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A LESSON FOR DEMOCRATS: WORDS CAN BE WEAPONS: PART TWO (END)

In Bureaucracy, History, Humor, Politics, Social commentary on September 11, 2025 at 12:10 am

Pulitzer-Prize winning author David Halberstam summed up the effectiveness of 1950s Republicans’ smear tactics in his monumental 1972 study of the origins of the Vietnam War, The Best and the Brightest:

“But if they did not actually stick, and they did not, [Joseph McCarthy’s] charges had an equally damaging effect: They poisoned. Where there was smoke, there must be fire. He wouldn’t be saying these things [voters reasoned] unless there was something to it.”

Joseph McCarthy

As a whole, Democrats have proven indifferent to or ignorant of the power of effective language.

Donald Trump solicited Russian Communist aid to win the Presidency in 2016 and Chinese Communist aid to retain it in 2020.

Yet Democrats refused to directly accuse him of treason, as in:

“TrumPutin”
“Commissar-in-Chief”
“Putin’s Poodle”
“Red Donald”
“Putin’s Puppet”

The Kremlin

Similarly, the news media has not dared state the obvious: That Trump moved boxes of classified documents to his Mar-a-Lago estate to sell them to America’s enemies in exchange for huge sums to pay his upcoming legal bills.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump repeatedly lied about its lethality and opposed the use of masks and social distancing to combat it. As a result, 400,000 Americans had died by the time he left office.

Yet no Democrat has dared label him “Coronavirus-in-Chief.”

Nor has the news media directly held him accountable for those deaths.

Tyrants are conspicuously vulnerable to ridicule. Yet in this YouTube-obsessed age, Democrats have proven unable or unwilling to make use of this powerful weapon.

For example, Trump’s well-established “bromance” with Vladimir Putin could be turned into a parody of the famous song, “Johnny B. Good”:

Way back inside the Kremlin where the lights glow red
There ruled a man named Putin who would poison you dead.
He came up with a plan to make his Russia great
And all it took was bribes and Republican hate.
And Trumpy was a man who couldn’t read or spell
But he could sell out his land just like he’s ringing a bell.

Many of Trump’s fiercest defenders in the House and Senate have taken “campaign contributions” (i.e., bribes) from Russian oligarchs linked to Putin. They could be pointedly attacked by turning the Muppet song, “The Rainbow Connection,” into “The Russian Connection.”

Why are there so many tales about Russians
And Right-wingers taking bribes?
Russians are Commies and have lots of rubles
For traitors with something to hide.

So I’ve been told and some choose to believe it
It’s clear as the old KGB.
Someday we’ll find it
The Russian Connection—
The bribers, the traitors—you’ll see.

Kristi Noem, Trump’s Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, became infamous in 2024 for bragging about shooting her 14-month-old wirehair pointer, “Cricket.” A parody of Marty Robbins’ hit “Big Iron” could easily be turned into a musical indictment of animal cruelty:

Now the woman started talking
Made it plain to folks around
Was a South Dakota Governor
Wouldn’t be too long in town.

She came here to take a doggie
On a hunt or shoot it dead.
And she said it didn’t matter
She was after Cricket’s head—
After Cricket’s head.

A continuing theme among Republican politicians is that they are paragons of religious virtue, while Democrats are champions of Satan.

Yet Democrats have done nothing to publicize such truths as:

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is a serial adulterer.
Former Speaker Dennis Hastert is a convicted sodomizer of teenage boys.
Josh Duggar, a Right-wing star of the high-rated “reality” series, 19 Kids and Counting, has been sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment for possessing child pornography.
Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, has boasted: “Marriage is a wonderful thing and I’m a firm believer in it.” Yet she engaged in open affairs with at least two members of her local gym—for which Perry Greene has divorced her.

Most Americans don’t follow political news closely—and know nothing of such revelations.

Moreover, Democrats need to repeatedly advertise such facts—to counter Republicans’ constant claims of being the moral arbiters of America. And this needs to be done through major advertising campaigns on TV—where most Americans get their news about politics.

Throughout 2016, liberals celebrated on Facebook and Twitter the “certain” Presidency of former First Lady Hillary Clinton. They were cheered on by First Lady Michelle Obama’s naive advice on political tactics: “When they go, we go high.”

