The Turnaraound

WaPo:

The 2016 election was just a month away when Steve Curtis, a conservative radio host and former Colorado Republican Party chairman, devoted an entire episode of his morning talk show to the heated topic of voter fraud.

“It seems to me,” Curtis said in the 42-minute segment, “that virtually every case of voter fraud I can remember in my lifetime was committed by Democrats.”

On Tuesday, Colorado prosecutors threw a wrench into that already dubious theory, accusing Curtis of voter fraud for allegedly filling out and mailing in his ex-wife’s 2016 ballot for president, Denver’s Fox affiliate reported.

Curtis, 57, was charged in Weld County District Court with one count of misdemeanor voter fraud and one count of forgery, a Class 5 felony, according to local media.

The case is the only voter fraud investigation related to the 2016 election that has resulted in criminal charges in the state, the Colorado secretary of state’s office told Denver’s ABC affiliate.
In sales, it's called The Turnaround. You take a negative, restate it, and either make it a positive or at least make it sound better or deflect the criticism or duck your responsibility, etc.

"We never go out anymore"
=
"Gee, honey - I guess I was being selfish; I just wanna keep you all to myself"

"It's expensive, but it's worth it"
=
"It's the best quality product you can buy and the investment you make today will pay off for a long time."

In politics, it's a way to slam your opposition and invite the inference that you're a swell guy by comparison. And it can be a very effective tactic when you're selling your way into power - which is how it works now. We don't evaluate the resumé to make an informed decision. We vote for the one who looks good and sounds OK and carries fewer negatives - the one with the better Marketing Campaign.

But it gets full-blown destructive when it flops all the way over into the kind of Authoritarian Gaslighting we've seen from the Trumpsters (most recently), and from guys like Mr Curtis for a coupla generations now - because eventually:

• Every accusation is a confession
• Every boast is an expression of inadequacy
• Every warning of a threat is a statement of intent

Get woke - stay woke.