Title : Elizabeth Warren must attack Trump FROM THE RIGHT
link : Elizabeth Warren must attack Trump FROM THE RIGHT
Elizabeth Warren must attack Trump FROM THE RIGHT
Elizabeth Warren has discovered that Bernie Sanders is a made-in-Moscow backstabber -- half Roger Stone, half Jeremy Corbyn.“I was disappointed to hear that Bernie is sending his volunteers out to trash me,” Ms. Warren, of Massachusetts, said. “I hope Bernie reconsiders and turns his campaign in a different direction.”Sorry Liz. You can't expect anything from a pig but a grunt.
After months of studiously avoiding any negative words about Mr. Sanders, Ms. Warren went on to cite the divisiveness of the 2016 primary race between Mr. Sanders and Hillary Clinton, implying it had helped President Trump. “We all saw the impact of the factionalism in 2016, and we can’t have a repeat of that,” she warned. “Democrats need to unite our party and that means pulling in all parts of the Democratic coalition.”
Bernie won't change. Dividing the party is his shtick. And never forget: He's the candidate that Trump wants to face.
Many pundits believe that Warren, like Sanders, is too far to the left. I would like to suggest a strategy which would instantly deep-six that perception -- a strategy which, if enacted cannily, would not alienate Warren's progressive fans.
Attack Trump from the right. Attack him on the economy.
This is, in fact, the mode of attack that every Democrat should pursue. The Republicans have taught us that the way to win is attack an opponent's perceived strength.
The term "swiftboating" came into common parlance in 2004, when an astroturf group called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" assailed Joh Kerry's war record. It was pretty damned audacious for the backers of George W. Bush -- who dodged service in Vietnam -- to attack the war record of a hero like John Kerry. But the trick worked.
A similarly audacious trick worked earlier, in 1988, when the elder Bush (a plutocrat) assailed Michael Dukakis (the working class son of an immigrant family) an elitist.
Trump's greatest strength right now is the economy. Instead of changing the subject, Dems should pound him on that score.
And how can they do that? Look to the Vice Presidential debate of 1988, when a questioner asked Lloyd Bentsen (Dukakis' running mate) how the Dems could hope to prevail when the economic news looked so rosy. Bentsen offered this classic answer:
"If you let me write $200 billion of hot checks every year, I could give you an illusion of prosperity, too."
Lloyd Bentsen attacked Reagan from the right. And his words were literally inarguable: Dan Quayle had no real riposte, and neither did the Republican talking heads who tried to spin the post-debate debate.
Reagan had come into office promising fiscal responsibility. Bentsen reminded the country that Reagan had actually run up a national debt which greatly exceeded the sum total of debt accumulated by all of predecessors put together. In 1988 -- as I recall well -- most citizens (even the conservative ones) had an uneasy feeling that the economy was built on an illusion, that we were living on an ever-expanding pile of credit cards.
If only Dukakis had sounded the same theme more formidably and frequently! Throughout that campaign season, I practically screamed at the TV every time Dukakais' face appeared: "C'mon, Mike. Lloyd showed you how to do it. HOT CHECKS. HOT CHECKS. Keep using the term HOT CHECKS."
It should be noted that, after Bentsen got in that memorable shot, Bush the elder did not run on the slogan "We're the party of prosperity." Instead, he ran on Willie Horton, "family values" (remember that one?) and -- sweartagod -- the Pledge of Allegiance. (If you weren't alive in 1988, you don't know just how inane that election was.)
I believe that Warren should resurrect Bentsen's argument. She should use the exact same words: HOT CHECKS. Maybe that phrase is a little dated, because fewer people write checks nowadays, but I believe that Bentsen's words still posses the power to instill a helpful sense of psychic unease.
Yeah, the job numbers are pretty darn good right now. But does anyone feel truly secure? We're all living on HOT CHECKS -- and deep down, everyone knows it. With the recklessness that marked his approach to business (and resulted in five or six bankruptcies), Trump has run up the most dizzying debt in history. Four trillion dollars' worth, last I looked. Trump has dwarfed the figure that Bentsen used.
Even this president's most fervent supporters understand that the debt has skyrocketed, although the Trumpkins will never admit it.
The only modern president who kept the economy booming while simultaneously taking the government out of the red was Bill Clinton. Clinton ran a yearly surplus, and he had us on a course which would have eradicated the debt altogether (which would have resulted in much lower taxes). Most young people don't know about Clinton's most important accomplishment. We've allowed the Republicans to toss an all-important piece of economic history down the memory hole.
Warren is the best person to lead this kind of attack precisely because she has been decried as a big spender. The Republicans will accuse her of hypocrisy: "How dare YOU call US spendthrifts?"
Her response should begin with the sentiment she has already made famous: "I am a capitalist to my core." Then she should say words similar to these:
"I have put in many long hours figuring out how to pay for every program I have proposed. If anyone else proves that these calculations are wrong -- if it turns out that the budget won't allow for these ideas -- then I just won't do them. I refuse to do what Trump has done. I refuse to run up reckless debts which will endanger our future. Prosperity is an illusion if our children have to pay for it. Trump is just another Bernie Madoff."
Neither the Republicans nor Warren's progressive supporters will have an easy time finding grounds for complaint about this statement. Nobody wants to argue in favor of recklessness.
That statement will position Warren to Trump's right. It will deliver a body blow to the "I gave you prosperity" argument. This mode of attack will play to our collective memory of Trump's history of overspending and live-for-the-moment risk-taking.
Best of all, the Republicans will defend themselves they way they always do -- by arguing that the best way to eradicate debt is not to raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy but to restrict entitlements.
That's what we want them to say. We want to see libertarians on Fox News rail against the evils of Social Security and Medicare. The libertarians won't be able to stop themselves from going after Social Security. They're like dogs chasing after squirrels; they can't restrain themselves.
The moment that happens is the moment I'll start believing that the Dems have a serious chance of winning in 2020.
To sum up:
1. The best strategy is to attack Trump's greatest strength.
2. Use the phrase HOT CHECKS HOT CHECKS HOT CHECKS.
3. The best person to launch that attack is Elizabeth Warren.
Thus Article Elizabeth Warren must attack Trump FROM THE RIGHT
That's an article Elizabeth Warren must attack Trump FROM THE RIGHT This time, hopefully can give benefits to all of you. well, see you in posting other articles.
You are now reading the article Elizabeth Warren must attack Trump FROM THE RIGHT with the link address https://darmonewst.blogspot.com/2020/01/elizabeth-warren-must-attack-trump-from.html
0 Response to "Elizabeth Warren must attack Trump FROM THE RIGHT"
Post a Comment