Rubin, WaPo: How Biden can rattle Trump

[highplainsdem]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/04/26/biden-can-show-whys-hes-best-equipped-beat-trump/

Wary of making the race all about Donald Trump (as Hillary Clinton was criticized for doing in 2016), the 2020 Democratic presidential primary contenders have gone to the other extreme — rarely mentioning the president and engaged in a bidding war among themselves for the affections of the progressive base. As a result, they have made it harder for voters to determine who will be the most effective at rattling Trump and exposing his betrayal of the working-class and rural voters who supported him.

-snip-

Joe Biden isn’t going to fall into that trap. Already leading in the stature department thanks to eight years as President Barack Obama’s vice president, he seems itching to remind voters that he is the son of Scranton, Pa., the Obama running mate who shredded Paul Ryan in the 2012 VP debate and the heart-on-his sleeve patriot. (“The core values of this nation, our standing in the world, our very democracy, everything that has made America, America, is at stake. ... Folks, America’s an idea, an idea that’s stronger than any army, bigger than any ocean, more powerful than any dictator or tyrant. It gives hope to the most desperate people on Earth; it guarantees that everyone is treated with dignity and gives hate no safe harbor. It instills in every person in this country the belief that no matter where you start in life, there’s nothing you can’t achieve if you work at it.”)

Voters who watch Biden’s announcement could picture Biden turning to Trump and scolding him that there aren’t “very fine people” on the neo-Nazi side or going after him for lying about a super-duper health-care plan and falsely promising that plants in Ohio wouldn’t close and that a trade war would be easy to win. The mix of disdain and disgust that Biden evidences when talking about Trump not only channels what Democratic voters are feeling but also serves as a coming-attractions reel for the general election.

-snip-

By putting Trump on defense, showing Democratic primary voters just how scrappy he is, using his foreign-policy credentials and displaying the empathy and decency that he is well-known for, Biden might provoke Trump and thereby make himself the de facto Democratic pugilist against Trump. If by some miracle Trump restrains himself, Biden will nevertheless show that he can land body blows and make it that much harder for Republicans to defend the president.

-snip-

[empedocles]

1. Yes. While remembering 'the Soul of America'

[Prosper]

2. Wrong tack.

Sounds like cheering on the same strategy that destroyed 15 Republican hopefuls in 2016. Trump can't be beat by shaming or embarrassing or showing how monstrous he is. Michelle Obama had it right but nobody listened to her. Saturday Night Live nailed it right before the election.

[Demsrule86]

3. Different race.

[ancianita]

4. No, but Biden is great at the smiling mockery and jokey attack. The very stuff Trump hates.

Hell, I bet he'd provoke Trump taking a swing at him.

Here's the "Seriously?" look

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The mockery smirk.

The slam.

The malarky sign

The "Yeah, he's a dumbass" to the audience look.

[OhZone]

14. Yup Biden destroyed his attempted Gish Gallop easily! nt

[UniteFightBack]

5. If that's wrong then what is right? nt

[Gothmog]

6. Trump is afraid of Joe Biden

[DrToast]

10. Agree.

[question everything]

7. It worked in the midterm

The idea was to run on issue that were, still are, important to voters, suburban white women, like healthcare. And, of course, Trump was not running.

I think that running a positive campaign, what one would like to do is better. And yet, Hillary's numbers were turned when she did attacked Trump: his bankrupt declaration, his temperament, his demeaner5.

[Prosper]

9. Hillary's numbers.

There is tainted polling data throughout the 2016 campaign. It is the Bradley effect on both candidates. People weren't truthful to pollsters about both candidates. Some Trump supporters did not want to be associated with Trump publicly and lied to the pollsters. The opposite was true with Hillary. People that didn't support Hillary were reluctant to voice opposition to her. Hillary was polling a landslide winner and her campaign reflected celebrating victory rather than taking seriously the worst candidate to run in the history of this country. Trump had a compelling unexplained attraction affecting what became to be his core support. His base had a maternal perception of him and nothing would dissuade them. That has not changed. The midterms reflected addressing the needs of the people. Trump won by addressing the needs of the people. Unless he is in jail he will make that same appeal. The Democratic plan has to be the same reinforced by our history of supporting the middle class. The Democratic message has to be healthcare and living wage and making America Fair. Those are the votes that are up for grabs.

[NYMinute]

13. Hillary won the popular vote by 3 million

She lost by about 72,000 votes in three states, mainly because Democratic voters were poisoned to either not vote for her, vote third party or write-in Bernie Sanders.

[Cha]

8. Yeah, Hillary may have been

"criticized for making the race all about trump" but that's not what she did.

They were tons of LIES about Hillary from All Directions.

And, we know.. trumpeople have read this and Biden, too.

So Jennifer Rubin is making trump Furious!

[NYMinute]

12. The lies about Hillary from our own side were the most despicable. nt

[NYMinute]

11. Biden is a master of quick-witted zingers

His "noun, verb and 9-11" mocked Giuliani to Giuliani's detriment.

Trump is far more fertile to generate zingers against.