If you analyze Trump's campaign-speech closely, he has given away how to defeat him in 2020.

[DetlefK]

Long read.

TL;DR "We can do better than Trump's failed Presidency."



What does Trump value above all else in the universe?
Himself.

What did he talk about?
The 2016 election. What he will do after the 2020 election. The evil things the Democrats have done and will do.

What did he not talk about?
Himself. The accomplishments of the Trump-administration 2017-2020.



Trump will unleash an avalanche of lies in the 2020 campaign. If the Democrats try to catch up and fact-check him, they will lose, because Trump can lie faster than they can fact-check. Trump will win the messaging-war. He will act. Democrats will react.

So, what are Democrats supposed to do?

Talk about the one thing Donald Trump DOES NOT want to talk about:
The accomplishments of the Trump-administration 2017-2020.





What does Trump value above all else in the universe?
Himself.

What does Trump enjoy above all else in the universe?
Seeing others humiliated and defeated.

What does Trump fear above all else in the universe?
Being humiliated and defeated.






So... How can Democrats hurt Trump most? How can they drive him mad? How can they can get under his skin and prod him into unprecedented brain-melting freak-outs?

By pointing out that he has been a failure and a fuck-up as President.

Donald Trump is a failure.
His administration has estranged foreign allies and severed decades old ties that had cemented the international power of the US.
Donald Trump is a fuck-up.
His administration is coddling the very foreign governments who attack the US.
Donald Trump is a failure.
His administration has launched trade-wars that are killing US farmers.
Donald Trump is a fuck-up.
His tariffs are a tax on blue-collar Americans.
Donald Trump is a failure.
His tax-cut added trillions to the deficit.
Donald Trump is a fuck-up.
His economic growth is weaker than Obama's.
Donald Trump is a failure.
He presided over the longest government-shutdown in US-history.
Donald Trump is a fuck-up.
Economic benchmarks point to a new recession in 2021.
Donald Trump is a failure.
His administration is suing in court to take healthcare away from the people.
Donald Trump is a fuck-up.
His administration has built concentration-camps for children.
Donald Trump is a failure.
His administration is the reason Neo-Nazis are marching on US-streets.
Donald Trump is a fuck-up.
His administration is the least transparent administration in US-history.
Donald Trump is a failure.
His administration is the most corrupt and grifting administration in US-history.
Donald Trump is a fuck-up.
He is afraid to show his tax-returns because he's not really a billionaire.
Donald Trump is a failure.
He is afraid to show his tax-returns because Deutsche Bank has flagged him for money-laundering.
Donald Trump is a fuck-up.
He is so corrupt, he's legally forbidden from running a charity.
Donald Trump is a failure.
He has bragged about grabbing women by the pussy and about peeping on under-age girls.
Donald Trump is a fuck-up.

Donald Trump is a failure.
Donald Trump is a fuck-up.





If THAT is the democratic message, then it is the Democrats who are acting in the messaging-war and it is Trump who is reacting.

THAT is how you get him.

THAT is how to destroy him psychologically.





How will Trump react to neverending accusations that he is a failure and a fuck-up?

He will become even more extreme. He will become so toxic that he will drive voters away.





3 months into Obama's first term, Fox News issued their verdict: This Presidency is over. This is a failed Presidency.

Imagine what Trump will do when the Democrats accuse him of having failed, of being a failure and a fuck-up, and when they segue into the message that WE can do better than THAT.

[greymattermom]

1. Perfect campaign speech.

Just say failure and loser. Keep repeating all of this. Focus on the voter. What really happened to you while he was spending millions of your dollars golfing at his resort and charging you for his vacations?

[MFGsunny]

2. Failed pResidency. Loser pResident. Rinse. Repeat. +1,000,000,000,000 times. n/t

[luvtheGWN]

10. Here are the pertinent questions to ask voters:

1. What has Trump done FOR YOU?

2. What has Trump done TO YOUR COUNTRY?

[global1]

3. They Say The Way To A Man's Heart Is Through His Stomach - Well The Way To Trump's Brain Is ......

through his 'ego'. I love DetlefK's strategy stated in the OP to defeat Trump and drive him absolutely insane - 'point out every chance you get as to how Trump is a complete failure and a loser'.

Listed in the OP are examples of how to get to Trump and there are countless other examples that can be used to further drive the strategy home and make him crazy.

I just love this strategy and I'm going to bookmark this post to be able to come back to it again and again.

This taunting of Trump's failure's should start immediately and be employed by all the Dem candidates and the strategy should be honed to perfection with the identification of the Dem nominee.

If done right the MSM will pick up the chant 'Donald Trump is a failure' and help the Dems drive it home.

This is a great post and needs to be K & R.

[rainin]

4. But none of the dems want to talk about trump. They want to talk about policies.

Republicans have cornered dems -- because republicans are playing a game without rules and democrats are trying to serve the American people. These are incompatible.

Republicans: Dems have no policies. They just want to talk about trump because they sore losers.

Dems: We can't talk about trump, we only talk about our policies.

Result: Trump is immunized as democrats try to run from the criticism instead of embracing it.

