General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow we MUST begin talking about Trump...a frustrated call to arms
Trump is evil incarnate. He has no center, no morals, no core beliefs. He cares not a whit for anyone not named Donald J. or Ivanka Trump (including his sons, other daughter, wives and pretty much every other life form on this planet).
He must be beaten over the head with a brutal and honest reflection of what he is...a raging narcissistic boil on the ass of humanity.
When Trump lies, it is not enough to say "President Trump says x,y,z." and leave it at that...when he lies, the proper response is "President Trump again lied in his response. This marks the x,xxxth lie of his administration and the y,yyyth lie of this current month. The number of lies from this President are following the chart you see on screen now, and this hews closely to the number of days until the election."
Literally nothing the man says in his pep rallies is true, nothing of any substance anyway.
You don't beat the bully by avoiding conflict. You beat the bully by standing your ground, taking their best shot and then dropping them with a counter-punch. Trump fancies himself a "great counter-puncher" when the reality is people he attacks - from the GOP primary field, to the current mess of Congress, to the press and more - ALL cower and allow him to suck the oxygen out of the discourse.
He lies. These are not factual inaccuracies or confusion...they are flat out lies. When he barks at the press in his rallies as "enemies of the people" and does his little hand (literally AND figuratively) gesture towards the press pool, they should en masse flip him the bird and refuse to ask ANY further questions until Trump truthfully answers JUST ONE QUESTION without bloviating about himself and lying in his initial response.
Our press is weak and mealy-mouthed and unworthy of the mantle of Murrow, Cronkite, and the giants of the 20th century. We need to replace 90% of them as they are nothing more than physically attractive empty suits and skirts. They lack the fiber to stand up to a classic bully and cultish liar. Our Democratic candidates must also be trained in the art of how to talk about Trump...disparaging him and being outraged is not enough. Wrapping him in his own lies over and over and over again is a better start, but he needs to be hit back on hard and the party is not rising to this challenge as a whole.
We need an immediate bulldog - someone articulate, popular and unlikely to attempt a 2020 run. We need a lightning rod to get under Trump's skin and to shake him and keep him swinging at pitches in the dirt. We need someone to clear the air and allow our message and our eventual candidate to get clear of the gaslighting and bullshit vapors that emanate from Trump's fetid swamp of an administration.
I would LOVE to see Joe Kennedy III adopt this role. He has the pedigree, the story of his own work to help others, and the chops to be the stone in Trump's shoe. He is unlikely to run for President (though if he did, he would have my life dedicated to drumming up votes for him). He is an icon by birth, but a real person as well. He is the one that could take down Trump as a campaign surrogate unlike any other...
We are losing time by the second when we do not have a clear front-runner for the 2020 race...Trump has already been running for 2 years and won't stop for the next 2....it is literally the only thing he does that gains him any support (even if it is contrived and paid for). We need to counter that and we need a voice to carry the party message with impunity in the process....but we damn well better get started or this is going to be the end of the road.
Alsteen
(67 posts)Beto/Kennedy in 2020! Let's get some spine folks....
Moostache
(9,895 posts)I love both of them for larger roles in the future party leadership for sure!
world wide wally
(21,719 posts)calimary
(80,700 posts)That's not a bad ticket!
spanone
(135,637 posts)lostnfound
(16,139 posts)For doing their jobs. They get hate mail, threats, occasional shooters, salary cuts, layoffs, and constant attacks from the rightwing, left wing and now the president and ha,f of his political party.
The press deserves some appreciation for what is, for many, a calling.
Moostache
(9,895 posts)I agree that all press does not deserve to be tarred and feathered, but the ones that ignore substance, report on only flashy horse-race style polls and try to subvert the vote by a kind of demoralization of the electorate so that races stay close and they can sell more ad time and run more lazy puff pieces? Those folks deserve criticism as much as anyone in or out of the party.
There are elements of the daytime "news" press across networks and cable that feel they must constantly cover things that are unworthy of the time they give them and they should be called to task on that...when the election coverage centers SOLELY on the %'s up or down someone is and never mentions the substance of the difference between Candidate D or Candidate R, that is a problem.
Investigative journalism in the 1970s versus the 2010s...who do you think was better and truer to the calling of the journalist as fourth estate? To me, its not looking good in the aggregate for the modern cause....
jmbar2
(4,832 posts)Go for the enablers that are destroying democracy - GOP. No one believes him or takes him seriously anymore.
calimary
(80,700 posts)projected, back in the 60s. And he seems to be in agreement with that, judging from his efforts so far.
Must say I DO also like Michael Avenatti - as the exact "immediate bulldog" you described, although I'm not sure about his running for office. But MAN is he an attack dog - the kind I yearn for!
"When they go low..."
...WE kick 'em right in the teeth!"
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)we can sure use him as an intelligent person willing to match Trump's loudmouth, unintelligent gibberish. I hope he stays ... his rally was cancelled in Texas. That was a bit "over his skis" as he likes to say. But there's no one else that I can see. All the other Democrats are what Democrats usually are...intelligent, speak respectfully, make sense...etc. But this is a new breed of a race and we need players who can...as Avenatti says...get down and dirty with him.
calimary
(80,700 posts)Michael Avenatti is a weapon we can use. And we should! Guys like him dont come our way very often.
windje
(70 posts)meow2u3
(24,746 posts)He waits until someone he uses can hold his target down before he takes shots at them--then punches from behind!
He picks someone half his size to boot!
ffr
(22,649 posts)Or should I say, voted. Past tense.