Trumpled (Alternative Leading)

[Mav]

I think it is wrong to assume he is stupid, perhaps he is just pandering to stupid people?

I explained that he is mostly dogwhistling and his feigned ignorance is just a device to avoid going nuclear with his secret Muslim conspiracy theory.

But Clinton and the media have to avoid being duped.  If they think it will help Trump if they point out his lies and ignorance because calling him out will make him stronger, he will win.  That's the mistake that the other Republican candidates made.  They realised too late that they needed to attack him rather than play nice.  The press were also slow in realising that they had to point out that the Emperor was wearing no clothes.

With Brexit, the economic argument mounted by the Leave campaign was mostly rebuffed by economists and the campaign then switched to an anti-immigration platform.  That doesn't prove that rational argument is pointless.  It appears the Remain campaign blundered by not making it sufficiently clear that the UK might have to agree to the free flow of EU workers if it wants to gain access to the single market, just as Norway does.

I reckon the obvious way to confront Trump is to draw him out.  Don't leave him talking generalities and promising that he'll fix everything if he wins.  His stumbles have occurred when the press has forced him to follow the logic of his positions to their logical conclusion.  For instance, he ended up conceding that pregnant women should be prosecuted if they sought abortions, a position Right to Lifers well know is politically toxic.  The Muslim ban has also drawn much criticism because it is obviously impossible to implement as much as for its racism.  Attack Trump on his ignorance about Terrorism and he won't be able to stop himself from taking the bait.  He'll go berserk at some rally or make an ill-considered late night tweet and frighten the horses to his own detriment.