Democrats long have been known as the party that plays nice. Republicans might employ all kinds of underhanded tactics against their opponents, but Democrats rarely respond in kind. Attorney George Conway, a Republican turned "Never Trumper," says it is time for Democrats to stop playing nice, especially with Donald Trump as the titular head of the GOP.
These issues remind us of Michelle Obama's declaration that "when they go low, we go high." Here at Schnauzer Central, we admire the former first lady's intellect and high-mindedness. But this thought has occurred to us: Maybe it's time we, as Democrats, try a different slogan -- "When they go low, we go lower."
That seems to be what George Conway is thinking, especially considering that Donald Trump is the likely Republican presidential candidate in 2024 -- and we already have four years worth of evidence that Trump is a lousy person and an even worse president, one who had no clue how to govern. More recent evidence suggests a second Trump term would be even worse than the first, and his own words indicate he has every intention of pushing aside democratic norms and the rule of law, replacing them with a dictatorship, from which our nation likely will never recover.
How best to characterize the difference between the two parties? We will point to one man -- Roger Stone, perhaps the most well-known GOP operative of all. Stone proudly wears the title "dirty trickster," which is appropriate, given that he has served under the two most corrupt presidents in modern U.S. history -- Richard Nixon and Trump. Nixon, of course, was well-versed in governance -- a tortured, but brilliant, soul who was a highly capable president . . . if you could overlook his criminality. Trump, on the other hand, seems to have little interest in even trying to govern -- apparently seeking a second term in the White House as a way of staying out of prison and becoming "president for life." This would be fitting for an individual who apparently is a malignant narcissist, who wants to hold the nation's high office for a second term only for his own purposes, with no real interest in genuine public service; of course, it is not clear that Trump is even capable of providing public service.
As for Roger Stone, can anyone think of his equivalent -- a proud "dirty trickster" on the Democratic side? We can't even begin to think of one.
Why does George Conway's voice matter on these issues? He is the former husband of Kellyanne Conway, who served as senior counselor in the Trump administration from 2017-20. The Conways divorced in 2023, but George Conway has considerable insight into how "The Orange Man" thinks.
Conway shares his thoughts on how Democrats should deal with Trump in a piece at The New Republic (TNR) under the title" How to Make Trump 'Go Crazy,' according to George Conway." The sub-hed is "The Never Trump lawyer says the Democrats need to wage “psychological warfare” on the former president, and he has an idea how to do it."
The title and sub-hed suggest Conway is not suggesting playing nice. He isn't -- and we like that. From the TNR article:
Former Republican George Conway said Democrats need to wage a “psychological war” against Donald Trump until it makes him so “crazy” that he violates court orders.
“I think you have to wage psychological war on Donald Trump,” Conway, a lawyer and Never Trump activist, said during a panel discussion at The New Republic’s Stop Trump Summit recently (10/11/23). “I don’t think the Democrats have ever attacked Trump enough.”
In an interview afterward with TNR, Conway explained that Democrats could wage a coordinated psychological campaign against Trump through a series of advertisements. “You can just run ads on TV in the local area where he is,” said Conway, whom Trump had once considered nominating for solicitor general.
Conway said that the ads could target the things Trump feels the most insecure about. “He knows he’s not that smart, he knows he’s not that rich, he knows that he’s not that good. And so, if you go and attack him for the things he knows he is not deep down, it makes him crazy.”
“He’s not that far from his bursting point,” Conway added. And making Trump nuts could impact his ongoing legal troubles.
“The more he gets attacked the more he will talk about things he shouldn’t be talking about,” Conway said. “I think you could even get him thrown into jail, by running the right ad,” he added.
Trump was slapped with a gag order in his New York trial after he made comments attacking New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has accused him and his associates of fraudulently inflating the value of their real estate assets. In the Georgia case, the conditions of his release on bail bar him from intimidating witnesses and co-defendants.
“You run ads that make him angry at those people, like [Mark] Meadows,” said Conway, referring to the former top Trump aide and co-defendant in the Georgia trial. “You run these creepy ads that get into his head, he’ll just go out there and he’ll violate his conditions of release.”
Conway went on to say that beating Trump requires the media to show America who Trump is. “I disagree with some of the critiques that you hear, I think predominantly from the left, about ‘You don’t give him oxygen; you don’t give him air time.’ No. You give him more. Show everybody the crazy.”
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