Meanwhile, Donald Trump planned to subvert the 2016 election by Russian Intelligence agents and millions of Russian trolls flooding the Internet with legitimately fake news.

History has proven which tactics proved superior.

It’s long past time for Democrats to accept that they—and the country’s democratic traditions—are engaged in a death-match with their Republican opponents.

Only certain defeat is guaranteed by adhering to Marquis of Queensbury when your enemy is using brass knuckles.

For Democrats to win elective victories and preserve America’s democratic traditions, they must find their own George Pattons to confront the Waffen-SS generals among Republican ranks.

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A LESSON FOR DEMOCRATS: WORDS CAN BE WEAPONS: PART ONE (OF TWO)

In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on September 10, 2025 at 12:18 am

Donald Trump is furious. The man who sticks humiliating nicknames on people he hates has had one stuck on him: TACO.

Or: “Trump Always Chickens Out.”

The TACO nickname was coined in May, 2025, by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong. It refers to Trump’s practice of spooking the market with his tariff threats before ultimately backing off, prompting them to rebound.

The nickname went national on May 28, when CNBC’s Megan Casella alluded to Trump’s repeated tariff threats while asking him about the “TACO trade” theory:

“Mr. President, Wall Street analysts have coined a new term called the TACO trade. They’re saying Trump always chickens out on your tariff threats and that’s why markets are higher this week. What’s your response to that?”

“I’ve never heard that,” said Trump. “You mean because I reduced China from 145 percent that I set down to 100, and then down to another number, and I said you have to open up your whole country? And because I gave the European Union a 50 percent tax—tariff—and they called up and said, ‘Please let’s meet right now.'”

And then came the explosion: “But don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question. To me, that’s the nastiest question.”

According to an unidentified source for CNN: “It clearly bothered him, primarily because it demonstrated a lack of understanding about how he actually utilizes those threats for leverage. But obviously he’s not a guy who looks kindly on weakness, so the idea anyone would think that with respect to his actions isn’t received well.”

Republicans generally—and Trump in particular—aren’t used to being insulted. This is primarily because Democrats lack the courage and/or imagination to fight fire with fire.

For example:

On May 27, 2016, conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks analyzed the use of insults by then-Republican Presidential front-runner Donald Trump. He did so with his then-counterpart, liberal syndicated columnist, Mark Shields, on The PBS Newshour.

DAVID BROOKS: “Trump, for all his moral flaws, is a marketing genius. And you look at what he does. He just picks a word and he attaches it to a person. Little Marco [Rubio], Lyin’ Ted [Cruz], Crooked Hillary [Clinton].

“And that’s a word. And that’s how marketing works. It’s a simple, blunt message, but it gets under.

“It sticks, and it diminishes. And so it has been super effective for him, because he knows how to do that. And she [Hillary Clinton] just comes with, ‘Oh, he’s divisive.’

“These are words that are not exciting people. And her campaign style has gotten, if anything…a little more stagnant and more flat.”

Donald Trump

MARK SHIELDS: “Donald Trump gratuitously slandered Ted Cruz’s wife. He libeled Ted Cruz’s father for being potentially part of Lee Harvey Oswald’s assassination of the president of the United States, suggesting that he was somehow a fellow traveler in that.

“This is a libel. You don’t get over it….”

Hillary Clinton wasn’t the only Presidential candidate who proved unable to cope with Trump’s gift for insult. His targets—and insults—included:

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry: “Wears glasses to seem smart.”
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush: “Low Energy Jeb.”
Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders: “Crazy Bernie.”
Ohio Governor John Kasich: “Mathematically dead and totally desperate.”

Trump has reserved his most insulting words for women. For example:

Carly Fiorina, his Republican primary competitor: “Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that?”
Megyn Kelly, Fox News reporter: “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.”
California Rep. Maxine Waters: “An extremely low IQ person.”
Then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: “MS-13 Lover Nancy Pelosi.”

Only one candidate has shown the ability to rattle Trump: Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.

As Mark Shields noted on The PBS Newshour.

“Elizabeth Warren gets under Donald Trump’s skin. And I think she’s been the most effective adversary. I think she’s done more to unite the Democratic party than either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.”

