# How Biden should hammer Trump **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 16, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495 "2020-07-16T14:05:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/41 "2020-07-17T11:09:32Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > All this stuff is what people who already hate Trump want to hear. If Biden’s going to attack Trump, he has to attack himn on all the crap Trump promised and didn’t deliver. This is how the tax return issue should be applied. “Trump **promised** to release his tax returns, then has done everything to prevent them from being released. He **promised** Mexico was going to pay for the Wall but shut down the government to force the American taxpayer to fund it. He **promised** to reduce the deficit and then increased it by 75%. He even promised not to go golfing, but has done so {X} number of times since taking office at a cost of X (and, incidentally, about two and a half times more often that President Obama did, despite President Trump saying _that_ was too often). Not only doesn’t he keep his promises, he does the _exact opposite_ of what he says he will do. Why should anyone believe a word he says this time around?” ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/42 "2020-07-17T15:46:34Z")
Apologies if this is too much of a hijack, but this thread seemed appropriate. What general approach do you feel would advantage Biden the most? Should he appear respectful of the office and avoid personal attacks, or should he stress Trump’s personal shortcomings and attack him personally? Just wondering what you think. (I know SOMEONE wants Joe to sock Trump in the face! :D) I’m talking about statements, ads, etc closely identified w/ Biden himself. I’m not talking about whatever might be offered by the party PACs, etc. On EDIT - what you discuss Gyrate impresses me as pretty excellent. ---
**Author:** ![Mickyfinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e19b73/32.png) [@Mickyfinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mickyfinn)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/43 "2020-07-17T16:26:26Z")
I think this has been said a number of times but you aren’t going to change the minds of those who (I really can’t believe it) still blindly follow him. So I think he should keep it to pointing out the failures without any name calling, or bringing up pgrabbing etc. Let’s face it - letting him loose is currently working right now. His Orangeness will inevitably start throwing feces, no doubt at Bidens family as well. It will be very hard not to take the bait. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/44 "2020-07-17T17:33:03Z")
I still think calling him a weak and cowardly loser is likely to cause him to meltdown on national TV. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/45 "2020-07-17T17:34:30Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > All this stuff is what people who already hate Trump want to hear. If Biden’s going to attack Trump, he has to attack himn on all the crap Trump promised and didn’t deliver. Where’s that big, beautiful wall? Where’s that deal with North Korea? Where are all those jobs you promised to bring back? How come all those “best people” you appointed kept getting fired or quitting? > > Really, all the Democrats have to do is turn off a few thousand voters that voted for Trump in 2016. Totally agree. Just a few thousand voters in a few key states. Focus, focus, focus. Playing to the base is not going to get the win here. Biden needs to speak to the people in these key states that voted Obama and then Trump, and get them back into the camp. Tie their troubles directly to Trump: the trade war punch to the gut, followed by the inept response to the pandemic and resulting economic challenges, has left many business weaker than before. As pointed out, the promise broken of jobs flooding back onshore. The divisiveness - nothing getting done - where is that infrastructure bill? Show how Trump’s thinking and policies are bad for everyone, including “you” (I suspect a lot of Trump voters believe Trump is hurting someone else) - “he wants to take away you and your kids’ health care” is also a good message. For the base, make sure they get out and vote this time - tell the Bernie bros they are going to get most of what they want by casting votes for Biden. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/46 "2020-07-17T17:37:57Z")
I trust the Lncoln Project. It seems to be really effective you need to be a Republican sadly. They know him better than any Dems do and they will sting him good. Which is what should have been happening from day 1! How much damage could have been avoided? Check out the ad of Mike Pences Head spewing lies, and following the covid graph from Feb to present. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/47 "2020-07-17T18:26:42Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > No. No. No. Nobody actually gives a fuck about the taxes. Taxes are like cancer. People don’t want to hear that word, they don’t want to think about it, they don’t want to deal with it, and deep down everyone wishes they could cheat on them and evade consequences. My original instinct was to agree with this…but then I remember how constantly bringing up Hilary’s emails worked as a effective distraction from literally everything of substance. Maybe making his Tax Returns the albatross that comes up in every since discussion could be useful. That said, I’m not sure reminding people that Trump is corrupt on an epic scale would be new information to anyone. So it could be considered old news. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/48 "2020-07-17T18:42:09Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Lack of leadership, lack of honesty and lack of empathy are his weak points, Meh…this is the kind of fluffy shit that constantly loses elections for Democrats. Most voters are not that fucking interested in these kinds of amorphous, touchy-feely discussions. Attack ads which focus on specific scandals work, they have worked for centuries. > [@Lamoral](#): > > 99.9% of Americans have one of two reactions when they hear the word “taxes” in any context. > > 1. Their eyes immediately glaze over with boredom and their thoughts wander off to … anything else. > 2. They think, “fuck, I owe taxes/fuck, I haven’t paid my taxes/fuck fucking taxes.” > > I can’t think of an issue that would be more of a waste of time for Biden to deploy against Trump, than the tax shit. He should hit him with things that pack a much deeper punch to the psyche. While this may be partly true for a certain segment of the population, the point isn’t really about taxes. It’s about his rampant corruption. If there’s a leak and the Democrats can point to specific evidence of one of his many, many foreign dealings which basically amount to him being compromised, then it’s worth discussing. If it’s just about him being shady about dodging taxes…that’s pointless to bring up. If Biden makes a big deal out of it and Trump releases a heavily redacted or straight up fake tax return, or we have a repeat of the Mueller Report where a Trump ally can control the narrative, it will do more harm than good. The WORST outcome would be to have it turn into a nothing burger. > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Speaking of debates, I remember in one debate with Hillary Clinton, she called him out for being the sort of snakish millionaire who made his money off tax loopholes. And he said basically “So what. I didn’t break any laws. And you helped write the laws.” Yup, it’s not about shady finances. Everyone knows he’s both a snake oil salesman and a crook. We’ve seen the abuses with the charity, the university, the lawsuits, the bribes etc. We know who he is. It only matters if the taxes reveal that he’s massively in debt to Putin or one of his stooges, giving weight to the accusations of him being compromised. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/49 "2020-07-17T20:31:51Z")
