In between tweeting, (like a schoolgirl), golfing (like an addict), and whining/blaming (like a baby), Trump is preparing to use the presidential debates to attack Joe Biden, as he so often does when he feels exposed and insecure. What threatens his ego the most is the comparison between him and a more competent, accomplished man. So instead of focusing on formulating a national plan to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing the failing economy, and trying to solve racial inequality, he is probably spending time thinking of immature, mono-syllabic, derogatory names to call Biden. Additionally, he is perhaps formulating lies to reduce his culpability in the disasters befalling Americans because of his opportunism and incompetence.
Specific strategies in the debate environment come to mind that Joe Biden should employ. Biden must remember to talk slow when expressing himself. When he talks too fast, he stutters and is prone to misspeak and this will play into Trump’s attack against Biden’s mental ability to be President. The Vice-President must be ready to target Trump’s insecurities and failures. Trump, by nature, is an angry, aggressive person. He is used to people backing down from his verbal attacks. The truth is, if Trump wasn’t so tall, fat, and loud, his attacks would carry zero fear factor.
His lack of skill at being able to state his opinion and contrast it to another point of view without being derogatory or dishonest reveals both his insecurities and incompetence. In those failed moments of discourse, he stages a fight, hoping his bravado will drown out the ridiculousness of what he is saying. This tactic has worked for him for two main reasons; 1) being President, he is protected by the mere status of the office, and 2) the Republican party is controlled by Tea Party hypocrites who defend even the most criminal and embarrassing blunders he makes. However, the following strategies could throw Trump off of his game because they push back in ways that target his psychological weak points;
STRATEGIES:
- IN RESPONSE TO A LIE OR DISPLAY OF INCOMPETENCE, BIDEN COULD SAY NOTHING, PAUSE WITH A LONG, COMEDIC STARE INTO THE CAMERA, SHRUG SHOULDERS, SMIRK, LOOK AT HIS WATCH (I.E., WHAT AN IDIOT LOOK)
- A BLANK STARE PAIRED WITH, “OK, MY TURN, NOW FOR SOME SUBSTANCE.”
- DURING A COMPLETE TRUMP LIE, BIDEN COULD SAY “YOU ARE LYING, WE ALL KNOW IT, AND YOU ARE EMBARRASSING YOURSELF AND THE OFFICE.”
- WHEN TRUMP’S INTERRUPTS AND RANTS, SAY, “ONCE YOU STOP THE CIRCUS-BARKING, THEN I WILL SPEAK.”
- BRING HIS ANGER AND BELLIGERENCE TO THE ATTENTION OF THE AUDIENCE AND SAY, “IF YOU NOTICE I AM TALKING LIKE A RATIONALLY, LIKE A PROFESSIONAL AND YOU ARE KEEPS BLAMING AND ATTACKING. IS THAT YOUR INSECURITY, LACK OF IMPULSE CONTROL, OR IS THIS TOPIC BEYOND YOUR KNOWLEDGE?”
When Trump is disarmed, he becomes more incoherent and incapable of managing his emotions. He gets belligerent when asked a question he doesn’ t want to answer. When he fears he is being proved wrong, he goes on the attack. How can anyone justify someone as emotionally unstable as Trump fit to be President?
Despite his attempt to lie and rage his way into a second term, the upcoming debates may bring about the plunging of Trump’s poll numbers. He sounds crazier every day touting conspiracy theories. Last night, he called into the ultra-conservative Lou Dobbs show and agreed to pursue any agenda Dobbs may have related to UFO’s. He became a fan this week of the wacky doctor pushing hydroxychloroquine as a COVID cure (this doctor also believes alien DNA is being used to make people less religious). These are facts, and the reality that the President thinks this way or will agree with any wacko he thinks will win him votes is terrifying.
The Lincoln Project, a Republican anti-Trump movement say Trump’s psychological problems are known and predictable and therefore render him weak when an opponent knows how to push into those frailties. His inability to see into the future and his inability to cope with criticism is what enables anyone to get under his skin and throw him off balance emotionally. If Biden keeps Trump’s psychological weaknesses in mind, he will be able to trigger Trump’s impulsive reactivity during the debates. In those moments of insecure, angry, emotional reaction, Trump’s inadequacies and unfitness for office become most apparent.
Based on recent remarks about Biden, it is clear Trump is preparing to attack the Vice-President’s mental acuity, call him “sleepy and corrupt,” and label him an extension of everything wrong about Obama and his legacy. He is also dog-whistling to the suburbs that Biden is against law enforcement, wants to defund it, and that neighborhoods will be unsafe under a Biden administration. As a response to these adverse claims, Biden must respond with a variety of reactions that will expose Trump’s lying, hypocrisy, incompetence, and insecurities.
Biden could open the debate with this statement;
“FOLKS, WHEN YOU GET BIDEN, YOU GET A FAITHFUL FAMILY MAN, AN AUTHENTIC MAN OF FAITH, A MAN FREE OF CRIMINAL ALLEGATIONS AND LAWSUITS, AND A MAN WHO ASSOCIATES WITH DECENT PEOPLE, NOT CRIMINALS. YOU GET A MAN WHO UNDERSTANDS THE CONSTITUTION AND HAS NEVER BEEN ACCUSED OF VIOLATING IT. YOU GET A MAN WHO HAS DEEP COMPASSION AND TALKS ABOUT THE PLIGHT OF THOSE WHO GRIEVE, THOSE WHO ARE DISABLED, THE POOR, THOSE WHO ARE FLEEING HUMAN RIGHTS ATROCITIES, THOSE WHO SEEK THE AMERICAN DREAM, THOSE WHO SUFFER RACIAL INJUSTICE, AND ALL DECENT AMERICANS WHO WANT WHAT IS RIGHT FOR THEMSELVES, THEIR FAMILIES, THEIR COUNTRY, THEIR AND FELLOW COUNTRYMEN.”
Questions Biden can ask Trump in the flow of their debate discourse;
- Why haven’t you released your taxes? “Given that you did not divest yourself from your businesses, it is essential to prove to the American people that you are not doing business with foreign countries while trying to enact foreign policy in the best interest of the United States.”
- Why haven’t you discussed the Russian bounty killer intelligence with Vladimir Putin? “To prove that you are not afraid of Putin, or compromised by Russia in any way, why don’t you defend our intelligence community over Putin’s word?”
- Why did you wish accused sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, “good luck” after her arrest?
- Why do you keep intervening in legal proceedings involving your friends who have been convicted of felonies against the United States Constitution?
- Why do you lie so much, especially about issues that can be easily fact-checked?
- How can you be against vote-by-mail when you have used it many times in the past?
- Why are you continually suing people and asking for NDA’s from most people you come in contact with?
- Would you be willing to compete with me on our knowledge of the Constitution and the Bible? If not, why?
If Trump’s fear of humiliation is triggered during the debates, America may witness one of the most uncomfortable meltdowns of a man who should never have been elected President of the United States.
