One of the most infuriating things about the unlikely rise of Donald Trump is how hard it is to publicly oppose him. As he whittled his way through the fifteen other Republicans for the nomination back during the primary campaign, their frustration was almost palpable: his childish bullying and insults had to answered to, but there was no easy way. Calling him a liar and a bully just seemed to make him double down, while ignoring him looked weak. When Senator Marco Rubio attempted some childish insults of his own, none of them sticked. And Hillary Clinton, of course, ran into the same problem during the campaign. At one point she said that “to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it.” This statement was treated as a huge misstep, practically a scandal. Meanwhile, Trump would say things like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were the co founders of ISIS, or lead chants of "Lock her up" at his rallies, and there was just an acceptance of Trump being Trump.
America really wasn't ready for a candidate like Trump; how does one shame a man who clearly has never felt shame in anything he has ever done in his entire life. No other political figure has lied so openly and so often, refusing to stop and demanding that his version of reality is the absolute truth through sheer force of will. And who's misogynistic and bigoted statements are not only accepted but actually cheered on by his base who see those characteristics as features and not bugs. While I always bristle at people on either side of the political fence comparing the other side to Adolf Hitler, I do think it's fair to say that Trump is the the closest thing to an outright fascist that this country has ever had. From his strongman statements ("I alone can fix it!"), to his admiration of dictators like Kim Jong Un and Rodrigo Duterte, to his attacks on the free press (“What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”), this man sees himself in almost god like terms.
So how do you fight against someone like that? Recently, Senator Elizabeth Warren tried something that backfired: she got a DNA test proving that she may have some Native American relatives in her past. Why? Because when she worked at Yale, the school mentioned that she was the first woman of color to get tenure, citing her Native American ancestry. For this, she was roundly mocked by conservatives, and Trump, never one to pass up a chance to use a bigoted insult, began calling her "Pocahontas" repeatedly. He even offered to give a million dollars to charity if she would take a DNA test proving her heritage. Warren's attempt to call his bluff backfired because she didn't run the test by some Native American groups, who, not surprisingly, were not thrilled about her using their culture as a political football. Meanwhile, the president just kept insulting her, shrugging off her demand to give the promised money to charity, which was to be expected by such an intrinsically dishonest man. Basically, her attempt to sink to his level and wrestle with the Trump pig just left her muddy.
Personally, I think the last thing that the Democrats should do is try to out Trump Trump. Consider that Clinton lost partly due to interference by the Russians, combined with that memo to congress from James Comey that revived her email scandal just days before the election. And she still won the popular vote by around three million. Really, it was an absurd bank shot of narrow victories in the right states that propelled Trump to the White House. And his approval ratings have never been particularly high, even with the current strong economy. Remember that America elected Barack Obama twice because he was smart, capable, charismatic and honest; he never took the low road in either election. So let Trump lie, brag and bloviate to his base; meanwhile find a candidate for 2020 who can appeal to the same people that voted for Obama (like Senator Kamala Harris, or perhaps Warren herself if she can get beyond this silly story), and hope that the Russians don't find a way to hack the election again.
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