Among her attacks:

“Donald Trump was drooling over the idea of a housing meltdown because it meant he could buy up a bunch more property on the cheap. What kind of a man roots for people to lose their jobs and be kicked out of their houses? What kind of a man does that?”
“When Donald Trump says ‘great,’ I ask: ‘great for who, exactly? When Donald says he’ll make America great, he means greater for rich guys just like Donald Trump. That’s who Donald Trump is. … And you have to watch out for him, because he’ll crush you into the dirt.”
”Donald Trump is a bigger, uglier threat every day that goes by – and it’s time for decent people everywhere— Republican, Democrat, Independent—to say, ‘No more Donald.'”

Words are weapons—or can be, if used properly.

Republicans learned this truth after World War II.

Richard Nixon became a United States Senator in 1950 by attacking Helen Gahagen Douglas as “The Pink Lady.”
From 1950 onward, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and other Red-baiting Republicans essentially paralyzed the Democratic party through such slanderous terms as “Comsymps,” “fellow-travelers” and “Fifth Amendment Communists.”

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LAUGHTER MAKES THE BEST WEAPON: PART THREE (END)

In Entertainment, History, Humor, Politics, RELIGION, Social commentary on July 16, 2025 at 12:06 am

Ridicule is a highly effective weapon. That’s why dictators always try to stamp it out. They know that if you’re laughing at them, you’re not afraid of them. And men like Donald Trump prize being feared above all else.

Yet Democrats and liberals (the two are not always the same) have failed to make use of this formidable weapon.

They could, for example, ridicule those evangelicals who have lustily embraced Trump as the new Jesus:

Why are Donald Trump’s supporters like Adam and Eve? They are naked, they have only one apple to eat, they live in a forest, and they think they’re in Paradise.
It’s the twelfth year of the Donald Trump Presidency. Two old friends meet on the street. “What’s the difference between life in the time of Jesus, and life as it is under Trump?” asks one. “Well, in the days of Jesus, one man suffered for all,” says the second man. “And, today, we all suffer for one man.”
When President Trump and First Lady Melania met Pope Francis: MELANIA thought: “Damn! I thought he’d go up in smoke when the Pope touched him.” TRUMP thought: “Being so close to so much holiness is terrible! I need a bath.” THE POPE thought: “Now I know what Jesus felt like when he met Satan.”

Amazingly in this YouTube-obsessed age, Democrats have never assailed Trump with barrages of satirical musical videos. Yet the opportunities for incredible mirth lie all around us.

Trump’s notorious “bromance” with Vladimir Putin could be satirized by converting the Beatles’ hit, “With a Little Help From My Friends” into “With a Little Help From My Vlad”:

What do I do when the bank calls me in?
(Does it worry you to be in debt?)
How do I feel when I need rubles fast?
(Do you worry Vlad might say “Nyet”?)

No, I get by with a little help from my Vlad.
Mm, I can lie with a little help from my Vlad.
Mm, you’re gonna fry with a little help from my Vlad.

The religious hymn, “Jesus Loves Me,” could take on new meaning when applied to the man whom millions of evangelicals have embraced as their new Savior:

Trumpy loves me, this I know.
For he often tells me so.
Screwing others is his right
‘Cause he’s rich and mean and white.

Yes, Trumpy loves me,
Yes, Trumpy loves me.
Trumpy loves me.
He often tells me so.

Trumpy tells me who to hate.
And it makes me feel so great.
He will build that great big wall
Then good times will be for all.

“Springtime for Hitler,” the signature tune of the hit play and movie, The Producers, could become “Springtime for Trumpland”—and help mightily in clearing up the mystery of his popularity among the Right:

Republicans were having trouble
What a sad, sad story.
Needed a new leader
To restore their former glory.

Where oh where was he?
Who could that man be?
They looked around and then they found
The man for you and me.

And now it’s…

Springtime for Trump goons and bigotry—
Winter for Reason and Light.
Springtime for Trumpland and infamy—
Come on, Trumpsters, let’s go pick a fight.

Many Americans have wondered how so many millions of their fellow citizens could support Trump. A parody of “Little Boxes” could help explain why:

And the voters in the “heartland”
All went off to the polling booth
Where they pulled hard on the levers
And the Nazis got a win.
And there’s bigots and oppressors
And screaming misogynists–
And they’re all made out of Fascist hatred
And they all sound just the same.

