"The best defense is a good offense."
Military adage
Joe Biden has a gaffe problem. Luckily for Democrats, so does Trump.
"Yoh-Semite"
It is no secret that Joe Biden makes verbal stumbles. Trump and his media allies point to them, smirk, and call them evidence of Biden's senility. Trump has settled on an approach to disqualify Biden: describe him as a demented old fool, the puppet of younger radical leftists, who would be helpless to stop a socialist dystopia beset by enemies at home and abroad. Biden's verbal stumbles are the best evidence for the line of attack.
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Biden has a defense: a good offense.
Trump's struggles with reading prepared speeches. He made an amusing and surprising gaffe midweek in a speech about national parks. He cited the Grand Canyon, Old Faithful, and then he got to a word he struggled with, Yosemite. He hesitated, then called it: "Yoh-Semite."
Watch the short clip.
I wish to make two points. The first is the moment of "Wow, that's odd. Surely Trump has heard the word Yosemite ten thousand times. Strange mistake."
The second is the source of the clip here. Note that is the content of a DNC War Room tweet, one of the ways the gaffe circulated right after hit was made.The Biden team understands that Biden's best defense against the gaffe/senile charge is not the one that this blog made the day before yesterday, that Biden has a stutter. That is the minimize-and-explain defense. It may work in normal human interactions, and I believe it to be useful context for people reading this blog, but it does not work in political messaging and advocacy.
Trump has shown us that in today's media and political environment, what works is war. Don't explain. Don't look to third parties to referee. When hit, hit back. Indeed, it is not war in any formal, stylized way, as in a court of law or a debate where marshaling facts matter, or even in a clash of armies in which position and logistics matter.
It is simpler than that. Trump has taught us that politics is war the way it is fought in middle school schoolyards.
Boy One:"You're senile."
Boy Two: "So are you! You are ten times more senile than me."
Boy One: "You said 'dog face pony soldier.' You're so stupid.
Boy Two: "You said 'Yoh-Semite.' You don't even know Yosemite. I'm rubber, your're glue. You are more stupid."
Some readers will think this an exaggeration and trivialization of a great Republic choosing its national leader, but it is close to dead earnest. Watch Fox News. Listen to Trump. Watch late night comedy.
This clip from the Daily Show in effect shows both sides of the schoolyard fight because it mocks the tactic of Fox News in their furrowed-brow criticism of Biden's presumed incapacity by interposing it with Trump's own verbal miscues, starting with "Yoh-Semite."
It is an example of "So are you!" Late night comedy is one of Biden's media allies.
In politics, minimization and contextualizing validates the accusation, therefore backfiring. It frames the debate as "just how demented is Joe Biden?" and that question itself means that Trump has won the schoolyard fight. Trump has demonstrated that distraction, subject-changing, and accusation is a better tactic. Apparently the media and voters have no interest or attention span for careful consideration of nuance or degrees of something. Partisans have their minds made up.
Biden's best defense of his own mental competence is to demonstrate that he can throw a punch right back. If Biden can defend himself, then that very fact alone demonstrates Biden's mental fitness for office. Don't defend; attack. Make Trump the subject. Look at Trump and his Yoh-Semite. And that raises a much better question from Biden's point of view: "Just how demented is Donald Trump?"
Biden's team is hitting back: Gaffes? What about you, Mr. 'Yoh-Semite." And physical fitness? Let's do some push-up right now, me against you.
Trump has shown us that in today's media and political environment, what works is war. Don't explain. Don't look to third parties to referee. When hit, hit back. Indeed, it is not war in any formal, stylized way, as in a court of law or a debate where marshaling facts matter, or even in a clash of armies in which position and logistics matter.
It is simpler than that. Trump has taught us that politics is war the way it is fought in middle school schoolyards.
Boy One:"You're senile."
Boy Two: "So are you! You are ten times more senile than me."
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| Click: funny |
Boy Two: "You said 'Yoh-Semite.' You don't even know Yosemite. I'm rubber, your're glue. You are more stupid."
Some readers will think this an exaggeration and trivialization of a great Republic choosing its national leader, but it is close to dead earnest. Watch Fox News. Listen to Trump. Watch late night comedy.
This clip from the Daily Show in effect shows both sides of the schoolyard fight because it mocks the tactic of Fox News in their furrowed-brow criticism of Biden's presumed incapacity by interposing it with Trump's own verbal miscues, starting with "Yoh-Semite."
It is an example of "So are you!" Late night comedy is one of Biden's media allies.
In politics, minimization and contextualizing validates the accusation, therefore backfiring. It frames the debate as "just how demented is Joe Biden?" and that question itself means that Trump has won the schoolyard fight. Trump has demonstrated that distraction, subject-changing, and accusation is a better tactic. Apparently the media and voters have no interest or attention span for careful consideration of nuance or degrees of something. Partisans have their minds made up.
Biden's best defense of his own mental competence is to demonstrate that he can throw a punch right back. If Biden can defend himself, then that very fact alone demonstrates Biden's mental fitness for office. Don't defend; attack. Make Trump the subject. Look at Trump and his Yoh-Semite. And that raises a much better question from Biden's point of view: "Just how demented is Donald Trump?"
Biden's team is hitting back: Gaffes? What about you, Mr. 'Yoh-Semite." And physical fitness? Let's do some push-up right now, me against you.
5 comments:
That we are debating presidential mental competence only illustrates the lunacy of the times. Vote for the candidate who exhibits less dementia. Oh, and by the way, if you have any reservations Kanye West will be on the ballot in Colorado and possibly other states.
What should have been a home run for Democrats will now likely be a nail-biter. This brings into question the fitness of those running the Biden campaign also. These attacks were predictable and they should have been ready for them. I may be wrong, I hope so, but I have felt from the start that his entry into the race was a mistake; born of ego and desperation that may well end in ignominy.
Rick, I agree. Sanders had more gravitas and common sense appeal but the Dems pulled every dirty trick to dismiss, marginalize and ultimately sabotage his campaign. Why? Because the Dem elites are brighter, more meritorious and more deserving of running the country than "the (populist) "mob." Meanwhile, a populist mob put a pseudo-populist Trump over the top in 2016.
Peter said: "In politics, minimization and contextualizing validates the accusation, therefore backfiring...Trump has demonstrated that distraction, subject-changing, and accusation is a better tactic. Apparently the media and voters have no interest or attention span for careful consideration of nuance or degrees of something. Partisans have their minds made up." This is not news; the public has been intentionally dumbed-down by our corporate controlled media since reality TV morphed into entertainment news. Basic Lakoff stuff: any attention is good attention. Basic Goebbels stuff: tell a lie often enough and it gets believed. STOP GIVING THE CAR WRECK TRUMP EXPOSURE AND THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED!
Andy Seles
OK, let’s have a gaffe contest. Who cares about policy?
Talk about a distraction...
Regarding Bernie Sanders Presidential bid: it bombed. Bernie isn’t capable to uniting the Democrats. He’s an equal-opportunity bomb thrower. He isn’t even a Democrat. He chose to run as one but lives as an Independent that caucuses with the Democrats. When you look at Bernie’s Senate career, who are his teammates? What meaningful legislation has he pushed through the Senate? Yes, he motivates young firebrands but frightens everyone else. He says obvious things, like money corrupts. So what. Biden is a team builder much in the character of LBJ. Biden is the only Democrat left standing in the Democratic stable and has the power to take Trump and beat him.
I wish Biden were, in fact, a Democrat...but that ship sailed a long time ago when the Dems abandoned working families.
Andy Seles
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