Finally, the Democrats have found Trump’s Achilles heel: ridicule him
Kamala Harris gets it. Yes, we should fear Trump—but we should also mock him mercilessly, because it drives him nuts.
Donald Trump is in free-fall. Read this description from Sunday’s Washington Post of how the GOP nominee spent last week: “[A]ides did not want a situation where he was watching the convention every night, getting angry, and then just golfing all day and stewing, according to people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private interactions. Trump also had grown annoyed with the news coverage that depicted him as not working as hard as his opponent, one person who talked to him said.”
If you didn’t know that the article was about Trump and you just read it cold without knowledge of the context, you might think it was a description of parents trying to figure out how to handle an ungovernable four-year-old. So they convinced Trump to get out of Bedminster and hit the road, trading suck-ups with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In the past, Trump has called Kennedy the “dumbest member” of the Kennedy family and a “radical left lunatic.” Kennedy has calledTrump a “terrible human being” and “probably a sociopath.”
It took them 8 years to realize what Thomas Jefferson found out in 1816
"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions."
Bullies don't like when you hit back because they base their power on the fact that they think you're going to play by the rules while they're free to break them. You so much as look like youre bending a rule and they'll cry foul. Look at how Trump responded to Biden dropping out.
I've never heard that quote before, but I love it.
Extra funny because Jefferson had plenty of unintelligible propositions himself, for which he was ridiculed while he was alive
Like what?
(Not arguing, I just really need a refresher in colonial + early American history)
Like how you can own people if "all men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Men and only men.
I think it makes more sense if you were mentally fucked up like they were. All men are equal, aka whoever they considered civilized races were aesthetically thought of as equal. Everyone deserves to be happy and to thrive, but of course lesser beastlike races can only do that under the yoke of their superiors.
What a shitty "defense" though right? "He's not a hypocrite, he's just monstrously delusional by our standards."
He also thought black people were incapable of being educated. Fairly late in life, he met a black person who actually had the opportunity to be educated, took it, and was every bit the equal to any educated white person. Jefferson took him as an exception to the rule.
Wasn’t he also fucking all of his slave girls? Or am I thinking of someone else?
Well, he raped at least one.
And it is important to establish that it is rape; a slave has no right to refuse consent.
I don't know about all.
I do know of one, though, that he had children with, and didn't free after he died. A lot of people know this.
What a lot of people don't know, is that she was his wife's half sister. She was the off spring of his wife's father raping a slave. When the half sister was born, she was given to her half sister as property because of the mother that gave birth to her.
Slavery is always monstrous, but it was made even worse by the monsters in human flesh that practiced it in the south.
Remember this story when you have some southern fuck wit try and romanticize that time period.
I have taken to using my a quote of my own with people recently, on both sides in different situations. Quote: "Those who neither ascribe to nor participate in the social contract of tolerance are not afforded the protection it brings."
I say it to the right when they complain about me calling them out on their BS or making it known that they are generally shit human beings.
I say it to the left when they try to call me out for saying that literal Nazis holding signs on the side of the road should have beverages thrown at them by passing cars at the tamest. I would prefer throwing much heavier objects, but the law protects them. The Law, not the social contract of tolerance. Within the confines of the law, people like that should not be tolerated and should be informed with as much force as possible.
Arguing with someone, within the confines of the marketplace of ideas, about how the marketplace of ideas should be abolished, is a fools errand
If they refuse to even agree to the basic social ground rules of discourse whatever they have to say isn't even worth entertaining
Bullies also only punch down. If they find out they're not punching as far down as they thought they leave
Doesn’t that also implying the 0 tolerance policy in schools for bullying would only help the bully? Cause I do agree
I believe the zero tolerance rules do help bullies, they're the ones who've made a habit of playing jussst outside the rules but with enough deniability that they can feign ignorance. Zero tolerance is great at catching people who don't make a habit of breaking rules though. Teachers always seem to notice when the quiet one does something, but a bully being a bully is just another day for them. Been a long time since I was in school though so grains of salt and what not.
Well no shit, Sherlocks. Ever heard of "bully the bully"? Glad they're finally catching on. Took too long.
Trump had a known decades long overreaction to some reporter calling him a short fingered vulgarian when he ran in 2016.
Congrats on the Dems for finally using that to their advantage I guess.
When they eventually hit on what his father used to call him, hoo boy
Decades long? 2016 was approximately 0.8 decades ago
The grudge had existed for decades in 2016. It didn't start then.