Nor should Republicans generally be ignored, since it’s their support for a proven adulterer, convicted rapist and friend of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein that remains the single greatest infamy of this party. Consider this parody of the classic Coasters’ song, “Yakety Yak”:

Support Marge Greene she is our trash
Or you don’t get no Fascist cash.
If you don’t praise and print her lies
You are a skunk in Republican eyes.
Republicans lie (Just say hi!)

You must “Sieg Heil!” to Donald Trump
‘Cause he’s your Fuhrer, he’s no chump.
You will not catch him with a book
He loves to steal but he’s our crook.
Republicans lie. (Just say hi!)

* * * * * * * * * *

Throughout 2016, liberals celebrated on Facebook and Twitter the “certain” Presidency of former First Lady Hillary Clinton. She was going to “break the glass ceiling.” Democrats were going to retake the Senate—and maybe the House.

They were cheered on by First Lady Michelle Obama’s Pollyannaish advice on political tactics: “When they go low, we go high!”

Meanwhile, Donald Trump planned to subvert the 2016 election with the aid of Russian Intelligence agents and millions of Russian trolls flooding the Internet with legitimately fake news.

History has proven which tactics proved superior.

It’s long past time for Democrats to accept that they—and the country’s democratic traditions—are engaged in a death-match with their Republican opponents.

Only certain defeat is guaranteed by adhering to Marquis of Queensbury when your enemy is using brass knuckles.

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LAUGHTER MAKES THE BEST WEAPON: PART TWO (OF THREE)

In Bureaucracy, Entertainment, History, Humor, Politics, RELIGION, Social commentary on July 15, 2025 at 12:13 am

Donald Trump—as political candidate and President—has repeatedly expressed admiration for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin—and disdain for a wide array of democratic leaders.

Yet Democrats have never called called him to account for this—even though a plentiful series of insults exist:

“TrumPutin”
“Commissar-in-Chief”
“Putin’s Poodle”
“Commissar Bone Spurs”
“Red Donald”
“Putin’s Puppet”

The Kremlin

Trump has attached insulting nicknames to those he hates: “Little Marco” [Rubio], “Lyin’ Ted” [Cruz], “Crooked Hillary” [Clinton]. Yet Democrats have never inflicted the same on him, although a great many are available:

DJTraitor
Fake President
Carrot Caligula
El Dunce
Trumpy Traitor

Ridicule is a highly effective weapon. That’s why dictators always try to stamp it out. They know that if you’re laughing at them, you’re not afraid of them. And men like Trump prize being feared above all else.

Yet Democrats and liberals (the two are not always the same) have failed to produce hard-hitting anti-Trump jokes.

For example, limitless opportunities exist to use humor to attack Trump’s notorious dictatorial nature:

Trump is sitting in the Oval Office, when suddenly the door bursts open and an aide rushes in, shouting: “Mr. President, the House and Senate are on fire!” Trump looks at his watch and says, “Already?

A reporter asks him: “Mr. President, do you ever collect the jokes that some people tell about you?” Trump: “I sure do. Two camps full.”
A man knocks at the door of his neighbor’s apartment, shouting: “Quick, get up, get dressed!” From inside he hears terrified screams. “Don’t worry,” he says. “I’m not with the Trump Police. I just want you to know your flat is on fire.”

Donald Trump’s egomania is universally known:

Trump says he’s smart because his uncle was smart. He could be related to Albert Einstein—but that wouldn’t make him an Einstein. It would, however, make Einstein turn over in his grave.
What’s the difference between Donald Trump and God? God never thinks he’s Donald Trump.
Donald Trump dies and ascends to Heaven. But God is so disgusted by him He returns him to Earth—as a mouse. Being Trump-Mouse, he immediately begins raping all the other mice he encounters. But then he decides: “I deserve something better. I’m going to bag me an elephant.” So he visits a nearby waterhole, where a female elephant is munching on grass. Trump-Mouse shimmies up her leg to her backside, and begins pounding away. Suddenly, the elephant grunts, and Trump-Mouse says: “Did I hurt you, sweetheart?”

Nor have Democrats attacked the ignorant semi-literates who comprise most of Trump’s voters:

Why do Donald Trump’s supporters always travel in threes? One who can read, one who can write, and one to keep his eye on the two intellectuals.
“Hey,” says a comedian to a stranger at a bar, “you wanna hear a good Donald Trump joke?” “I think you should know I’m a Trump supporter,” shouts the stranger. “Don’t worry,” says the comedian. “I’ll tell it very slowly.”
What’s the difference between a smart Trump supporter and a unicorn? Nothing. They’re both fictional characters.

