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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDemocrats have the perfect Trump slayer: Al Franken
Now that the general election matchup is settled, the Democratic Party is starting to coordinate their anti-Trump strategy and messaging. As usual, their product is almost unbelievably lame: "Dangerous Donald." Apparently that is the best slur they can come up with, so if you live in a swing state, get ready to hear that 900 times a day for the next six months.
But in the meantime, somebody else needs to actually come up with some decent Trump put-downs something that at a minimum does not portray him as some sort of cool, leather-jacketed rebel. Elizabeth Warren has been putting together a reasonable first pass, getting in multi-day Twitter fights with Trump by ridiculing his pathetic business record and his extensive history of vile sexism.
However, there is one Democratic senator with the detailed, on the ground expertise this garbage reality show hellscape of an election requires. Someone, indeed, whose entire career has been leading up to this point. That someone is Al Franken, the junior Democratic senator from Minnesota.
The very obvious weakness of Trump when it comes to political trench warfare is that, like most bullies, he can dish it out, but he can't take it. He can utterly humiliate a gutless patrician like Jeb Bush, but it's extremely easy to bait him into undignified bursts of outrage. Alex Pareene managed it back in 2012 with a few paragraphs in Salon.
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http://theweek.com/articles/623946/democrats-have-perfect-trump-slayer-al-franken
oasis
(49,392 posts)Trump would be overmatched.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)with a hugely vulnerable ego and absolutely no sense of humor. Yep. I'd almost feel sorry for The Donald.
However, IMO, encouraging Americans to think "dangerous" whenever "Trump" and "President" are mentioned is exactly what we need to be doing. Highly responsible, and the Republicans aren't going to do it.
Just the thought of The Donald receiving CIA briefings as a nominee gave me a twinge of fright. In the Oval Office this unbalanced bundle of Cluster B traits, surrounded by power-seeking sycophants, would be unbelievably dangerous.
global1
(25,253 posts)onehandle
(51,122 posts)The Democratic side has been obvious since the day she accepted being Obama' Secretary of State.
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)Heck, he even has some of us fooled.
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)But, it fits. And if you're like me and hadn't a clue what it meant, here's the definition...I love to learn new words...also really applies to his closest competitor, Ted Cruz.
Oleaginous | Definition of Oleaginous by Merriam-Webster
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oleaginous
Merriam‑Webster
1 : resembling or having the properties of oil : oily; also : containing or producing oil. 2 : marked by an offensively ingratiating manner or quality. oleaginously ...
or...
oleaginous
adjective UK /ˌəʊ.liˈædʒ.ɪ.nəs/ US /ˌoʊ.liˈædʒ.ə.nəs/ formal
extremely polite, kind, or helpful in a false way that is intended to bring some advantage to yourself
synonym of Sleazy, IMO.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)And his Satire is hilarious,this is going to Popcorn and Refreshments Baby.
MADem
(135,425 posts)MM said let Hillary talk policy, and the two of them will make it Job One to go after Trump!
SunSeeker
(51,574 posts)ChoppinBroccoli
(3,784 posts)I saw a meme on Facebook recently that may or may not have been one of Obama's jokes from the White House Correspondents Dinner (I didn't watch it, so I don't know). It says something to the effect of, "I tried to read Donald Trump's book, but it kept going back to Chapter 11."
I don't think he did an adequate job of answering those attacks (regarding his multiple bankruptcies) during the first Republican debates, and he really seemed uncomfortable answering them. He kept repeating the same line over and over like a mantra, "I took advantage of the laws that were in place at the time; I didn't do anything wrong." But there are multiple ways to box him in if this is how he intends to respond going forward. First of all, as was pointed out during the debates, his bankruptcies cost average Americans millions and possibly billions of dollars (all the contractors that got screwed out of money they were owed, all the companies providing goods and services that got stiffed, etc.), caused small businesses to take severe hits, and in some cases, even go under, etc. Second, you can counter-punch him with any number of his own policies. If he wants to attack people on welfare as being "lazy" or whatever, you just reply, "Well, they're just taking advantage of the laws in place at the time; they're doing nothing wrong." If he wants to attack women who have abortions, you just reply, "They're taking advantage of the laws in place at the time; they're doing nothing wrong." You see how wide-reaching this could be.
Once we have a nominee in place, I would enlist Al Franken at once to write as much anti-Drumpf material as he can muster. This is a great idea.
BlueMTexpat
(15,370 posts)HarmonyRockets
(397 posts)The article is about him holding a conference? I say make him her running mate.