In the Washington Post Philippe Reines offers advice for beating Trump in 2020, assuming he seeks re-election:
- Go high when you can. But when he goes low, take advantage of the kneeling to knock his block off.
- Don’t apologize. Ever. Not over money you took from Harvey Weinstein. Not even for attacking the pope. In fact, proactively attack the pope. Your kid is a shoplifter? You’re proud of them for exposing inadequate security.
- A lot of industries are going to want to hedge their bets. Don’t declare you won’t take money from lobbyists. Take cigarette money. Counterfeit your own.
- Swing at every pitch. Trump never says, “I’m not dignifying that with an answer.†He has no dignity. He leaves no attack unanswered. I spent 15 years recommending ignoring stupidity. “It has no legs. Don’t give it oxygen. There’s no pickup.†I was wrong.
- Do it yourself. Every time. On camera. Online. Surrogates are no match.
- Don’t cede Fox News.
- Boast. Gloat. About your accomplishments. Your biceps. Your everything. You didn’t co-sponsor; you got it done on your inevitable path to Mount Rushmore.
There are more at the link. I think most of them are terrible advice and one should keep in mind that Mr. Reines was an advisor to Hillary Clinton and Al Gore.
I don’t know whether beating Donald Trump’s re-election in 2020 will be easy, difficult, or impossible. I only have two pieces of advice:
- Don’t run a septuagenarian (or older).
- Don’t run against a majority of the American people and an even larger majority of the electorate.
One of the great problems with Mr. Reines’s advice is that it’s predicated on the belief that the situations of Democrats and Republicans, of Trump and whoever might oppose him are symmetrical. They aren’t.
The stupid, it burns. This guy, like Clinton herself, still doesn’t get it.
Good advice Dave. Maybe broaden that second point to also say, don’t insult voters, even the ones you don’t think will vote for you.
I kind of think that (hope that) support fro trump is unique in that his supporters have total faith in him and completely disregard any bad behavior on his part or his family’s. Would hate to see the Democratic candidate also participating in the stupid name calling Trump loves so much, or the outright lying. Spinning I expect. Bald faced lying? Gotta go. Might also be nice if ignorance wasn’t seen as a virtue.
Steve
The Democrats can’t win by trying to out-Trump Trump. That should be as obvious as the sun rising in the east. The Democrats need coherent policies that appeal to a broad coalition – not the smattering of narrow interests driven by the donor class and politically-motivated progressives that have defined them recently.
even when you think you’re in a private setting. There is no longer any such thing as privacy, at least not in the context of politics.
They should also place the transgender stuff about number 20 on their priority list.
Steve
When gay people won the right to legally marry, the left lost an issue. Hence, transgender became the new gay.
I mean how broad can you get? Their policy proposals appeal to progressives in New York, San Francisco, and Portland as well as the faculties of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.
There’s only one Trump, don’t try to imitate him to win. Look at his base. Working class. Denigrated by Clinton. Want to win? Why? Why do you want a Democrat president representing only the coasts and the Beltway, do you long for Camelot? Wasn’t eight years of Barrack and Michelle dreamy?
You can win the presidency, but not if it’s that kind of candidate. If I had to pick a candidate from the possible Dem. field, I’d be thinking of Sherrod Brown.
But then, he’s not dreamy, or a first, first anything. He just actually cares.