# Prioritize the Trump target. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 2, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537 "2016-10-02T22:41:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/21 "2016-10-03T01:02:46Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Are you kidding? Trumps fans would accept ANYthing from him. Even now, some of Trumps base think that Russia helped us defeat the Soviet Union Communists during World War 1. It’s established that 25-35% will vote for Trump even there’s a secret tape of him hanging out and partying with Osama Bin Laden. It’s about the additional 10-15% of voters he needs just to be competitive with Hillary on her worst days. I won’t be 100% certain that he’s finished until the race is over and people concede on his behalf, but barring something off the charts unusual, it’s pretty much over. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/22 "2016-10-03T01:06:58Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Anyone notice how Trump hasn’t said shit today? His [twitter feed](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump) had six posts so far today. That could be staffers but it isn’t exactly being quiet. There’s a difference between nobody paying attention and not talking. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/23 "2016-10-03T01:15:30Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > His [twitter feed](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump) had six posts so far today. That could be staffers but it isn’t exactly being quiet. There’s a difference between nobody paying attention and not talking. Then he’s talking and nobody’s listening, which is probably even worse. I know it’s not scientific but today is perhaps the only day I’ve seen Donald Trump’s name atop the Google News trending articles and not seen a buffet of articles about different tweets or comments. They’re all related to Trump madness, mayhem, and meltdown. I think this is a first - at least as far as I can recall. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/24 "2016-10-03T01:33:03Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Either a) Trump lost a BILLION during one of the longest periods of economic prosperity and thus ain’t a genius I agree. The “Billion Dollar Loser” tag is the way to go. I’d like to see her work in a zinger like “If not paying taxes is smart, why are you so afraid to show us how smart you are? Could it be because losing a billion dollars isn’t that smart?” The point would be to bait him into another attack. She’s free to hammer on the tax thing all day long. By continuing to sit on the returns and let the NYT control this story, he’s implicitly admitting this is his _best case scenario_. Think about that. He’s judged that his best case scenario is going with the story that he lost a billion bucks and didn’t pay any taxes for 18 years. Holy shit. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/25 "2016-10-03T02:12:31Z")
I’m really liking “billion dollar loser” and think it has some legs. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/26 "2016-10-03T02:29:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), in a statement Sunday, called Mr. Trump “a billion-dollar loser who won’t release his taxes because they’ll expose him as a spoiled, rich brat who lost the millions he inherited from his father.” Reid is a Doper? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/27 "2016-10-03T03:06:25Z")
Harry Reid has never struck me as even remotely charismatic, but I will give him this: he really can scratch his fingernails on the chalkboard and needle the shit out of people when he sets his sights on someone. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/28 "2016-10-03T03:19:32Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Machado and nuclear weapons. Or more generally, needle him into attacking someone irrationally (not a politician, a punter of some kind) then target the “too irrational to be commander in chief” message, yes including his statements on nuclear weapons. Lyndon B Johnson’s “Daisy Girl” campaign ad is still scarily relevant, maybe even a remake with quotes Trump has said about use of Nuclear weapons? [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbIfVEboAzg) ---
**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:** [October 3, 2016, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/29 "2016-10-03T03:56:13Z")
What demographics groups do Hillary need to turn against Trump and/or turn towards her? That is important. Making Trump more unappealing among college educated people is probably pointless, he has probably maxed out his losses among them. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/30 "2016-10-03T04:21:46Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > What demographics groups do Hillary need to turn against Trump and/or turn towards her? That is important. I’d say the more or less sensible business Republicans (eg McCain, Romney and Kasich supporters) are the obvious target. You don’t need to convince them to vote for Clinton, just convince them to stay home and she wins. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/31 "2016-10-03T12:19:05Z")
There has to be at least one more plus sized woman out there to dangle in front of him. Of all the contractors he’s stiffed, get a woman who is 30 lbs over ideal weight and he’ll go berserk. Find one who is a single mother, cancer survivor or anything sympathetic and he’ll be tweeting from midnight to dawn. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/32 "2016-10-03T13:44:44Z")