Trump’s legendary cruelty could fill volumes of joke books:

What’s the difference between a Donald Trump optimist and a Donald Trump pessimist? A Donald Trump pessimist says Donald Trump can’t any more vindictive. A Donald Trump optimist says he can.
After Donald Trump won the Presidency in 2016, news analysts wondered: Why did so many people vote for him instead of Hillary Clinton? Interviewed on the subject, a Trump spokesman said: “Voters really responded to his campaign slogan: ‘Trump in 2016—Or He’ll Shoot Your Family.”
What is the Donald Trump version of a microwave oven? It seats 300.

There is overwhelming evidence that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin subverted the 2016 Presidential election to seat Trump in the White Houses:

Over 70% of evangelicals say that God helped get Donald Trump elected President. If so, then God must speak with a Russian accent.
Donald Trump says Democrats are like Communists. In Hell, Joseph Stalin is laughing—and waiting for Trump to show up.
What’s the difference between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump? Putin didn’t get HIS position through Donald Trump.

Trump’s well-known misogyny provides ample fodder for comedians:

President Donald Trump is holding a press conference. REPORTER: “Do you talk with your wife when you’re having sex?” TRUMP: “Only if there’s a phone handy.”
IVANKA TRUMP: “What’s the difference between kinky sex and perverted sex?” DONALD TRUMP: “In kinky sex, you use a feather. In perverted sex, you use the whole daughter.”

Then there is the very real threat that Trump represents to not only the United States but the world itself:

Worried about the future if Donald Trump is elected President in 2024, a woman rushes to a local astrologer to ask: “If Donald Trump is elected President, will there still be life on the Earth in 2025?” And the astrologer replies: “Do you mean ‘LIFE’ the cereal or ‘Life’ the Milton-Bradley parlor game?”
In President Donald Trump’s America, what is black and knocking at the door? The Future.

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LAUGHTER MAKES THE BEST WEAPON: PART ONE (OF THREE)

In Bureaucracy, Entertainment, History, Humor, Politics, RELIGION, Social commentary on July 14, 2025 at 12:12 am

Reader’s Digest once carried a page entitled: “Laughter is the Best Medicine.” And from a purely medicinal viewpoint, it’s absolutely true.

According to the Mayo Clinic website: “Whether you’re guffawing at a sitcom on TV or quietly giggling at a newspaper cartoon, laughing does you good. Laughter is a great form of stress relief, and that’s no joke.

“A good laugh has great short-term effects. When you start to laugh, it doesn’t just lighten your load mentally, it actually induces physical changes in your body. Laughter can: Stimulate many organs, activate and relieve your stress response, soothe tension.”

In the long term: “Laughter may improve your immune system, relieve pain, improve your mood, increase personal satisfaction.”

But laughter may also prove the best weapon against tyrants and self-righteous hypocrites.

According to the 2016 book, One Day We Will Live Without Fear: Everyday Lives Under the Soviet Police State, by Mark Harrison, tyrants operate on seven working principles:

Your enemy is hiding.
Start from the usual suspects.
Study the young.
Stop the laughing.
Rebellion spreads like wildfire.
Stamp out every spark.
Order is created by appearance.

Republicans have long won electoral victories through vivid appeals to Hatred, Greed and/or Fear. And in Donald Trump, they have found a candidate who delights in sticking ugly labels on his opponents.

Yet Trump carries a major Achilles heel: He’s unable to poke fun at himself—and he grows livid when anybody else does. Like all tyrants, he knows—and fears—that if people are laughing at you, they don’t fear you.

And, for Trump, being feared lies at the root of his drive for absolute power. As a result, “Stop the laughing” rises to the top of his list of priorities.

At Christmastime, 2018, “Saturday Night Live” aired a parody of the classic movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Its title: “It’s a Wonderful Trump.”

In it, Trump (portrayed by actor Alec Baldwin) discovers what the United States would be like if he had never become President: A great deal better-off.

Donald Trump

As usual, Trump expressed his resentment through Twitter: The Justice Department should stop investigating his administration and go after the real enemy: “SNL.”

