Tuesday, September 6, 2022

How Republican Challengers Could Attack Trump

 

James Foley, in an interesting article in Politico, describes what Republican mini-Trumps might do to defeat the Malignant Loser and keep him from the 2024 nomination: 

"In politics as in war, the aim should be to attack the adversary’s center of gravity, which in Trump’s case is the mythology upon which his popularity and aura of invincibility with the Republican electorate is based. And no Trump myth is more important to demolish than his claim to have won the 2020 election. [snip]

The myth thus makes 2024 more a restoration than a reelection, essentially rendering illegitimate the candidacy of any Republican other than Trump. On the other hand, shattering the myth exposes Trump’s most glaring weakness — the utterly damning fact that he lost the 2020 election and is destined to carry the party to defeat once again.

Trump’s would-be rivals should brutally call him out for what he is (and what Trump hates most): a loser. A failure who put Joe Biden in the White House. A defeated president who, like Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, should be unthinkable as his party’s standard-bearer for a third time in a row."  (our emphasis)

Another line of attack would point up his foreign policy blunders, including kowtowing to the likes of Russian thug and war criminal Vladimir Putin and North Korean psychopath Kim Jong-Un. Foley continues:

"In order to beat Trump, potential candidates must also be prepared to puncture a second big myth that is central to his reputation, namely that he was a formidable and effective leader on the international stage. The reality is that he frequently blundered in foreign affairs, as his first secretary of State so memorably noted.  [snip]

There are few things easier to ridicule than a pretend tough guy whose toughness consists almost entirely of bragging and bluster. Donald Trump is uniquely vulnerable in this regard. He was not tough on Russia, or the Taliban, or North Korea. He was not even tough when it mattered on Iran, allowing the mullahs to resume and accelerate their march to a nuclear arsenal without facing military retribution from the United States. For a Republican candidate willing to attack the flagrant weaknesses in Trump’s foreign policy record and to explode the myth of his toughness, there is no shortage of damning material." (our emphasis)

The whole article is well reasoned and a good read, not that any Republican would-be Presidential candidate would take the advice offered. They're terrified of the brainwashed Trump cult that dominates their corrupt party, and that's more than enough to freeze them in their tracks.

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