> decades> 2016I am not sure that 8 years qualifies as decadesIn an article from 2016 that makes the age clearer:
The short fingered vulgarian quote is now almost 40 years old.
Oh, well maybe I got lost in the grammar.
Would have made it clearer.
Spy magazine used to have an annual "Top Ten Worst People, Places or Things" feature in the late '80s and early '90s and Trump always made the list. Year after year, his only mitigating factor was "at least he's not in politics". One year Trump also offered to pay for the funeral of a child killed by a bear - which promise he almost certainly reneged on.
Bully the bully requires unity among their victims though, and if there's one thing bullies do well, it's sow discord.
I mean, back in my country, I used to beat the shit out of the fuckers and they straighten up after that. Doesn't work that way in the USA unfortunately. Lol
If you're talking at the schoolyard level, it definitely works in the US.
I don't even know what that means honestly. I didn't go to school in the US.
I'm saying that the tactic you described works against bullies in the US, if we are talking about bullies at the schoolyard level.
Not sure what was unclear about my response?
I see, I was confused with the "schoolyard" term. Sorry, English is my second language. So, you mean it's in US schools, too?
Ah now I feel bad lol. No worries.
Yeah that's basically what I meant.
There are bullies at all levels of society, and unfortunately, the US allows many of them to not only get away with it, but it's often encouraged.
the effective responses for bullies are either ignore or bully back
“The news is saying I don’t work as hard as my opponent. You know what I’ll go do? Golf some. That will show them how hard I work.”
Every time i have a dumb idea i just have to remember there is always a bigger idiot in the world. That always makes me feel better.
Trump has been ridiculed the whole time. The only people who treat him as a serious candidate are his supporters and the media. That was true in 2015, that's true today.
That is not the impression I got as someone not from the US. I mostly saw scared and angry from democrats, and scared, angry or reverence from the news media. And that seems to be what he thrives on.
Ridicule came from stuff like the tv comedians and internet sources like YouTube.. but these are easy enough to ignore.
Now that the ridicule is coming from the actual establishment, it cannot be ignored.
I find it very cool that the vile hatred, fearmongering and general dispicable behavior can be countered with joy, ridicule and a general cheerful demeanor.
Just the other day one of the GOP ghouls came out and actually said there is no joy.. ROFL.. they're melting..
Now dial it up to 11 dems.
Yeah, while there was mockery it didn't come from 'official' sources. They called him serious names and didn't ridicule him. They made it clear he was dangerous, but they also gave him respect like a serious candidate, contender, opponent, rival.
It probably would have worked from the beginning to just laugh at him, IF it was coming from the actual political establishment. If Clinton had essentially based her entire campaign around 'hahah...oh wait you're serious? Let me laugh harder.' there's a good chance he would've crashed and burned before ever getting off the ground, I think.
You're right. He has been mocked the whole time, and mockery isn't the determining factor.
He has simply played out his power arc. The same mockery that didn't land before now lands, because he's on the downside.
Populism depends on emotional support from the people, but if you don't have a framework that actually meets the peoples' needs (or is effective at controlling them) you just rise as the restless populace tries you, then fall as they toss you aside.
But having Obama bringing in the size of it's dick is somewhat of a new situation.
It hilarious and I am sure this does hurt little Donny deep into his heart.
You assume he has one to be hurt.
Toxic masculinity always hates being laughed at. It’s that Margaret Atwood quote all over again. Too applicable when you consider complete abortion bans and project 2025.
Christ. He’s so obviously bald up top, what a fucking ridiculous combover.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ivanka-reveals-the-truth-about-trumps-hairand-mocks-it-too
I’m gonna choose to believe that was a misattributed source. Description of the hair? Not an expert but doesn’t sound wrong. Her daughter frequently describing the hair? Uhhhh
"Bury her body on my golf course and let the grave become overgrown."
It actually looks more normal of late. Still obviously fake but not in such an absurd style as it used to be.
I thought we figured this out way back when he was losing his mind over the "small hands" thing.
The establishment wanted to take the high road even though budget cuts meant the foundation hasn't been repaired since Reagan.
Yup. He's an old bully and absolutely cannot stand being made fun of. Watch his face when Obama and Seth made fun of this snowflake of a man.
This is not his Achilles heel. His Achilles heel is doubt. Populism depends on belief, and is inherently unstable. He started doubting. His people stated doubting. He is now going down, and the ridicule he always dishes out now also lands for him.
