Unconventional Wisdom

A common complaint of the last eight years has been that the media establishment -- not to mention the Democratic Party -- continue to normalize the antidemocratic and authoritarian ravings of the Republican Party in general, and of its standard-bearer in particular. Note to Democrats, Independents, and even Republicans -- especially those who have had enough of the antics and the chaos: You cannot use the traditional playbook, and its social niceties, when the opposing candidate has thrown everything in the gutter. Common decency and the customary social decorum? Sorry, but this is not how you will win this election.

Let's start with the obvious: Trump is not normal. He is not a normal candidate, and he is not by any stretch of the imagination a normal person. (Donald, if you and your campaign are reading this: that's not a compliment. Rules, including the rules of decorum and diplomacy, exist for a reason. You're not actually that smart.) So let's stop pretending that just because he is going to be the Republican candidate this cycle, we should treat him as a normal candidate and accord him the same respect and privileges that traditionally attach. No. No! He is a convicted felon; he stands accused -- very credibly -- of mishandling national security information; he is also under indictment, in two jurisdictions, for conspiring to overthrow the results of the 2020 election. These are not small things, and we should not magick them away simply because an entire political party would rather sink the nation, if they can call the shots, than abide by the rules and institutions that have guided us for 250 years. (Republicans: you only think you're going to call the shots. Your nominee has demonstrated, time and time again, that he doesn't really give a damn about you. You think you can cut him loose, but you can't. He won't think twice about cutting you loose, though.)

Another elephant in the room: Biden's performance in the CNN debate has sent both the Democratic back room and chattering classes into a kind of sugar-fueled frenzy, speculating wildly about replacing the candidate. Memo to the New York Times editorial board: it's never going to happen, and if it does it will be an electoral disaster. (Don't think for a moment that Trump will thank you. His memory isn't that long, and anyway he doesn't care.) Biden shouldn't have even proposed the debate, but that damage has been done and the job now is to contain it -- and throwing the candidate overboard is not damage control. So let's jump ahead to the next debate, and how Biden should -- and should not -- prepare for it.

Conventional wisdom says that you don't acknowledge your opponent; you don't mention his name; you don't talk about his positions. You talk about yourself: your policy positions, your achievements while in office, the things you want to accomplish in the next term. You show empathy with the voters: you understand their needs, their pain, their worries. You demonstrate a command of the issues, of the law, of history, of facts. Conventional wisdom is for normal times, and normal candidates, and normal political parties. These are not normal times, and the Republican Party and its candidate are anything but normal players in our democratic system. So instead of tossing your candidate overboard: dump the conventional wisdom, It's not going to help -- and it's what got Biden and his campaign team in trouble.

Here's the unconventional wisdom: Focus on Trump. Make every question about Trump. Make every answer about Trump. Use your opening statement to catalog the things Trump has done. Remind voters about all the things Trump didn't do. Ask Trump (since the moderators are evidently too timid and too polite) what he was doing for those three hours that the Capitol was under attack. Then recount the witness testimony of what he was doing: watching television in his dining room, and agreeing with the "Hang Mike Pence" chant. Don't just tell us how awful and abnormal his behavior is: show us.

Show us how he made a laughing stock of the United States. Show us how, under Trump, people suffered. Show us how foreign leaders -- including our closest allies -- began making plans for a world without the United States. Show us how we've gone from being the Indispensable Nation to the Unreliable Ally. Remind us that NATO is an alliance, not a protection racket; and that the President of the United States must be a statesman and diplomat; and that diplomats and American presidents do not use the cadences and vernacular of mob bosses. High office demands dignity, and dignity is more than temporarily straightening out of your slouch, sucking in your gut, and saying, "See? Dignified!"

Remind us that this election is not for student body president, and that this is no place for the cool kids, the party kids, the popular kids, and -- especially -- the bullies, the obnoxious blusterers whose bravado fronts for cowardice.

The best debate prep for Biden, in September, is not three days at Camp David studying briefing books and facing Bob Bauer as a mock-Trump. Instead of three days, spend two hours in the White House screening room rewatching "The American President." There's plenty there you can use. (I've cited some examples here, here, and here. There are plenty more.)

And for the rest of us, who were wigging out late Wednesday night: try to relax. Here's some post-game commentary that you probably haven't already heard, but it's well worth taking in:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/GgjyHwQOUoo?si=XPBq66UxQax5zWdm