Is taunting Trump the key to Harris' campaign?

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Democrats have spent nearly a decade gravely warning about the dangers they say Donald Trump poses. Under Kamala Harris, they're trying something new: Mockery. The Harris campaign is using "sneer tactics" to get under the former president's skin, Axios said. When Trump suggested he might back out of the forthcoming ABC presidential debate, Harris' camp "posted sound effects of squawking, whining chickens" to accompany a video of Trump talking. That's part of a "saucier, more ruthless" approach than President Joe Biden took to Trump.

Instead of a "national menace," NBC News said, the Harris campaign is casting Trump as "Dennis the Menace." The idea is to undermine the image of Trump as a fearsome figure and instead depict him as a "bumbling, cartoonish figure" out of touch with ordinary Americans. (Think Barack Obama's suggestive hand gestures during his speech at the Democratic National Convention.) But Trump's advisers say the "blatantly false personal attacks" just show that Harris has no positive agenda to offer Americans.

What did the commentators say?

"Finally, the Democrats have found Trump's Achilles' heel: ridicule him," Michael Tomasky said at The New Republic. It started with now-vice presidential nominee Tim Walz calling Trump "weird" and has snowballed from there. Voters are more likely to remember jokes about Trump's "Hannibal Lecter obsession" than policy-based attacks "about his plans to wreck the Justice Department." Bottom line: "Ridicule makes him weaker." Trump should be feared, yes. "We should also mock him mercilessly because it drives him nuts."

Democrats' "schoolyard taunts" are just evidence of the "party's failure" to improve the lives of ordinary Americans, Bethany Mandel said at the New York Post. Trump's own "penchant for ridiculing his opponents with mocking nicknames" has limited his appeal to mainstream voters who dislike such "bare-knuckle tactics." Now Democrats have apparently decided to embrace their opponent's "caustic, take-no-prisoners attitude." Perhaps that's better than running on Democrats' record of accomplishment. "Better to run on being a childish jerk."

What next?

Harris' team is "increasingly enjoying the chance to troll Trump," said CNN. And it could make a difference in how the campaign plays out: Harris wants the microphones unmuted at the presidential debate, while Trump's team has insisted on muting them when the candidates aren't speaking. Why? Harris believes Trump doesn't have the "self-discipline" to avoid "talking over and openly disrespecting" her while she's speaking. "It was clear that the Harris campaign hoped to give Trump the chance to sabotage himself."

Trump, of course, has his own extensive history of trolling personal attacks. But in 2024, those attacks on Harris and Walz "have fallen universally flat," Jill Filipovic said at Slate. His social media insults are "less on the nose" and "less funny" than they have been during previous campaigns. And it's clear that Trump doesn't like being on the receiving end of the jokes. His spokesman, Steven Cheung, told Axios the mockery shows Harris' campaign is "severely out of touch with reality." The insults won't work, he said: "Acting like whiny schoolchildren is not a political strategy."