The mockery of him has been constant from day one.
Very good point. #TrumpIsACoward was trending on his "Truth Social" at the start of this month-- I'm assuming they've all been vocal "yes men" up to this point. I can see it rattling him and causing doubt.
That and the sinking sensation he no doubt got after the "JD Vance was a mistake" articles.
Wait, you're telling me that the man that constantly calls people names and ridiculed his Republican presidential opponents can't take the heat?
They are just now learning this
Dems are just now learning to be mean like their opponents have been for decades
This is a thing that's been known for literal decades. Obama knew about it. Biden as well. They just chose not to sink to that level and punch back. Instead of using him like Neville Chamberlain and treating him like an actual legislator. Which was a huge mistake. Only giving people the impression that Obama and Biden were largely out of touch and aloof. All anyone has to do is go ask the person who coined the term shortened fingered Bulgarian how easy it is to completely rattle Trump and get in his head for decades.
I hear if you splash water on him he melts.
But he's orange, not green.
Yeah, but it's just paint.
So throw "The Dip" from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" at him.
He doesn't have enough of a sense of humour to be a toon.
but he's salty
Non-idiots have been literally saying this for 13 years.
*30+
I mean, we already knew the entire reason he ran in the first place was because Obama made a joke about him publicly at a political dinner.
I've been saying this for years. Trump is a LOSER, both literally and figuratively. His businesses hemorage money, he has lost in two presidential elections so far and in the one he won, he lost the popular vote, which is practically unheard of for a Republican nominee. He wears lifts in his shoes to fix his weird posture that he got from a life of physical inactivity, he sprays himself in orange to look like some bizarre version of tan to cover up his hideous pasty skin. His hair has always been bizarre. He is a born loser, who only "succeeded" because he was literally born rich and has skated on his daddy's money ever since.
Call him what he is: a sad, ugly, weird little loser who people only tolerate in hopes they might pick up a few hundred dollar bills after he's done wiping his ass with them.
In the modern era the gop usually loses the popular vote. GW won it in 04 bc of the war and that's the only one since his daddy ended his term.
Before that I think the popular vote pretty much always lined up w the electoral college for both parties.
and every reasonable, somewhat aware person has known these things since the 80s or 90s. Prior to 2016, the idea of Trump being president would've made anyone who has read a newspaper or magazine laugh their ass off.
I could have told them that 10 damn years ago. Clearly these politicians were never bullied as kids.
Right? The guy is one of the most predictable people on earth because his entire being is a sucking hole of narcissism.
How is the DNC this slow and clueless?
You're telling me that we could have been rid of him years ago if these dummies had just been parroting all of us making fun of him on social media?
How are these giant conventions with billions and billions behind them so dumb?
Because they assumed that the moral high ground would net them more voters than joining in the mud-slinging. "They go low, we go high" is a quite noble sentiment that should appeal to decent people to vote for them, if for no other reason than to keep the rude man-child out of office. They hoped that even the apathetic non-voters would be moved to cast a vote against the Temper-Tantrump.
It didn't work, as we know now, but I can't fault them for remembering the times when class and dignity mattered and hoping to extend those times.
Harris' team seems to have learned that lesson. Here's to hoping this actually works better.
Because the establishment ones are old as fuck and refuse to learn. Judging from the recent dnc, they're letting young and progressive faces do some work which is fantastic. Maybe they learned, maybe Pelosi wants to focus on insider trading. Either way 🤷
Or so many of them died they can't influence policy anymore.
I doubt it, but feinstein kicking the bucket did lower the average age in congress by about 100 years so there's that.
Because their plan at the time was to allow (or assist) him to be propped up under the belief Clinton would then be a shoo-in. Which is a completely moronic strategy because if you lose you're absolutely fucked.
They probably never want to actually keep him from being a candidate because it means their candidates just need to meet the barest of minimums to be viable.
Trump doesn't know how to handle people laughing at him because he's never had anyone laugh with him.
I feel like there's an old school, ancient parable about laughing at the monster to make it go away that I'm trying to remember
It was something on the Vikings' radar. They often used to settle differences with a slagging match. I think they also had guys who would mock the enemy prior to battle to affect morale.
The Vikings invented rap battles?
Yep, look up "Flyting"
This, perhaps?
Maybe it's hindsight being 20/20 but, it seems so obvious ridicule would hurt a narcissist
Crybaby bitch.
Um. Millinneals and zoomers figured this out the first time around, but they were too busy vote shaming us and squawking about emails to listen.