While I agree getting Trump to punch down in some pointless Twitter war should be an ongoing approach - he just cannot resist - the tax return issue is a huge, gaping wound now, and has to be attacked ferociously. Billion Dollar Loser. Doesn’t pay taxes. Hiding something. Hiding Russian payoffs? Just keep hammering. If he wasn’t hiding something the tax returns would be out by now. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/33 "2016-10-03T14:10:17Z")
I think that the billion-dollar loser angle is probably the best one. Some people like Trump precisely because he’s a hateful racist misogynist sociopath-- Those supporters, we can’t budge (or rather, we could, but the cure would be worse than the disease). But of the rest of his supporters, most support him because they perceive him as a winner. Knock down that perception, and he’s got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/34 "2016-10-03T14:26:38Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > “If not paying taxes is smart, why are you so afraid to show us how smart you are? Could it be because losing a billion dollars isn’t that smart?” This is brilliant, well written, and concise enough for use as a sound-bite. It seems perfectly designed to provoke orange apoplexy. She should say exactly this at some point in the debates. You should try to find a way to get this to her campaign. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/35 "2016-10-03T14:53:21Z")
The thing is, this $900 million loss was already public record. Trump actually wrote about it in one of his books, The Art of the Comeback. I don’t think anybody has not heard of his bankruptcies, so maybe “billion dollar loser” isn’t the angle to take. Despite the apparent legality, the way he structured things to beat the taxman is what I think steams most Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/36 "2016-10-03T15:50:27Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Anyone notice how Trump hasn’t said shit today? Or if he has it’s been totally drowned out by his negative press? Either way, we’re breaking new ground here, folks. He’s a wounded (paper) tiger. There is an [article in the Washington post today](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/10/02/as-news-of-trumps-taxes-broke-he-goes-off-script-at-a-rally-in-pennsylvania/?tid=a_inl) that was supposed to be about Clinton insulting Sanders supporters, but which ended up being a mishmash of rants, accusations and boasting. So it looks like he’s even drowning out himself. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/37 "2016-10-03T15:52:29Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > The thing is, this $900 million loss was already public record. Trump actually wrote about it in one of his books, The Art of the Comeback. I don’t think anybody has not heard of his bankruptcies… I’ll bet you a hundred bucks that if we did a reasonably scientific survey of dedicated Trump voters, half will not have been aware of him losing $900 million in one year prior to the NYT revelation (and might not be aware of it now.) In any case, the point of painting him as a loser is not to make an argument of fact. It’s an argument of emotion. Emotion counts more; it creates doubt in people’s mind as to Trump’s candidacy, since he’s basing it on his being a winner, and you bait Trump himself to make errors. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/38 "2016-10-03T15:59:47Z")
Keith Olbermann’s “The Closer” today will focus on how DJT hates dogs. Seriously. He ends it with “Hey, Don. Fuck You!” (KO is a big dog guy.) > ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/39 "2016-10-03T16:04:24Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I’ll bet you a hundred bucks that if we did a reasonably scientific survey of dedicated Trump voters, half will not have been aware of him losing $900 million in one year prior to the NYT revelation (and might not be aware of it now.) > > In any case, the point of painting him as a loser is not to make an argument of fact. It’s an argument of emotion. Emotion counts more; it creates doubt in people’s mind as to Trump’s candidacy, since he’s basing it on his being a winner, and you bait Trump himself to make errors. While I doubt a scientific poll would have people being able to peg the number at a billion, his variius bankruptcies have definitely been aired frequently. I know emotion counts more - I was specifically saying “gaming the tax system” will have more emotional impact. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537/40 "2016-10-03T16:19:50Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > “If not paying taxes is smart, why are you so afraid to show us how smart you are? Could it be because losing a billion dollars isn’t that smart?” > [@Crotalus](#): > > This is brilliant, well written, and concise enough for use as a sound-bite. It seems perfectly designed to provoke orange apoplexy. She should say exactly this at some point in the debates. You should try to find a way to get this to her campaign. I’d tack on one further dig: “If not paying taxes is smart, why are you so afraid to show us how smart you are? Could it be because losing a billion dollars isn’t that smart? _Or could it be that you weren’t out of pocket one lousy cent, but got the IRS to treat a paper loss like it was real?_” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prioritize-the-trump-target/767537.md?page=3)