenty people, and they all look kind of damp and kind of sleepy, like maybe they aren't really excited to be there either. But you know, I am a professional. I've got to do what I got to do. [applause] So I go around, I'm shaking hands, I'm saying how ya doing, what are ya doing? [applause] Wait, wait. As I go around the room suddenly I hear this voice cry out behind me, "Fired Up!" And I'm shocked. I jump up. I don't know what's going on. But everybody else acts like this is normal and they say, "fired up." Then I hear this voice say, "ready to go!" And the other twenty people in the room, they act like this happens all the time, they say ready to go. I don't know what's going on. So I look behind me, and there's this small woman, about sixty years old, a little over five feet. It looks like she just came from church, got a big church hat. [laughter] And she's standing there and she looks at me and she's smiling. And she says, "fired up!"

Turns out she is a city councilwoman from Greenwood who also moonlights as a private detective -- I'm not making this up. [laughter] And it turns out she is famous for her chant. She does this wherever she goes, she says "fired up!" and everybody says "ready to go, ready to go." So for the next five minutes she proceeds to do this, "fired up" everybody says "ready to go." And I'm standing there and I'm thinking that I am being outflanked by this woman here. She's stealing my thunder. I look at my staff, they shrug their shoulders, they don't know how long this is going to go.

But here's the thing, Virginia -- after a minute or so, I'm feeling kind of fired up. [applause] I'm feeling like I'm ready to go. So I join in the chant. And it feels good. And for the rest of the day, even after we left Greenwood, even though it was still raining, even though I was still not getting big crowds anywhere, even though we hadn't gotten the endorsements of the people we were hoping for, somehow I felt a little lighter, I felt a little better. I'd see my staff, Id say, are you fired up? They'd say we're fired up boss, are you ready to go?

Here's my point, Virginia -- that's how this thing started. It shows you what one voice can do. One voice can change a room; and if a voice can change a room, it can change a city; and if it can change a city it can change a state; and if change a state, it can change a nation; and if it can change a nation, it can change the world! Virginia, your voice can change the world tomorrow! [applause] In 21 hours, if you are willing, if you are willing to endure some rain, if you are willing to drag that person you know who was not going to vote to the polls, if you're willing to organize and volunteer in the offices, if you are willing to stand with me, if you are willing to fight with me, I know that your voice will matter.

So I've just got one question for you, Virginia. Are you fired up?
["Yeah"]
Are you ready to go?
["Yeah"]
Fired up?
["Fired Up!"]
Ready to go?
["Ready to Go!"]
Fired up?
["Fired Up!"]
Ready to go?
["Ready to Go!"]
Fired up?
["Fired Up!"]
Ready to go?
["Ready to Go!"]

Virginia, let's go change the world. Thank you. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America."
-snip-
"Fired up! Ready to go" is a call and response chant that has this pattern::
[one designated-or self-designated person says] - "Fired up!"

[the rest of the group responds] - "Ready to go".

Repeat this pattern multiple times.

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