You’re right! And also some of us gen xers did too, & never voted republican. & lots of boomers never turned their backs on their morals either. We didn’t get houses or careers or generational wealth..
It’s just really easy to pretend old people who aren’t rich don’t exist 🤷♂️But we sure fuckin vote . It’s the only power we have
& yeah we’ve been mocking this poopy pants Richie rich the whole time
Seth Meyers and Obama scorched him long before all that. And even way back, SPY magazine was triggering him. That magazine was probably run by boomers.
"Theatricality and deception are powerful agents to the uninitiated... but we are initiated, aren't we Don?"
"Stop calling me that!"
"When they go low, we go high! Ah, that brilliant political strategy that worked so well for the Democrats in 2016!" - Ronny Chieng
They don't even have to ridicule him. All they have to do is take every single thing he has ever boasted about and one-up him. That's it. Get someone better at golf that Trump to play Mar-A-Lago and beat Trumps score. Get that person speaking at Harris's rallies and talk shit about the course and how they got the best score ever recorded there. Never even mention Trump by name but rest assured he'll hear about it and freak out.
It would be nice if it didn't take all this time to go on the offensive lol. Dems always let the GOP position themselves as rational no matter what.
We should be paying far more attention to picking candidates who are able to attack and defend themselves. We focus on their history and what they say about what they're going to do which of course never actually happens not holy their own fault though. We need to pick our candidates more like picking lawyers.
That was no secret. He is acutely insecure and copes by keeping himself wrapped in a shell of mental gymnastics and denial about all of his shortcomings and inadequacies as a political leader and a grown adult instead of working at correcting them. Insecure people hate to have their insecurities exposed and mocked.
don't forget to ridicule 3rd party voting too
Sure thing. Fuck you, Bull-Moose party!
Know Nothing? No shit!
but we've been doing that since 2016
Why are they a month late? I feel like it has been a thousand years since we learned that calling the chuds "weird" was the magic bullet.
As if it wasn’t the natural response
We've known this all along, but these are Democrats we're talking about, so they have to try all the overcomplicated ineffective shit first.
Mockery is a bad thing except maybe against actual totalitarian dictators (but then maybe their danger should be shown honestly, not mocked). Mocking people overrides rational arguments.
Also they mock whole nations when those are under threat. A lot of Nazi propaganda was mockery. A lot of Azeri propaganda is mockery of Armenians (when it's Azeri-bought Russian and Ukrainian media, direct Azeri propaganda is more about threats and gloating than mockery).
A two-edged sword. In a situation where Trump can't win an election, maybe they shouldn't use such poisonous means.
Nah. Democrats' "mockery" are but gentle ribbing compared to the cuntish shit Trump spews daily.
Trump's output is just sewage, which makes it less harmful than something which is interpreted and repeated by rather intelligent people.
Let's please remember that the Republican party was responsible for a pole of actually valid ideologies (something like "RFK minus mental impairment"), the worst effect they have is that those ideologies are not represented by anyone practically electable. What they replace them with is the second worst effect.
Mockery by its essence may very easily spill at those ideas.
Discourse in politics should be respectful. Even if it's not that now. That's not touching upon the possibility of degrading into a single-party system, seeing how GOP is sinking.
We tried that, and it is failing. We need to point out how incompetent and disgusting the GOP has become.
What's failing? Polls tell us otherwise.
And by the way, maybe they are competent. Maybe they are just fine with Dems winning the election.
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They still haven't figured it out, ridicule still keeps his name in the news which feeds his ego. The best way to fight narcissists is to STOP talking about them. But to Democrats he's a boogeyman gold mine that helps keep the duopoly in power.
Doesn't work. What narcissists actually do when you ignore them is make sure to insert themselves into more situations until you can't ignore them.
I disagree. There is no ignoring Trump between now and the election. If the Dems stop now, then the only messaging out there will be GOP messaging which can put a spin on his hissy fits and work to salve his ego.
He's a weirdo and we shouldn't let anyone forget it (until it's time to forget him).
The US news runs on clicks. His name gets clicks. So it's gonna be in the news. Best Dems use that to ridicule.
That only works if you can get everyone to stop talking about them. Unfortunately, he has a large enough cult that someone will always be talking about him positively, so the only reasonable counter is to flood the conversation with mockery. Against a more well balanced candidate that would just rankle, but it's really got under his skin, and under the skin of those who support him, so it's proving to be a worthwhile tactic.