Kamala Harris at a campaign event Sept 2, 2024. Image: Facebook
Subscribe for Updates!
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.
You have Successfully Subscribed!
Trump doesn’t like being laughed at. Ridicule reduces him from the dictator and tyrannical bully that he imagines himself to be. It exposes him not as he wants to be but as he is.
In her speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president, Vice President Kamala Harris addressed her opponent, former President Donald Trump—not with scorn or outright condemnation but, as columnist Peter Nicholas put it, by taking a “cheekier tone.”
“In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man,” Harris said, adding: “but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.”
In Trump’s first term, Harris implied, there were adults in the room to serve the Constitution and protect America from the president’s worst impulses. But those adults abandoned Trump because of his contempt for both the Constitution and the country.
“Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails,” Harris said, “and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States. Not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had: himself.”
Harris’s convention jab at Trump was the most prominent example of her campaign’s strategy of attacking Trump by dismissing him not as an existential threat to democracy—although his critics continue to use that line of attack—but as “a bumbling, cartoonish figure who’s not so much fearsome as he is laughable,” as Nicholas put it.
Trump’s running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, appears no more serious than Trump, warning Americans of the existential threat of “childless cat ladies.”
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, described the GOP ticket as “just weird.”
Walz later elaborated in a speech by calling Trump and Vance “weird and creepy as hell,” garnering laughter and applause.
Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump, added: “If Republican leaders don’t enjoy being called weird, creepy and controlling, they could try not being weird, creepy and controlling.”
Is Ridicule Trump’s Achilles’ Heel?
The Democrats have discovered and exploited what Michael Tomasky, writing in The New Republic, said in August 2024: Ridicule is Trump’s Achilles’ heel.
Trump has no one to blame but himself for people kicking him in the rear. He was, after all, the one who put the “kick me” sign there.
Long before Harris took the convention stage, other Democratic speakers were openly mocking Trump, perhaps none more effectively than former first lady Michelle Obama.
Obama, perhaps knowing that the best way to make an ass out of someone is to quote him directly, responded to Trump’s statement that immigrants were taking what he called “Black jobs.” She reminded Trump that both his predecessor in the White House and his Democratic opponent are Black.
“Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those Black jobs?” she asked.
She then characterized Trump as petty, insignificant and small.
“Going small is never the answer,” she said. “Small is petty, it’s unhealthy and, quite frankly, it’s unpresidential.”
The convention crowd laughed loudly with Michelle Obama—and at Trump.
Michelle’s husband, former President Barack Obama, also referred in his speech to Trump’s constant whining. “There’s the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes,” Obama said, and then moved his hands toward each other until they were a couple inches apart.
This may have produced the loudest laughter of the convention.
It was reminiscent of Obama’s monologue at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, when the then-president ridiculed Trump, who was sitting in the crowd, for several minutes.
Obama had been pressured into releasing his birth certificate to silence Trump’s long-standing—and baseless—claim that Obama was not born in the U.S.
Never Wrestle With a Pig in the Mud
In our 2020 book “The Art of the Political Putdown,” my co-author Will Moredock and I said an insult could be a potent political weapon because it could establish one’s superiority over a rival. In the dog-eat-dog world of politics, nobody wants to end up as the fire hydrant.
But there’s a downside to insulting your rival. The late U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the GOP presidential candidate in 2008, summarized the pitfalls of engaging in name-calling. “Never get into a wrestling match with a pig,” McCain said. “You both get dirty—and the pig likes it.”
In his column, Nicholas said that other Democrats, including President Joe Biden, have “ascribed … an outsized importance” to Trump by characterizing him as, in Nicholas’ words, the “leader of a dark political movement bent on trashing democratic traditions.”
Tomasky said that Trump likes being called “a fascist or authoritarian because it expresses fear of him, and he aches to be feared. It acknowledges his power.”
If Trump had concerns about the widespread criticism of him as a wannabe dictator, why did he pick as his running mate Vance, who once called Trump “America’s Hitler”? Trump knows that nobody ever laughed at Hitler or Vladimir Putin.
Ridicule reduces him from the dictator and tyrannical bully that he imagines himself to be. It exposes him not as he wants to be but as he is.
The Conversation is a nonprofit, independent news organization dedicated to unlocking the knowledge of experts for the public good. We publish trustworthy and informative articles written by academic experts for the general public and edited by our team of journalists.