In my not-terribly-knowledgable opinion, Biden himself should stay a bit above the fray. Provide a readily visible and comprehensible contrast to Trump’s style and personality. Be traditionally Presidential, while Trump is…Trump. Biden, being who he is, will get some zingers in, but I think his best strategy is to be dignified and reassuring. Make the public comfortable that the Presidency will be in steady, professional, competent hands. The _ **campaign** _, however, should absolutely hammer away at Trump’s insecurities and blatant, gaping flaws. Designate a few attack dogs (hopefully a young energetic running mate among them) like Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris and let _them_ handle the dirtier work. And, yes, I think the word, “coward,” needs to come up a lot. He _is_ a coward, as evidenced by the fact that he never fires anyone; point out repeatedly that he is too chicken to do even this basic task. Call him a wimp and, “weak,” in his dealings with Russia and North Korea. Call him, “stupid,” in the way he doesn’t understand the current pandemic. Those kinds of simple, direct, in-his-face attacks work. He understands them, and they play to his massive, massive insecurities and pathologies, and stand a decent chance of making him completely lose it, especially if they are unrelenting. Don’t give him any time or space to regroup. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/50 "2020-07-17T20:54:26Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Here’s how Biden win’s the debates: > “I cede my time to President Trump. Please speak for one hour, Mr. President.” That would likely be his best course of action. [“We cannot let this, we’ve never allowed any crisis from the Civil War straight through to the pandemic of 17, all the way around, 16, we have never, never let our democracy sakes second fiddle, way they, we can both have a democracy and elections and at the same time correct the public health.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=318w3by30l4) I presume that was part of a prepared statement and not just ad-libbing. Or he can just toss out another comment about how black voters who don’t vote for him ain’t black. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/51 "2020-07-17T20:56:36Z")
For the taxes thing, I would use it… as a segue into his own value-- financially and morally. Something like, “His tax returns will show how weak and terrified he is for being prosecuted in NY and will show he’s no billionaire. Never has been. All lies.” ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/52 "2020-07-18T01:57:02Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Biden shouldn’t mention Trump’s name, or refer to him in any way. There are plenty of surrogates to do that, even from the Republican Party. Exactly this. He should act like Kumquat is insignificant and irrelevant to anything he wants to talk about. Act like “who?” Like we have already moved on. Nothing pisses off Kumquat more than being ignored. It would drive him into greater depths of irrational ravings. How much more could you hope for? ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/53 "2020-07-18T17:17:47Z")
Biden is reportedly now receiving the same daily intelligence brief that Trump gets. Since Biden actually reads his, this would seem like an opening to embarrass Donald with his inexcusable ignorance on matters of national importance. Within the bounds of security, of course. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/54 "2020-07-18T18:43:48Z")
Since the thread topic is (nominally) “How Biden should HAMMER [the America-hating fuckstick],” here’s my suggestion: He should physically strike him with the hammer of his choice (claw, ball-peen, sledge) at his first opportunity. Sure, it might not win him the judges’ decision at the debates, but it would certainly incentivize me to tune in. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/55 "2020-07-18T23:14:54Z")
Trump tonight on past presidents dealing with China “we’ve been losing hundreds of billions of diners to China” ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/56 "2020-07-18T23:25:31Z")
If I were Joe Biden my entire debate performance would consist of looking directly at the camera and saying “Come on, America. Are you fucking kidding me? What are we doing here?” while pointing at Trump. ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsTheEnd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisistheend/32/4713_2.png) [@ThisIsTheEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsTheEnd)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/57 "2020-07-18T23:43:50Z")
At the first debate, after Trump says something really bad, go over and kick him in the nuts and then stand over him and say “Pardon me?” ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/58 "2020-07-18T23:48:17Z")
That might backfire, if you think about it. He could otherwise wallop the Manchurian Cantaloupe by simply existing. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/59 "2020-07-19T00:52:23Z")
I think focusing on the failed Covid-19 response would be a good strategy. Maybe something about how he would let Dr. Fauci and other experts lead the federal response. Talk about how he won’t censor data about the number of cases and deaths the way Trump is doing right now. Point out that with competent leadership we could have saved tens of thousands of lives that have been lost to the virus, and other attacks along this line. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495/60 "2020-07-19T01:21:48Z")
Trump’s taxes would be an attack similar to Hillary’s emails (except Hillary’s lawyer never came out and said that there is evidence of criminality in her emails). However, Biden can’t count on the IRS to loudly, publicly declare that they are going to audit Trump’s taxes one week before the election. I don’t know what the best approach would be for Biden but I do know that there is plenty of public evidence of how to get under Trump’s skin. Asking him a “nasty” question that you know he’s not going to have an answer to beyond an attack on the question itself seems to get him every time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-biden-should-hammer-trump/915495.md?page=4)