I like the idea of following up the handshake with a Kazuchika Okada style Rainmaker.
Or, if you prefer going a bit more classic, the Jake the Snake Roberts short-arm clothesline. That was one of my favorite moves as a youngling. More seriously, yes, shake his hand. Follow the expected procedure. Tell the truth. The Democratic nominee won't win by fighting dirty for the same reason you don't mud wrestle with a pig.Interesting that you see refusing to shake hands as “fighting dirty”. I see it as almost diametrically the opposite: refusing to convey the sense of dignity and legitimacy that a handshake implies. Some would argue that those things are inherent in the office of the presidency, but I would say Donald Trump has singlehandedly proven that this ain’t necessarily so. And I believe refusing to shake hands with him would send the message that our standards must be higher than what he represents.
I suppose the Democratic nominee will have to, assuming there is a debate, which seems uncertain from Chump’s side. But the Dem Nominee would be well advised to sanitize said hand as thoroughly as possible as soon as possible.
Yeah, whatever happened to the sacred principle of courting the moderate vote by not doing stuff that’s “divisive” among Democrats? Trying to launch “The Handshake Issue” as a politichatter topic seems like just more stirring of the shitkettle in order to gin up some kind of “controversy” for no sensible reason.
I submit that if there is no planning about it in advance and the nominee just walks in and shakes his hand, there will definitely be outraged reactions from the left.
Whereas I’m not seeing the peril of refusing to shake hands and perhaps making this part of the pre-debate protocol. Then you don’t stiff him when he reaches out his hand, you just go to your separate podiums and not have an awkward moment.
The idea that we can have a handshake to preserve civility is absolutely correct when it’s Mitt Romney. When it’s Trump, that’s kind of silly. He has uttered absolutely heinous and slanderous calumnies about the Democrats, and will continue to spout more such filth and probably worse as things begin to look more dire for him. The Democrats have (correctly) said that he is unfit, grotesque, that he has betrayed his oath of office, is the most corrupt president ever, and that our very republic is at stake if we don’t get him out. The civility is already long gone!
I think you are almost certainly mistaken. Nobody will care, nor should they.
And then he comes over and offers his hand, and you have the choice of behaving like a civilized adult politician, or being petty and scoring points with the more extreme of your supporters and losing points with everyone else.
WADR you are IMO making the same mistake as other candidates have done in the past.
You don’t wrestle with a pig in the mud. You just get muddy, and the pig enjoys it.
No one is going to out-petty Trump. Getting into a contest of that sort is a guaranteed loss. “I can look just as bad as Trump” - no, you can’t. He’s got way more practice at it than you do.
If you want to run on being better than Trump, you are actually going to have to be better than Trump. If you can’t even manage that…
Regards,
Shodan
See what you’ve done, ** SlackerInc **? You’ve forced me and ** Shodan ** to be on the same side of an issue. You should be ashamed of yourself.
It’s sort of like my own slacking ability. Trump has both an inborn natural talent for being petty, and he’s worked hard, all his life to refine and develop that talent to the greatest human extent possible!
You’re barking up the wrong tree. Every time someone says minor corruption doesn’t matter because Trump is so much worse, or that it doesn’t matter how little experience a Democratic candidate has because Trump had even less, I am the first to object. This is not about “out-pettying” Trump, but about declaring him beyond the bounds of civil society and its norms. It’s an extraordinary measure for an extraordinary situation.
I would actually advise the candidate to state upfront that “Trump does not even deserve to be debated, and should no longer be in office if GOP senators did their constitutional duty, but I don’t want anyone to mistake my stance for cowardice, so I am here to denounce his misdeeds and lay out my vision for the country.”
When the Goldman family sued OJ Simpson in civil court, should they have shaken his hand at the beginning of the trial?
Kind of looks like this may be a non-issue in light of Covid-19…
It all seems so quaint now, like last year’s political cartoons, or new travel magazines. If we’re not under martial law with all dissidents held in protective custody, we may see a Zoom debate with the candidates and moderator calling in from home with their trousers off. It’ll be hacked and deep-faked, of course; we will never know just what happened.
But imagine this: The candidates step to their podiums. The [del]referee has them shake hands and come out fighting[/del] moderator gestures for a handshake. Donny steps forward, small hand extended. Biden aims a remote-sensing thermometer and reads Donny’s temp before shaking or refusing. Hopefully the Secret Service won’t shoot Joe when he make that move. If refusing, Joe expresses grave concern over Donny’s health. Donny explodes with rage. Hilarity ensues.
What hilarity? Act II: Donny’s little heart gives out at exactly this moment. Stunned silence. Medics run onstage; Dr Oz pronounces the Emperor dead. The [del]network flunky[/del] moderator moves to cancel the debate. But no! VP Pants, now POTUS Pants, enters from stage right (of course) and offers, no he DEMANDS, to face Biden. The show must go on! Pants wipes crocodile tears from his eyes, stands tall, extracts a pocket bible, and performs an exorcism. Irony ensues.
What irony? Act III: Good Catholic Joe laughingly tells POTUS Pants he’s doing it all wrong. Joe performs the ritual. Pants loses his psychic shield; his demonic aspect is revealed. Joe shakes Pants’ claw. Cursing, fuming, crackling, Pants vanishes in a flatulent puff of sulfurous smoke. Joe turns to the camera and asks, “Who’s next?”
Or maybe nobody shakes hands. They just wave at each other. Watch Donny’s subtle gestures, the same he uses when cheating at cards. Shake his hand to make him stop doing that! Oh the humanity…
Not just that, but should refuse to stand anywhere near him… plus they should turn their podium the other way so that they can’t even look at him. Maybe they should even refuse to address him by his name or title… Just refer to him as the Orange Menace or something ugly like that.
Yeah, that would really show the whole country that they’re the stronger candidate with a better vision for America! Yeah, do that!