Despite Trump’s obvious vulnerability to ridicule, Democrats have proven utterly unable or unwilling to deploy this powerful weapon against him.

One reason for this: Their apparent indifference to or ignorance of the power of effective language.

Another reason: Democrats seem uneasy with using ridicule or insults as a weapon. Many of them fear it will make them look silly. Others—such as former President Barack Obama—take the view: “I’m not going to get into the gutter like my opponents.”

Thus, they take the “high ground”—while their sworn Republican enemies undermine them via ridicule and “smear and fear” tactics.

On May 27, 2016, syndicated columnist Mark Shields—a liberal, and New York Times columnist David Brooks, a conservative—exchanged opinions on Donald Trump’s use of insults against his political opponents.

MARK SHIELDS: “Donald Trump gratuitously slandered Ted Cruz’s wife. He libeled Ted Cruz’s father for being potentially part of Lee Harvey Oswald’s assassination of the president of the United States, suggesting that he was somehow a fellow traveler in that.

“This is a libel. You don’t get over it….”

Mark Shields

DAVID BROOKS: “Trump, for all his moral flaws, is a marketing genius. And you look at what he does. He just picks a word and he attaches it to a person. Little Marco [Rubio], Lyin’ Ted [Cruz], Crooked Hillary [Clinton].

“And that’s a word. And that’s how marketing works. It’s a simple, blunt message, but it gets under.

“It sticks, and it diminishes. And so it has been super effective for him, because he knows how to do that. And she [Hillary Clinton] just comes with, ‘Oh, he’s divisive.’”

David Brooks

DC_Rebecca from Washington, DC, USA, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Hillary Clinton wasn’t the only Presidential candidate who proved unable to cope with Trump’s gift for insult. His targets—and insults—included:

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry: “Wears glasses to seem smart.”
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush: “Low Energy Jeb.”
Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders: “Crazy Bernie.”
Ohio Governor John Kasich: “Mathematically dead and totally desperate.”

Only one of Trump’s 2016 opponents tried to match him in insults—Florida’s United States Senator Marco Rubio.

At the 11th GOP presidential debate in Detroit, Rubio “countered” Trump’s insult of “Little Marco” by calling him “Big Donald.”

Since Americans believe that “bigger is better,” this was a poor choice of ridicule. A better choice: “Red Donald,” to highlight his notorious admiration for Vladimir Putin.

So why hasn’t anyone come up with a way to counter Trump’s repeated insults?

According to David Brooks: Democrats face two choices in combating Trump:

“Either you do what [Massachusetts United States Senator] Elizabeth Warren has done, like full-bore negativity, that kind of [get] under the skin, or try to ridicule him and use humor. Humor is not Hillary Clinton’s strongest point.”

Humor was not Hillary Clinton’s strong suit. But her limitations need not be those of other Democrats.

All that’s required: Creativity—and the courage to apply it.

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REPUBLICANS KNOW WHAT DEMOCRATS DON’T: WORDS ARE WEAPONS: PART ONE (OF TWO)

In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on March 24, 2025 at 1:00 am

In 1996, Newt Gingrich, then Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, wrote a memo that encouraged Republicans to “speak like Newt.”

Entitled “Language: A Key Mechanism of Control,” it urged Republicans to attack Democrats with such words as “corrupt,” “selfish,” “destructive,” “hypocrisy,” “liberal,” “sick,” and “traitors.”

Even worse, Gingrich encouraged the news media to disseminate such accusations. Among his suggestions:

“Fights make news.”
Create a “shield issue” to deflect criticism: “A shield issue is, just, you know, your opponent is going to attack you as lacking compassion. You better…show up in the local paper holding a baby in the neonatal center.”

Newt Gingrich

This is in line with the advice of Florentine statesman Niccolo Machiavelli: “For men in general judge more by the eyes than by the hands; for everyone can see, but very few have to feel. Everyone sees what you appear to be, few feel what you are….”

In the memo, Gingrich advised:

“….In the video “We are a Majority,” Language is listed as a key mechanism of control used by a majority party, along with Agenda, Rules, Attitude and Learning.

“…We believe that you could have a significant impact on your campaign and the way you communicate if we help a little. That is why we have created this list of words and phrases….

“This list is prepared so that you might have a directory of words to use in writing literature and mail, in preparing speeches, and in producing electronic media.

