# How can Trumps narcissism be made to work against him? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 22, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612 "2016-07-22T18:35:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/41 "2016-07-24T22:05:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I completely disagree. Clinton isn’t going to out-trump Trump. If it becomes a contest between who can throw the best insults at their opponent, Trump’s going to win. > > Clinton has to act Presidential and goad Trump into acting like himself. Her strategy has to essentially concede that she isn’t as entertaining as Trump - but remind Americans that the President of the United States is not the same job as being a television star. She has to be the substance to Trump’s surface - and remind voters which is more important. Yes, her supporters can attempt to out Trump Trump if they want. Clinton should try to be above the fray. Hillary is a mediocre candidate: she’s not a natural politician like Obama or her husband. But ironically, she’s the perfect foil for Trump. Trump has a problem with women, the only GOP competitor who got under his skin was Carly Fiorina. Trump plays mostly inane dominance games, but that doesn’t work as well with a female target. There are a number of ways that Clinton can remind the audience what the Presidency entails and I suspect that she can put across such a workmanlike argument. Hillary’s goal is to win: she is running a safe campaign. I like that. My personal goal is a landslide, where Trump gets 35% of the vote. Because I believe his demagogic bigotry to be toxic. Side point by [Jeet Heer](https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/757244389605408768): [INDENT][INDENT][INDENT]General Mike Flynn, key Trump advisor, re-tweeting [openly anti-Semitic statement](https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/757238532566056960). 1. Trump’s racism is only a notch more explicit than what GOP has been doing since 1964. His anti-Semitism really has no USA precedence. 2. Were there anti-Semitic politicians in the past in the USA? Sure: Theodore Bilbo, Hamilton Fish, etc. But not at presidential level. 3. Hofstadter tried to make the case that Bryan’s populism was anti-Semitic but that’s generally been rejected by historians. 4. Nixon was privately anti-Semitic but never publicly so. 5. So: it might be a slight distinction but the public embrace of the anti-Semitic right by a major party presidential campaign is new. [/INDENT][/INDENT][/INDENT] Hijack!: [INDENT][INDENT] [Memo to libertarians & leftists](https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/757219492724350976): Trump is not anti-Empire. He just wants to turn an empire into an explicit protection racket. [/INDENT][/INDENT] Regarding the OP, David Brooks ended his latest column with [a decent zinger](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/22/opinion/campaign-stops/the-dark-knight.html). Emphasis added: [INDENT][INDENT] This is less a party than a personality cult. Law and order is a strange theme for a candidate who radiates conflict and disorder. **Some rich children are careless that way; they break things and other people have to clean up the mess.** [/INDENT][/INDENT] ETA: > [@coremelt](#): > > …and run it in some internet video attack ads. > > Trump will go ballistic. Trump lacks message discipline. He’s easy to distract. You don’t need the Presidential nominee to troll him: basically anyone can. ETA2: Factual litany (which won’t work) and I haven’t read: [https://m.reddit.com/r/EnoughTrumpSpam/comments/4teoxl/a\_final\_response\_to\_the\_tell\_me\_why\_trump\_is\_a/](https://m.reddit.com/r/EnoughTrumpSpam/comments/4teoxl/a_final_response_to_the_tell_me_why_trump_is_a/) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/42 "2016-07-24T22:10:45Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Clinton’s barely done anything. The general election campaign is just starting. If she’s spending tens of millions doing barely anything, how much will it cost her to actually do something? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/43 "2016-07-24T22:24:39Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > If she’s spending tens of millions doing barely anything, how much will it cost her to actually do something? Think of it as due diligence. In the end it’s probably not going to end up determining the election, but her campaign needs to follow every avenue. