Lightly pitying Trump, Harris’s final winning tactic?
Against Trump, who plays a powerful, protective daddy and fellow victim
Trump is playing the one who will protect you against the big, scary, unfair world. He also plays someone who is victimized as his underdog base.
The truth is that Trump is an aging anti-democrat and a lifelong con artist.
A unified winning tactic can be to lightly pity Trump:
A Failed Life
I hate to attack him because I feel for him. He’s had a hard life, and his main accomplishment is telling fairytales. That is a nice talent in a babysitter but not for a head of State. He went bankrupt so many times. Even his casinos went bankrupt—how do you lose a casino? No bank will give him a loan. He has to sell rubbish to voters to get some cash.
A Macho Gone
Yes, he flirts with dictators, including Hitler, but look, he’s really not with it so much anymore. He’s still playing macho. But we all know that now he’s but a shadow of his former self; in a couple of years he won’t be able to keep up the show. And his running mate is a nobody too, because Trump needs to be the sole hero. They both use makeup to look any good. Trump is rumored to use drugs to keep up appearance and energy. Everyone with any self-respect left him. The loneliness must be unbearable.
Lonely
Most of his workers, he threw under the bus. All of his former workers turned against him. The only ones still with him are fascists, some rare billionaires, and good, innocent people still fooled. Not for nothing, he’s so angry because he’s desperately looking for whom to blame—poor guy.
Courts are Awaiting Him
In the twilight of his life, he gets the bills presented. Just like his old buddy Jeffrey Epstein. Only, luckily, Donald is too proud to end his own life. He will keep denying and fighting. He will keep telling everyone it’s unfair and a complot, and the deep state, and maybe it’s good he believes that to protect his ultra-thin skin. Who could live with so much humiliation? Should we pardon him? But what about his victims? Do they deserve that? And many of his co-conspirators got jailed and/or lost all their money in court cases. Is it fair that the one they violated the law for gets pardoned?
The Spark Has Gone
We all knew that he was making it all up. But somehow it still sounded real. But that’s gone now. He’s way over the hill. I feel mean when I criticize him. Grandpa should not be at the wheel anymore, but I don’t want to hurt his feelings. But someone needs to take away his car keys. He is a danger to the public. But don’t vote for him because you pity him. That won’t protect the country, and that won’t protect him. Reelection would only multiply his mistakes and speed up his deterioration. Sometimes we need to say no to the people we love or trusted most and cut our losses.
Guilty?
I hate to blame him. Given the cards he was dealt in life, he played the best game he could. Before we blame it all on him, where were all the others who should have stopped him many years ago?
Scare Tactics Gone Stale
We all see what he’s doing. The old tricks are unraveling. When the way a magician’s trick works becomes clear, it won’t charm the public anymore. The immigrants are not eating pets or taking your job. Their crime rate is way under that of people living here with citizenship. They’re doing important work in the US. The border must be improved. Trump actually stopped that to blame Harris. He can’t work across the aisle. Harris will.
***
Welcome Back to Reality
● Time to stop looking away from the obvious.
● Trump will not protect the Middle Class; again, only the billionaires.
● Trump will not correct inflation; he’ll create a recession.
● Prices will go up dramatically when Trump slams tariffs on all imports.
● Your freedoms will get less when Trump’s takeover succeeds.
● Social unrest will make even the rich lose a lot of money.
● His attempts to leave NATO are too scary to think about.
● Maybe in another four years, Republicans will have a serious candidate again. But for now, don’t just not vote. Be a true American and vote Harris.
About the Author
MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. *
As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. *
This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. *
Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. *
Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. *
Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. *
He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. *
He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. *
He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. *
His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. *
To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. *
His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1