If it was one line, yeah, I’d believe that. But it was multiple lines from multiple sources (Rick Astley and Michelle Obama).
Regardless, if Donald is nothing but hot air, waiting to be punctured, well, let’s start puncturing it in ways his 60, 70 year-old supporters can relate to. Saying he double-talked on some trade policy doesn’t matter to them, but their ideas of manhood and how that is tested does. And if you can show how DJT fails to meet even these basic tests of manhood (provide for your kids, protect your family, etc), then you suppress their support and admiration, which is one-half of campaigning.
Authoritarians who believe women are the weaker sex and need protecting are not going to think well of authoritarians who allow their wives to be bullied and mocked. It goes against their very image of themselves.
And if I were the Hillary campaign, I would be exploiting this dichotomy for all its worth, having my surrogates appear on Fox, making this very point:
“Imagine how Melinia must feel, knowing her husband allowed this to happen to her?”
“If my wife were humiliated like this, all bets would be off and heads would roll, even if I had James Baker on my staff. I don’t understand why Trump would insist on no firings.”
“It must be getting chillier and chillier in the Trump bedroom the longer this goes on…”
It’s about positioning the other candidate. Make him (especially DJT, as insecure as he is) appear less than a man to his authoritarian supporters could work just as well as positioning Romney as a person who “writes off” 47% of the country.
“He isn’t man enough to defend his wife. How can he be man enough to defend the country?”
I think these would all be useless, or worse than useless. There is no reason to make her the focus of or the reason for attacks on Trump. It’s just not right.
And you seriously think that someone trying to be the first female President should have her allies out hammering this point? In particular, one who has a philandering husband?
Possibly. However, the idea is not to make her the focus of the attacks, but Trump’s reaction to an unfortunate incident which negatively affected his wife.
Y’all are likely right, it is likely the wrong move, and this isn’t something that should ever come officially from the Clinton camp. But I do know what had 63yo Joe sputtering at the office this morning - “when is Trump going to fire somebody for how his wife was treated?”
John - think about it. Hillary does not want to touch the subject of husbands who humiliate their wives on national tv. There is no way that wouldn’t backfire.
Also - she doesn’t need to. Trump and his team are doing a fine job on their own. Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake!
This could definitely work, mainly because Donald Trump is just sooooo easy to provoke. He’d react. God knows what he’d do, but I have no double he’d react in a spectacularly idiotic fashion.
Although we might have our policy differences, I think Michelle is a wonderful, smart woman who represents the greatness of opportunity we have in the US, so I’d like to borrow her words as a the epitomy of what makes America Great…then use the same quote…
When has this ever not been true, though? When have we ever at this point in a campaign talked about actually luring away voters who otherwise would’ve voted for the opponent?
I think the wisest course for Hilary to take is to say NOTHING about the plagiarized speech. Or come up with something complementary to say about Melania once and then be done with that topic. Or maybe something sympathetic about the difficulty of being the wife of a Presidential candidate. She’s been there, right? But again, say it once and drop it.
The attention paid to the GOP convention by Team Clinton should not be on Melania but on the tying Clinton to Obama, perhaps while introducing Obama. Not a bad thing for Clinton while Obama has fairly consistently high approval ratings.
The other theme from the GOP convention to visit is to contrast the themes of be afraid with a positive aspirational message.
I agree with this. And, really, Melania is a dead issue. It had its moment and derailed the first night of the convention (no one was talking about the other speeches yesterday) but it’s not the sort of thing you’re actually going to campaign on. Everyone had their laughs, it largely nullified a night’s worth of coverage but it’s done with.
I fear the true Trump Supporters are lost to sanity.
But there are still “undecideds” & folks who don’t love Hillary. They need to realize that Trump must not become President–so they are inspired to get off their asses & vote. (Of course, there will be other candidates worth voting for this November–but let’s keep it simple.)
I see the standard of “one rule for the CLintons, another for everyone else” still applies. Has Christie been convicted of anything? No? That means that in Clinton logic, he’s clean and everything he’s been accused of is just his enemies throwing mud at him.