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/44 "2016-07-24T22:52:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I completely disagree. Clinton isn’t going to out-trump Trump. If it becomes a contest between who can throw the best insults at their opponent, Trump’s going to win. > > Clinton has to act Presidential and goad Trump into acting like himself. Her strategy has to essentially concede that she isn’t as entertaining as Trump - but remind Americans that the President of the United States is not the same job as being a television star. She has to be the substance to Trump’s surface - and remind voters which is more important. I agree that she shouldn’t even consider out-zingering Trump. I hope she learned her lesson with that “delete your account” mistake (I couldn’t remember what it was, but all I had to do was Google _Hillary twitter Trump fail_ to find it). But she’s already got the policy background to do nothing but study Tump’s businesses like an MBA depended on it. Have her staff put together complete dossiers of what worked and didn’t work, then apply that _substantive_ insight to the right questions. She can rip him down by clearly bringing his faults as a business person to the fore, irritate him and put him on the defensive (per the original comment), and may even come across as business savvy herself. Consider her comparing his building a wall with specifics of projects that went way overbudget and into bankruptcy _with details_. Or explaining why his ideas to restructure the debt would backfire based on several real-world examples of the damage he specifically did. Again, not zingers and not overplaying the hand, but since a lot of his candidacy is based on his business record it’s ripe for taking apart and ripe for application to a range of real-world issues. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/45 "2016-07-24T22:53:58Z")
Whoever figures that out will be able to retire wealthy. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/46 "2016-07-25T00:02:03Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > If she’s spending tens of millions doing barely anything, how much will it cost her to actually do something? The real attacks, IMO, will be leaks and surrogate statements. If they’ve successfully dug up dirt in Trump’s decades of flim-flammery, that won’t cost money to leak, and neither will surrogate attacks that get under his skin. But we’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/47 "2016-07-25T03:02:11Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > If they’ve successfully dug up dirt in Trump’s decades of flim-flammery, They hardly need to dig it up, theres many many investigative articles on Trump going back to the 80s. Theres so many that deciding which one to use is the hard part, Trump U? His connection to dodgy multi level marketing company ACN? Allegations he raped an adolescent on Jeffrey Epsteins sex island? None of it seems to matter to Trumps supporters. But I am glad to see that Clinton is doing stuff like this now: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Q1-zqVna4qs/maxresdefault.jpg "Donald Trump's victims: Michael Diehl | The Briefing") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1-zqVna4qs) She tweeted this, but thats not enough she needs a bunch of personal stories like this, and to be getting them 10s of millions of views. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/48 "2016-07-25T03:27:45Z")
I’d assume shaming him into a corner could cause him to either explode or become so petulant that it makes people realize he isn’t qualified to be president. Narcissists do not respond well to public humiliation. With news of the multiple rapes Trump is accused of committing, that may cause him to become unhinged. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/49 "2016-07-25T03:57:12Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > The real attacks, IMO, will be leaks and surrogate statements. If they’ve successfully dug up dirt in Trump’s decades of flim-flammery, that won’t cost money to leak, and neither will surrogate attacks that get under his skin. > > But we’ll see. It is beginning. [Here](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/24/opinion/sunday/is-donald-trump-a-racist.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region) is Kristof’s column from today’s Times. > [@](#): > > One early red flag arose in 1973, when President Richard Nixon’s Justice Department — not exactly the radicals of the day — sued Trump and his father, Fred Trump, for systematically discriminating against blacks in housing rentals. > > To prove the discrimination, blacks were repeatedly dispatched as testers to Trump apartment buildings to inquire about vacancies, and white testers were sent soon after. Repeatedly, the black person was told that nothing was available, while the white tester was shown apartments for immediate rental. His father set the policy, no doubt. Fred Trump was arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally in 1927 (presumably not for protesting the Klan) and Woody Guthrie, who lived in a Trump property, called him a racist. So they can attack Trump’s dad also. Trump can hardly call it unfair. There is more about Trump wanting to fire the only black accountant at a casino and how they managers hid black workers when Trump came to call. Trump could probably get over it by saying he has matured, but I don’t expect that to happen. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/50 "2016-07-25T03:59:17Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I’d assume shaming him into a corner could cause him to either explode or become so petulant that it makes people realize he isn’t qualified to be president. > > Narcissists do not respond well to public humiliation. With news of the multiple rapes Trump is accused of committing, that may cause him to become unhinged. That hasn’t seemed to work either. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/51 "2016-07-25T03:59:57Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > If she’s spending tens of millions doing barely anything, how much will it cost her to actually do something? Obama clobbered McCain in 2008 partially by using data. In 2012 the Republicans tried to do a data-driven campaign but failed. Trump says he doesn’t believe in this. I’m sure some of the money is being used for data analysis. They also are probably buying up TV time now when it is cheap. In 2012 Romney delayed and found he was forced to get bad slots that cost more. You think Trump is organized enough to do this right? If so, I have a slightly used Michelle Obama speech to sell you. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/52 "2016-07-25T04:02:42Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > I’m afraid that won’t work that well. Trumps rambling simplifying answers work with his poorly educated target group. To them, it sounds like he gives an answer they understand, that makes sense “I’m a succesfull business man and I will make China give back those jobs to America!”. And then, the debate moderator or Hillary starts being all hoity-toity with all them fancy words and being all unfair to the Donald. The Palin debate is an excellent example of how it works when one of the debaters is ignorant. And Clinton has an advantage, since Biden had to go easy on poor widdle Sarah. Trump is supposed to be a big tough man. If he starts crying unfair, he’ll look like a pussy. ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/53 "2016-07-25T20:29:19Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Which psychologists agree with this? This is a very sweeping statement to make without citation. > > This is actually the way to go forward with this. Trump isn’t fazed by substantive arguments or evidence that he lacks even basic experience or knowledge for the position of president, which he refutes with a combination of self-aggrandizing bombast, pointless misdirection, and personal invective, but he absolutely cannot stand to be made fun or or satirized, especially when the mockers comes close to home, which is kind of a ridiculous personality trait for someone who is basically a walking talking buffoon of cartoonish proportions. Just keep mocking him until he has an apoplectic stroke. > > Stranger Perhaps there IS a role for DW-S, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/54 "2016-07-25T23:04:59Z")
Has anyone ever tried, on camera, to flatter Trump so much that -to a normal viewer- it becomes super awkward? And then show that Trump sees nothing wrong, and, in fact, even tries to top the praise? ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/55 "2016-07-26T19:52:59Z")
Also, lets not forget, that actually Obama is a master troll. In his performance at the White House Correspondents dinner in 2012 you can see the fuming on Trumps face as he gets roasted. Obama has been hanging back, but I think he can provoke Trump into a tantrum as well. Lest we forget: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/k8TwRmX6zs4/hqdefault.jpg "President Obama Roasts Donald Trump At White House Correspondents' Dinner!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8TwRmX6zs4) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/56 "2016-07-26T20:59:00Z")
Being a master troll of Trump is roughly on par with being a gourmet because you eat food. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/57 "2016-07-26T21:05:35Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Also, lets not forget, that actually Obama is a master troll. In his performance at the White House Correspondents dinner in 2012 you can see the fuming on Trumps face as he gets roasted. Obama has been hanging back, but I think he can provoke Trump into a tantrum as well. > > Lest we forget: > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8TwRmX6zs4&feature=youtu.be&t=4m1s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8TwRmX6zs4&feature=youtu.be&t=4m1s) 2011 And remember, he had just ordered into motion the raid to get Bin Laden. Do _not_ play poker with that man. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612/58 "2016-07-26T21:56:16Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > Being a master troll of Trump is roughly on par with being a gourmet because you eat food. Do remember that Trump only decided to \*run \*because Bill Clinton trolled him into it. As for Obama’s skill at it: “Please proceed, Governor.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-trumps-narcissism-be-made-to-work-against-him/760612.md?page=2)