As difficult as it is to believe, one of Karl Rove’s most diabolical political strategies might finally be backfiring.
Rove believed that if your candidate had a weakness vis a vis his opponent, you should attack as if the situation were reversed. In 2004, when George W. Bush was running for re-election, the issue of his evading service in Vietnam by serving in the National Guard was a big deal.
Especially since his opponent, Democrat John Kerry, not only had served in Vietnam but had earned three Purple Hearts for being wounded in combat.
So Rove attacked by saying Kerry hadn’t really deserved the Purple Hearts.
Bush won the election.
Rove wasn’t the one behind Donald Trump’s 2024 strategy in trying to reverse his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden, but he might as well have been. Trump has been attacking Biden as “Sleepy Joe” and saying Biden is essentially senile and doesn’t even know he’s alive.
For a while, Trump was successful at hiding the fact that he was much worse off in that area than Biden. But it has backfired on Trump with a vengeance in recent weeks. He has been dozing off in court in his criminal trial in New York and when he speaks to the media or to the public, he seems completely out of control.
That is hardly the worst of it. An unfortunate problem Trump has with his digestive system was never exposed until this year, but in recent weeks we have learned that not only does Trump suffer from chronic flatulence, he has such poor control of his bowels that he wears adult diapers nearly all the time.
In fact, the problem is apparently so bad that people in close proximity say he smells awful.
It must be true because no one is denying it.
In fact, nicknames based on the dual problems have been flourishing. How about Don Snoreleone for falling asleep in court, although to be fair, Trump has denied sleeping with that lamest of dozing off excuses.
“I was thinking with my eyes closed.”
Maybe, but most people who do that don’t nod off and have their chins restiung on their chests.
The sleepy stuff isn’t the worst, although Trump’s attacks on Biden as “Sleepy Joe” make it harder to forgive.
The stench, on the other hand …
It will be a big problem for Trump as we approach November. One thing that has nearly always been true in. American politics is that once a candidate becomes a laughingstock, it’s pretty well over for him. One thing that amazes me in all this is that for all the whining about Fake News, Trump and his minions haven’t made any real effort to deny the stench stories.
That tells me they must be true.
In fact, when Trump recently bragged that in his youth people said he reminded them of Elvis Presley, people jumped right in with another name for him.
Smelvis.
Actually, just yesterday I saw the perfect nickname combining both the sleepiness and the smelliness.
Donald Trump, aka Rip Van Stinkle.