Jon Ossoff makes a fool of Trump. The campaign warms up.

Senator Jon Ossoff:

"[President Trump] golfs and trades stocks. See, he doesn't want to do his job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar."

Ossoff is fleshing out his brand. He's shaping a narrative about the U.S. — a place with a strong, competent military — and contrasting it with a foolish, knavish leader: a Nero-Trump, fiddling with a staff member while the country burns.

Take two minutes and watch the clip. It shows why Trump is reacting so strongly. This is the kind of opposition is harder to counter than Gavin Newsom's criticism. Newsom is permanently stained by the "California" brand. Ossoff is still undefined, with a "New! Improved!" quality — some mix of JFK and Barack Obama. He gives Trump more to worry about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bSpkFqypbw

The line that caught people's attention referenced the 35-year-old aide whose unusual closeness to Trump was the subject of Regime Change, the book by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. They reported that the Secret Service was concerned. She leaves love-note-style expressions of devotion for Trump to find. She sticks close by his side; Melania is often absent. She was on the plane back from Turkey when Cabinet members and the media were not. She carries a printer so she can hand Trump articles he'd want to see.

The physical closeness raises eyebrows — Trump has a reputation. Is she a new, younger girlfriend, replacing Melania? Or a personal aide with wipes and fresh underwear, handling the needs of an older man with health issues? Either way, it's an odd arrangement, either naughty or pathetic, and people are asking what the deal is.

Ossoff didn't frame this as an accusation of infidelity, but as evidence of careless inattention to the job. Given the choice between calling Trump foolish or knavish — incompetent or evil — Ossoff chose foolish. That's sound branding. 

Voters seem to want strength more than they want virtue. A corrupt, selfish Trump at least provides leadership, which is more than Congress offers; he'll be cruel to enemies as well as the innocent. Voters decided that overthrowing an election wasn't disqualifying. Biden's feckless handling of the southern border, by contrast, read as weakness and inattention, and voters found that unforgivable.

Besides, painting Trump as a highly-sexed Lothario is a net positive for him and would be a mistake for Ossoff. Trump-as-playboy fits his Hugh Hefner image, a complement to Trump's winner-take-all brand; he is Rambo in the bedroom. Trump likes to say other men settle for less attractive women, but not Trump; he taunted Ted Cruz with it in 2016.

Trump did it again this week when he taunted Abdul El-Sayed, who won the Democratic primary election in Michigan, with this Truth Social post:

It is astonishingly petty, juvenile behavior, but Republican voters seem to be OK with it. 

Ossoff understands Trump's brand. Trump's access to beautiful women is proof of success, of winning. Ossoff doesn't shame him for it — he turns the attribute into a liability, saying that Trump would rather be distracted by Natalie and golf than do his job. That's why things are a mess.

Trump's team is scrambling to paint Ossoff as small and inconsequential. Trump nicknamed him "Pee Wee Herman," which is unlikely to stick — Ossoff is half a head taller than I am, and had 5-o'clock shadow at noon. He looks strong, not wimpish. 

Communications Director Steve Cheung leaned on the same theme, saying "Jackoff Jon is the biggest cuck loser in politics," shockingly strong language from the White House. Jackoff? Cuck? The White House is worried. Ossoff is married with two young children; there's no clear reason to imply he's a sexual loser. But the insult reinforces exactly what Trump considers his own strength: that he's the winner in any contest of sexual conquest.

Trump is missing the point, and digging himself deeper into the hole he is digging for himself. Ossoff isn't contesting Trump's sexual distractions, whatever they may be. He's calling attention to them; meanwhile Rome burns.

My college classmate Sandford Borins, a scholar of political narrative, once described the three-part structure of political campaign branding: fool, knave, and hero. Ossoff has built a campaign narrative around it. He claims the hero spot, of course, with camera angles looking up at his strong jaw and firm neck, the classic "hero shot."  Ossoff positions Trump as the fool: old, bumbling, selfish, distracted by leisure and young women. Meanwhile, the young man addresses the serious work of making voters' lives better. It's a simple, persuasive story. 

In a Democratic primary, Ossoff has a stronger pitch than "California is actually better than you've heard," which is the brand I think Ossoff's most serious competition is stuck defending.

Ossoff may stumble, but he is on the move.

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