When Hillary Clinton gave a foreign policy speech a couple of weeks ago, what surprised me about it was the way she approached the issue of Donald Trump. It was really her first post-primary speech, focused on beating Trump rather than beating Bernie Sanders, and I guess I expected that she would contrast her foreign policy ideas and experience with Trump's ideas and lack of experience. But the way she went about it was unusual: she stated her own positions, but when it came to Trump, she really did not acknowledge that he
had any positions. Instead of treating him like a political rival, she made him out to be a clown, a fake, a charlatan, a liar, a buffoon, a man who has no idea what he is doing.
It's a great approach, and one that you knew some pundits and surrogates would take. I just did not expect to see Hillary come out swinging like that right off the bat. It's clear that some clever people in her campaign have decided that is the way to go, rather than acknowledge Trump as a legitimate politician. I see a few advantages to her taking the position that Trump is not even fit to run for President:
- It's true.
- It's a narrative that the press can run with. Keep pounding the idea that Trump is in over his head, way over his head, and the press will look for examples and run with the idea, and they will find plenty of examples that fit right into the story line. With any luck, this will be the way voters see Donald Trump by election time.
- I bet there are a lot of people and a lot of incidents from Trump's past that will fit right into this story and will keep coming out of the woodwork between now and November. He has made some enemies over time, and now is their chance to speak out.
In an era when everything a candidate does or says, or has ever done or said, is fair game for media scrutiny, there has never been a more vulnerable candidate than Donald Trump. With a past full of questionable personal behavior and shady business dealings, a severe lack of political knowledge, and a propensity for saying dumb things, Trump is the mother load of negative campaign stories just waiting to be written.
Just since the Orlando nightclub massacre, Trump has:
- Called on President Obama to resign due to the shootings (?)
- Congratulated himself on predicting radical Islamic violence. (By the way, has anyone noticed that the attack in Orlando was not due to radical Islam so much as homophobia? Just because the guy claimed solidarity with ISIS at the last moment does not really make him a part of their movement.)
- Implied that President Obama was in league with terrorists.
- Blamed immigration laws for the shootings, even though the shooter was born in the US and was 29 years old. Trump decided we should not have let the guy's parents in the country.
- Said that Muslims know who the Muslim terrorists in this country are (and are not telling.)
- Claimed that thousands of refugees are getting into the country without any vetting. In fact refugees are vetted more extensively than just about any immigrants.
You never know. Republicans are not going to sit back and watch this happen. But I think the Trump candidacy could easily become a dumpster fire, with everybody and his mama looking into Trump's past, jumping on every mistake he makes, and generally making him out to be an unprepared, bumbling goof who somehow finds himself running for President, like some Adam Sandler movie only not funny, which is actually just like Adam Sandler movies.
We will see, but I think it is just going to get worse from here.
