“Campaign in poetry, govern in prose,” is a famous phrase attributed to former New York governor Mario Cuomo. But anyone who thinks they are going to win an election quoting Seamus Heaney or Emily Dickinson needs their head examined.

Stories win elections. Effective politicians know how to spin a yarn, and the most gripping stories tend to be those with obvious goodies and baddies – or, in practical terms, heroes and scapegoats.

Edmund Fawcett, the author of separate books on Conservatism and Liberalism, has written about the “five seductive themes” the hard right calls upon in Europe and the US to sell its message to the electorate. These can be woven into a single narrative roughly as follows: (1) The nation is in decline; (2) elites are to blame; (3) liberals and other godless individualists will burn in hell; (4) embrace your victimhood; and (5) follow [X – insert authoritarian leader here] who shall restore the natural order of things.

You have to hand it to Donald Trump, who successfully campaigned for the US presidency on fantastical visions of “draining the swamp” and unfounded claims of immigrants eating cats and dogs. It was pure fiction but compelling storytelling nonetheless. As the midterms approach, he is doubling down on the grand narrative, warning – without evidence – of “rigged” elections under the opposition.

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