“The words and phrases are powerful. Read them. Memorize as many as possible. And remember that like any tool, these words will not help if they are not used.”

Here is the list of words Gingrich urged his followers to use in attacking “the opponent, their record, proposals and their party”:

abuse of power
anti- (issue): flag, family, child, jobs
betray
bizarre
bosses
bureaucracy
cheat
coercion
“compassion” is not enough
collapse(ing)
consequences
corrupt
corruption
criminal rights
crisis
cynicism
decay
deeper
destroy
destructive
devour
disgrace
endanger
excuses
failure (fail)
greed
hypocrisy
ideological
impose
incompetent
insecure
insensitive

intolerant
liberal
lie
limit(s)
machine
mandate(s)
obsolete
pathetic
patronage
permissive attitude
pessimistic
punish (poor …)
radical
red tape
self-serving
selfish
sensationalists
shallow
shame
sick
spend(ing)
stagnation
status quo
steal
taxes
they/them
threaten
traitors
unionized
urgent (cy)
waste
welfare

And to the dismay of both Republicans and Democrats, Donald Trump has learned his lessons well.

On May 27, 2016, conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks analyzed the use of insults by Republican Presidential front-runner Donald Trump. He did so with his counterpart, liberal syndicated columnist, Mark Shields, on The PBS Newshour.

“And that’s a word. And that’s how marketing works. It’s a simple, blunt message, but it gets under.

“It sticks, and it diminishes. And so it has been super effective for him, because he knows how to do that. And she [Hillary Clinton] just comes with, ‘Oh, he’s divisive.’

“These are words that are not exciting people. And her campaign style has gotten, if anything…a little more stagnant and more flat.”

Donald Trump

“This is a libel. You don’t get over it….”

Hillary Clinton wasn’t the only Presidential candidate who proved unable to cope with Trump’s gift for insult. His targets—and insults—included:

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry: “Wears glasses to seem smart.”
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush: “Low Energy Jeb.”
Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders: “Crazy Bernie.”
Ohio Governor John Kasich: “Mathematically dead and totally desperate.”

His victims, in turn, struggled to respond. Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio tried to out-insult Trump at the Republican Presidential candidates’ debate on March 3, 2016.

“I call him Little Marco. Little Marco. Hello, Marco,” said Trump.

Rubio retaliated with “Big Donald.” Since Americans generally believe that “bigger is better,” this was a poor choice of insult.

A better choice, given Trump’s “bromance” with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin: “Red Donald.”

Trump has reserved his most insulting words for women. For example:

Carly Fiorina, his Republican primary competitor: “Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that?”
Megyn Kelly, Fox News reporter: “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.”
California Rep. Maxine Waters: “An extremely low IQ person.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: “MS-13 Lover Nancy Pelosi.”

Only one candidate has shown the ability to rattle Trump: Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.

As Mark Shields noted on The PBS Newshour.

“Elizabeth Warren gets under Donald Trump’s skin. And I think she’s been the most effective adversary.”

And David Brooks offered: “And so the tactics…is either you do what Elizabeth Warren has done, like full-bore negativity, that kind of [get] under the skin, or try to ridicule him and use humor.”

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LAUGHTER MAKES THE BEST WEAPON: PART THREE (END)

In Entertainment, History, Humor, Politics, RELIGION, Social commentary on August 14, 2024 at 12:10 am

Yet Democrats and liberals (the two are not always the same) have failed to produce hard-hitting anti-Trump jokes.

They could, for example, ridicule those evangelicals who have lustily embraced Trump as the new Jesus:

Why are Donald Trump’s supporters like Adam and Eve? They are naked, they have only one apple to eat, they live in a forest, and they think they’re in Paradise.
It’s the twelfth year of the Donald Trump Presidency. Two old friends meet on the street. “What’s the difference between life in the time of Jesus, and life as it is under Trump?” asks one. “Well, in the days of Jesus, one man suffered for all,” says the second man. “And, today, we all suffer for one man.”
When President Trump and First Lady Melania met Pope Francis: MELANIA thought: “Damn! I thought he’d go up in smoke when the Pope touched him.” TRUMP thought: “Being so close to so much holiness is terrible! I need a bath.” THE POPE thought: “Now I know what Jesus felt like when he met Satan.”