STOP RUNNING FROM REPUBLICAN CRITICISM. That goes for you, too, Nancy Pelosi.

[WinstonSmith4740]

7. I think a lot of us tend to agree.

This is not bashing Democrats...this is simply pointing out to them that this is NOT 1972, and those Republicans don't exist anymore. You can't use the same strategies. I'm as impatient as anyone here to see this abomination of a man removed from office, but I think we all understand that you have to build an airtight case...which the Dems will. The only problem is that today's Republican won't care. They'll still support him.

We can't count on voting him out. Remember he was never supposed to win in the first place. With all due respect to Michelle, who I love, we tried going high. We ended up with a fascist in The White House. We have to go at Trump, and go at him hard. In addition to all the other things listed in the OP, I'd add his business failures. His bankruptcies (I live outside of Vegas...how the fuck do you drive a casino into bankruptcy?), his scams, his insurance fraud, money laundering...I'd throw it all out there.

If I could give Nancy one piece of advice, it would be to stop being so genteel. Get in there and start swinging. You're the 3rd most powerful person in this country. Work it.

[Nasruddin]

9. Primaries

Dems running for president need to differentiate themselves, & they are talking to their own.
Hence policy-talk. This is good - for us. (Right now nobody really needs to run against Mr Trump - he's busy running against himself everyday anyway.)

HRC wanted to talk about policy - do you remember any of it getting coverage in 2016? Not much.
Whoever wins the nomination needs to pivot and run strictly against Mr Trump in the general.

I hope they have learned that.

What I'd really like to see is some attention paid to overcoming the Republican majority in the Senate, because without that, there's going to be a big nothing in 2021- . I'm not seeing it. What about you?

[rainin]

23. Ever dem donor needs to

send donations to

1. their preferred Presidential candidate
2. Mitch McConnell's opponent. Amy McGrath?

We can't expect Kentucky dems to raise enough money to defeat Traitor Mitch. He's got dark money coming out of every orifice.

[Ace Rothstein]

12. The 2016 campaign focused way too much on Trump and very little on policies.

85% of Clinton's commercials in 2016 were about Trump, the rest about her policies. Everyone knows who Trump is at this point. Telling people how bad he is isn't going to win any votes.

[rainin]

24. They literally don't know.

They didn't know then and they don't know now. The media did nothing to vet them. It was emails, benghazi, emails, benghazi, bill's affairs, emails, benghazi, and more emails.

There. I just covered the entire 2016 election.

[beastie boy]

17. And rightfully so. It's not the job of the Democratic leadership to engage Trump on his level.

The leadership (their numbers are only in the 100s), especially those running for national offices, must stay above this shit and ignore Trump and his tantrums as much as possible.

We have the DNC and the PACs to go after Trump's ego.

[rainin]

25. Do we have our own Kelly Anne Conway? We should have 10 of her.

[ooky]

19. How about Democrats organizing anti-Trump rallies to hammer on Trump's failures?

The candidates need to talk about policies. But that doesn't prevent the DNC and the PACs from organizing their own anti-Trump rallies. How about doing an anti-Trump rally opposite each of his MAGAt rallies? Especially in key Senate battleground states, where we can tie that state's Republican Senate incumbent into their support and inaction in the wake of Trump's incompetence and destruction.

[certainot]

5. problem with all dem messaging is its up against 1500 coordinated pro-trump radio stations

reaching 50- mil a week and they continuously lie about his accomplishments and the evil and corrupt communists/socialist democrats trying to destroy his fine reign and all the good things he's doing to make america great

dem messaging will be a lot more effective when the left/dems/liberals finally stop ignoring talk radio

[rainin]

26. Do we not have any rich people who can buy radio stations?

I thought all of Hollywood are democrats. Why don't we own 50% of them?

[certainot]

28. imo it's not about competing, it's about fighting a massive putin-friendly propaganda operation that

allows the con/corporate/authoritarian think tanks (and maybe in russia) to use sheer unchallenged repetition and volume to short circuit the feedback mechanisms a democracy needs to function

and it's a 20-1 protected monopoly so it's mom and pop vs wall mart

anyway the business model sucks - the right doesn't mind low profits and even losses if they make trillions in tax breaks, deregulation, global warming denial, etc so analysis would show most of it's not worth it

[2naSalit]

6. Excellent point. Make sure he knows he looks weak

and called a weak failure it's what really gets him off on a tantrum.

[IronLionZion]

8. He built that beautiful wall and brought back the coal mining jobs like he promised.

And he bravely brought back manufacturing from China and sold them rice.

[machoneman]

11. Nice synopsis and to-do list! I agree but we also need all the media all the time saying "LIAR"....

at the top of their lungs. They also need to say he's a "business failure, un-presidential, a racist, a misogynist, a Russian pawn, a minority hater, a white supremacist and more", stated 24/7/365 until the election ,

[beastie boy]

13. Funny thing on a related note: just yesterday I was thinking about how Iran can avoid armed conflict

with the US:

Trump has personal business interests in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Turkey and India. Iran has long range munitions that can target those interests. All Iran has to do is threaten to destroy all of these private interests as their FIRST priority in the armed conflict with the US, and watch the pompous clown fold like a cheap lounge chair.