{"id":null,"mode":"form","open_style":"in_place","currency_code":"USD","currency_symbol":"$","currency_type":"decimal","blank_flag_url":"https:\/\/factkeepers.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/tip-jar-wp\/\/assets\/images\/flags\/blank.gif","flag_sprite_url":"https:\/\/factkeepers.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/tip-jar-wp\/\/assets\/images\/flags\/flags.png","default_amount":500,"top_media_type":"none","featured_image_url":false,"featured_embed":"","header_media":null,"file_download_attachment_data":null,"recurring_options_enabled":true,"recurring_options":{"never":{"selected":true,"after_output":"One time only"},"weekly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every week"},"monthly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every month"},"yearly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every year"}},"strings":{"current_user_email":"","current_user_name":"","link_text":"Leave a tip","complete_payment_button_error_text":"Check info and try again","payment_verb":"Pay","payment_request_label":"Factkeepers.com","form_has_an_error":"Please check and fix the errors above","general_server_error":"Something isn't working right at the moment. Please try again.","form_title":"Help Support Factkeepers","form_subtitle":null,"currency_search_text":"Country or Currency here","other_payment_option":"Other payment option","manage_payments_button_text":"Manage your payments","thank_you_message":"Thank you for being a supporter!","payment_confirmation_title":"Factkeepers.com","receipt_title":"Your Receipt","print_receipt":"Print Receipt","email_receipt":"Email Receipt","email_receipt_sending":"Sending receipt...","email_receipt_success":"Email receipt successfully sent","email_receipt_failed":"Email receipt failed to send. Please try again.","receipt_payee":"Paid to","receipt_statement_descriptor":"This will show up on your statement as","receipt_date":"Date","receipt_transaction_id":"Transaction ID","receipt_transaction_amount":"Amount","refund_payer":"Refund from","login":"Log in to manage your payments","manage_payments":"Manage Payments","transactions_title":"Your Transactions","transaction_title":"Transaction Receipt","transaction_period":"Plan Period","arrangements_title":"Your Plans","arrangement_title":"Manage Plan","arrangement_details":"Plan Details","arrangement_id_title":"Plan ID","arrangement_payment_method_title":"Payment Method","arrangement_amount_title":"Plan Amount","arrangement_renewal_title":"Next renewal date","arrangement_action_cancel":"Cancel Plan","arrangement_action_cant_cancel":"Cancelling is currently not available.","arrangement_action_cancel_double":"Are you sure you'd like to cancel?","arrangement_cancelling":"Cancelling Plan...","arrangement_cancelled":"Plan Cancelled","arrangement_failed_to_cancel":"Failed to cancel plan","back_to_plans":"\u2190 Back to Plans","update_payment_method_verb":"Update","sca_auth_description":"Your have a pending renewal payment which requires authorization.","sca_auth_verb":"Authorize renewal payment","sca_authing_verb":"Authorizing payment","sca_authed_verb":"Payment successfully authorized!","sca_auth_failed":"Unable to authorize! Please try again.","login_button_text":"Log in","login_form_has_an_error":"Please check and fix the errors above","uppercase_search":"Search","lowercase_search":"search","uppercase_page":"Page","lowercase_page":"page","uppercase_items":"Items","lowercase_items":"items","uppercase_per":"Per","lowercase_per":"per","uppercase_of":"Of","lowercase_of":"of","back":"Back to plans","zip_code_placeholder":"Zip\/Postal Code","download_file_button_text":"Download File","input_field_instructions":{"tip_amount":{"placeholder_text":"How much would you like to donate? You can change this amount to anything you would like.","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"How much would you like to donate? You can change this amount to anything you would like."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"How much would you like to donate? You can change this amount to anything you would like."},"invalid_curency":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"How much would you like to donate? You can change this amount to anything you would like."}},"recurring":{"placeholder_text":"Recurring","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"How often would you like to donate this?"},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"How often would you like to donate this?"},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"How often would you like to donate this?"}},"name":{"placeholder_text":"Name on Credit Card","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter the name on your card."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter the name on your card."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Please enter the name on your card."}},"privacy_policy":{"terms_title":"Terms and conditions","terms_body":null,"terms_show_text":"View Terms","terms_hide_text":"Hide Terms","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"I agree to the terms."},"unchecked":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Please agree to the terms."},"checked":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"I agree to the terms."}},"email":{"placeholder_text":"Your email address","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"not_an_email_address":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Make sure you have entered a valid email address"}},"note_with_tip":{"placeholder_text":"Your note here...","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"empty":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"not_empty_initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"saving":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Saving note..."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Note successfully saved!"},"error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Unable to save note note at this time. Please try again."}},"email_for_login_code":{"placeholder_text":"Your email address","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."}},"login_code":{"initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."}},"stripe_all_in_one":{"initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"success":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"invalid_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is not a valid credit card number."},"invalid_expiry_month":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration month is invalid."},"invalid_expiry_year":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration year is invalid."},"invalid_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is invalid."},"incorrect_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is incorrect."},"incomplete_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is incomplete."},"incomplete_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is incomplete."},"incomplete_expiry":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration date is incomplete."},"incomplete_zip":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's zip code is incomplete."},"expired_card":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card has expired."},"incorrect_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is incorrect."},"incorrect_zip":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's zip code failed validation."},"invalid_expiry_year_past":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration year is in the past"},"card_declined":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card was declined."},"missing":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"There is no card on a customer that is being charged."},"processing_error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"An error occurred while processing the card."},"invalid_request_error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Unable to process this payment, please try again or use alternative method."},"invalid_sofort_country":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The billing country is not accepted by SOFORT. Please try another country."}}}},"fetched_oembed_html":false}
