Democrats slap Trump with a nickname: Dangerous Donald.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) May 5, 2016
That name is popping up over and over in conversations with top Dem operatives.
It’s Trump versus Clinton. It’s a well-funded mainstream Democrat against a widely reviled demagogue who will struggle to earn the support of his party’s donor base. It’s a man whose every public utterance is a potential negative ad waiting to be cut, versus the most cautious candidate in modern memory. The Clinton campaign has been given a tremendous gift, as I am sure they know.
They better not fucking blow it.
I haven’t given up on Bernie Sanders yet, though I’m a realist who can recognize what the future likely holds for Democrats. Math being what it is, it seems unlikely that my candidate will prevail, meaning that Hillary Clinton will before much longer be the presumptive Democratic nominee for President. (The Associated Press last night projected that Clinton has the delegates to clinch the nomination, so, math being what it is, “presumptive” may have been arrived at a tad earlier than expected.) As much as that prospect underwhelms me, I’m even more distressed that America will be faced with a “lesser of two evils” choice come November.
Assuming that Sen. Clinton will defeat Donald Trump- the GOP nominee and preferred choice of racists, nativists, White Power activists, misogynists, homophobes, sexists, and haters everywhere- is an exercise in mass self-delusion. In a perfect world, the American Sheeple would be uniformly repulsed by Trump, a vile, objectionable ambulatory meat sack and short-fingered vulgarian…and #NEVERTRUMP would become a movement, not just a hashtag. In our burgeoning idiocracy, sadly, there are plenty of (White, angry, poorly educated, ill-informed, racist) sheeple ready, willing, and able to ignore Trump’s vulgarity, dishonesty, amorality, and lack of integrity.
Yes, Virginia; Democrats could still blow this opportunity. As the late Will Rogers once said, “I don’t belong to an organized political party. I’m a Democrat.” It’s that disorganization and lack or resolve that, if not overcome, could very well lead to Hillary Clinton’s defeat.
Just in: Statement from Clinton chairman @johnpodesta: "@realDonaldTrump is simply too big of a risk." pic.twitter.com/mnUyyNoIPL
— Gabriel Debenedetti (@gdebenedetti) May 4, 2016
By focusing on Trump, Democrats will only feed into Trump’s strategy. Trump feeds on attention- good or bad, the only thing worse is being ignored- and the more Democrats denounce him, the stronger he becomes. While we can certainly hope that Trump’s ineptitude, odiousness, dishonesty, and lack of integrity will ultimately be his undoing, events thus far make that seem an unreliable strategy.
Donald Trump’s campaign will be negative, nasty, and focused on the destruction of Hillary Clinton. There will be enough negativity and recrimination without Democrats reciprocating. Bullies can only win when the targets of their ire play along. Ignore them, and you starve them of the oxygen needed to maintain their aggressive mean-spiritedness. That is how Donald Trump can be defeated.
My fear is that Democrats will attempt to demonize Trump and that it will backfire…because Democrats frankly suck at playing hardball Republican style. If Niccolo Machiavelli walked the Earth today, he’d be the reincarnation of Lee Atwater and he’d be doing to Democrats what Republicans learned from him. Democrats don’t do nasty and ugly with any degree of alacrity…and attempting to play the game at Trump’s level can only lead to disaster.
Hillary Clinton has a lot of powerful, positive ideas to offer. THAT truth should be the focus of her strategy, especially since millennials- at least so far- aren’t buying into the politics of racial resentment and recrimination. This campaign has already played out on Trump’s terms for far too long, and I fear it may well lead to violence and bloodshed…as well as Trump placing his right hand on John Roberts’ Bible next January 20th. Sec. Clinton has it within her power to turn the focus of the campaign onto positive ideas and solutions, and she should commit to doing exactly that.
Bullies can only be stopped when you decide not to play their game by their rules. Change the game, and you’ll be left with a frustrated bully grasping at air in the hope someone will pay attention to him.
Or Democrats could decide to wallow in the mud…and screw things up- a highly plausible if decidedly distressing prospect. Remember, this is the party that couldn’t pass their agenda when they controlled both houses of Congress AND the White House. Yes, Democrats could absolutely find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Memo to the Democratic Party: Please, Do. Not. #@%$. This. Up. That is all.
