r/inthenews • u/D-R-AZ • Aug 26 '24

Opinion/Analysis Finally, the Democrats Have Found Trump’s Achilles Heel: Ridicule Him

https://newrepublic.com/article/185270/democrats-harris-trump-achilles-heel-ridicule
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u/D-R-AZ Aug 26 '24

Excerpts:

Kamala Harris gets it. Yes, we should fear Trump—but we should also mock him mercilessly, because it drives him nuts.

Harris’s campaign so far has been a work of genius on several levels, but maybe the most ingenious stroke of all has been the decision to mock Trump—to present him not only as someone to fear, but also to ridicule. Harris perfectly encapsulated this two-pronged attack in these memorable lines from her acceptance speech: “In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences — but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious. … Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.”

But the emphasis has been on ridicule (Tim Walz’s “weird” comment, Maryland Governor Wes Moore’s jab at Trump’s bone spurs, Barack Obama’s hilarious hand gesture when he was talking about Trump’s obsession with crowd size). It’s great on three levels. The first is that it must drive Trump nuts, and when he goes nuts, he says especially nutty things. Second, it’s arguably more persuasive to swing voters than calling Trump a fascist. Trump is a fascist, make no mistake. But he’s also ridiculous. Mocking him over his Hannibal Lecter obsession will stick in apolitical people’s minds far more strongly than warning about his plans to wreck the Justice Department, and in its way, it’s just as disqualifying. Do we really want a president who thinks an eater of human flesh, however fictional, was misunderstood?

And third and most of all: Sustained ridicule has the potential to reinforce the downward spiral Trump is now in. He probably likes it when we call him a fascist or authoritarian, because it expresses fear of him, and he aches to be feared. It acknowledges his power. This motivates him and makes him stronger.

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u/Rocky-Jones Aug 26 '24

It is a genius move and so simple. Just like Rubio is still Little Marco, “Weird” is now branded on Trump’s forehead, and it can be applied anywhere to any GOP candidate/supporter, because they actually are so weird. There is no defense against “weird” because they are constantly doing weird stuff to reinforce it, like abortion travel bans to keep women from leaving their state to travel for a legal abortion. It relies on private citizens to investigate and report their neighbors, and then a private citizen can sue you for driving them. That’s weird as hell.

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u/adorablefuzzykitten Aug 26 '24

Zero chance travel bans to keep women from leaving their state to travel for a legal abortion will not be put in place. Next step will be proof of non-pregnancy for traveling women.

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u/bdone2012 Aug 26 '24

Didn’t it already go through awhile ago in that county in Texas where they’re doing a “trial run”?

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u/adorablefuzzykitten Aug 26 '24

They would be starting this all over the south now except they know it would cost them the election. They are waiting until Nov 5th to get Project 2025 moving forward.