Here is where I agree: to win against Trump, you have to keep hurting his ego, non-stop, with no mercy. Faster than he can respond to each attack. Nothing gets him pissed more than this. And when he is pissed, he can't control himself, and he can't handle it. He just explodes into illiterate and irrational rage. Raging in front of cameras on a regular basis (and he will surely do it at the expense of addressing real issues) will make Trump a compelling reality TV villain. Just the thing that could turn reality TV sensitivities of Republican voters against him.

[eggplant]

14. this is a great list!

I would gently suggest that a few of the items aren't as strong a message:

He is afraid to show his tax-returns because he's not really a billionaire.
He is afraid to show his tax-returns because Deutsche Bank has flagged him for money-laundering.
He has bragged about grabbing women by the pussy and about peeping on under-age girls.

These ones, "afraid" and "bragged" have already been dealt with in 2016 (how terrible a candidate he was) and aren't a reflection of today (how terrible a president he's been). They're still true, of course, but they didn't stop him from getting elected.

Other than that, they are dispassionate, provable statements that require actual refutation, not just hand waving.

[jayschool2013]

15. We can still use "pathological liar"

Even if we don't enumerate all of his lies.

Failed president.
Pathological liar.

[world wide wally]

16. Good idea... I would caution not talk about "Trump" per se... but about his failures in specific

[global1]

18. We Have To Talk About His Failures And At The Same Time.....

Last edited Wed Jun 19, 2019, 01:25 PM - Edit history (1)

show how - when the Dems get back the power of the Presidency; capture the Senate and hold on to the House - they will turn his failures around to successes by the Dems.

Take Health Care for example: Donald Trump is a failure. His administration is suing in court to take healthcare away from the people. Add to this: The Dems will not only prevent Trump and the Repugs from taking healthcare away from the people - But - they will improve on the ACA and provide a 'Medicare for All' approach to healthcare that will make healthcare a right for all Americans.

In every case - we need to show how Trump and the Repugs failed and go further to show how the Dems will take this failure and turn it around to the benefit of all Americans.

In other words - we can do both - run a campaign against Trump and in concert run a campaign on the issues at the same time.

We have to remember that this is not only all about Trump - it is about the Repugs and McConnell that have enable Trump. We always have to keep in mind that we are also running against the Repugs.

Trump's name will only be on the Presidential portion of the Nov 2020 ballot. All the other important races for the Senate; the House and State and Local races will feature R's running against D's.

If we want to take back the Senate; keep the House and win back State and Local governments from the R's - we have to get the electorate to keep in mind on all those races to vote D and not R.

[world wide wally]

29. exactly...

my thoughts are that Trump lives by that old showbiz adage of I don't care it they talk bad about me as long as they talk about me.

[ooky]

20. Excellent list.

[Politicub]

21. Great observation. He is a liar, yes, but most of all

he is a failure.

I think so much emphasis has been put on his lies that we lose sight of how much of a loser and failure he is.

It will be important to continue to point out his lies. Equally important will be to ruthlessly talk about his failed administration and what an absolute failure he is personally.

[global1]

22. What Differentiates This 2020 Run From His 2016 Run Is That We Learned A Lot About Trump.....

since then. Back in 2016 he told us what a success he was and we believed him. After all he was on TV and portrayed himself as a credible spokesperson. It was a new act by a new actor - unfamiliar to us as a political entity.

What we learned since then is how he lies and we now believe that he is a pathological liar. His failures and his weasely words to place the blame anywhere but on him have amplified his failures in most peoples minds except his. He works both sides of his creation of the term 'fake'news' to what he thinks is his advantage. The only difference now is that we know he does that - we got his number - know his act - that he's the consummate con man. His act is getting stale - like a magician whose tricks are revealed because his slight of hand isn't as good as it used to be.

We now go with that knowledge into the 2020 election. With the knowledge that his cons don't work like they used to. His lies are so blatant that we know that they're lies. And as a result his failures loom big.

His lies and cons are catching up with him. Like I said above - we got his number. The American People gave him his chance and he failed. This failure and his lies will be his undoing.

We're going into 2020 with this new knowledge and we're going to beat him in 2020. He's finished. No amount of rallies. No amount of his telling us of his greatness will change that now. He's done!!!!
He's cooked!!! He's revealed himself as a loser and a failure.

[saidsimplesimon]

27. Excellent post, Destroy him psychologically.

[stopbush]

30. But to tRump supporters, tRump calling people names, pissing off the libtards

and lying and getting away with it IS DOING SOMETHING. It is exactly what they want tRump to do because it is exactly what they themselves do in their lives. They don’t have the power to pass laws or enact policies, but they DO have the power to name call, to piss off libs and to lie to themselves and others.

THIS is how they identify with him. It has nothing to do with policies or promises. It has to do with him being just as big a racist/idiot as them.

[gristy]

31. Yes, excellent. Force him to respond. Put him on defense.

And as you say, don't fact-check or even respond to his lies.