Ever since Donald Trump came down that escalator, nicknames have been part of his election strategy.
While I think the practice has grown old and now seems childish, Joe Biden's campaign has decided to rip that page out of Trump's playbook and is now using the same strategy against Donald Trump.
Talking Points…
- Trump nicknames
- Joe steals the page from Trump's playbook
- Analysis
Trump has issued nearly 100 nicknames to his opponents, media organizations, and random groups of people, including himself. This has become such a staple for Trump that that there is now a Wikipedia page dedicated to tracking his name-calling.
This all started during the 2016 campaign when Trump started calling Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) "Lyin' Ted." Trump also called Marco Rubio "Little Marco." Then he started taking aim at Hillary Clinton, who has four nicknames of her own from Trump. Once Trump got into office, anyone who crossed him or said something negative got a name.
This went nuclear during the impeachments, as Trump focused on Schiff and Pelosi. When the next election rolled around, Biden and Bernie Sanders found themselves getting tagged with all kinds of interesting nicknames. While many people have grown tired of the practice, Trump's base still eats it up, so Trump keeps firing off the names and they keep laughing.
Joe Biden is now trying to take a page from Trump's book by tagging Donald Trump with a nickname. In an email that went out this week, Biden's campaign called Donald Trump "Broke Don." The email stated:
"Trump can't raise money, isn't campaigning, and is letting convicts and conspiracy theorists run his campaign."
Political strategists are already recommending that Biden back off this angle, as it will surely not work as well for him as it has for Trump, not to mention Biden is setting up Trump for a massive comeback because Biden is now stealing his "thing." One analyst stated:
"The Biden team's instinct to earn free media, try to get under his skin, and go on offense is the right one. But mimicking Trump has been done before and has never really worked.
"You can't out-Trump Trump because he's the original version. I would say they need to be more creative in producing their own original and unique strategy to bring him down a peg that shocks and awes."
Bruce Mehlman, a former official under President George W. Bush, also commented on this, using a quote from Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw:
"George Bernard Shaw famously advised 'never wrestle with a pig because you'll both get dirty and the pig likes it.'"
I agree with the experts on this one, mostly because I have seen and heard the exhaustion from voters over Trump issuing these nicknames. The routine has gotten old, so it surely will not stick with Biden getting into this game this late. I honestly don't believe this strategy would work for anyone other than Trump right now, so Biden would be advised to give this one up before it backfires against him.
