(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Before his next debate, Biden needs to prep with psychologists, not attorneys or policy wonks [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-29 Prior to the debate I read somewhere that Biden spent a considerable amount of prepping for the debate with his attorney (I don’t feel like looking for the source, but I’m certain I read that). Apparently Biden and his attorney spent their time having the attorney play the role of Trump with Biden rehearsing what he would say in response. Clearly, that was a huge mistake. Donald Trump is not a normal human being. He is this ... thing ... 100% dominated by its desire to self-aggrandize and dominate. You cannot expect to have a debate with Trump talking about the relative merits of certain policies, or whether this or that policy worked, and normal, dry political stuff like that. Rather, when you debate with Trump you have to take a 100% psychological approach to how you deal with him. Anything else is a waste of time and will not work. Donald Trump is entirely a phenomenon of abnormal psychology, and the only way to deal with him is to understand how to deal with his psychoses. Before his next debate, Biden needs to spend all his time talking with, first and foremost, Mary Trump, and reading her book. There are plenty of other psychologists and psychiatrists who specialize in dealing with narcissists and sociopaths who could help Biden understand how to deal with people like Trump in a debate, and help him understand what makes people like Trump tick. There are also plenty of videos you can find on Youtube which describe how to deal with narcissists and sociopaths. Biden should be watching a bunch of those over and over. I’ve spent most of the day fantasizing about how I would deal with Trump in a debate. I’ve met people like Trump before, and I can tell very quickly there are things wrong with them and that I should steer clear of them or even hold them in contempt. They give you these little clues in their behavior that they are not normal and have ulterior (and usually, nefarious) motives. One of the big things like that is Trump’s handshake (look it up on Google if you don’t know what I’m referring to). If anybody tried to shake hands with me the way Trump usually tries to shake hands with people, I would immediately get a visceral reaction and be, like, “Whoa! Get away from me, dude.” Some people seem to be too naive to understand the purpose of this sort of handshake, but a lot of others recognize it as something weird. I’m clearly one of the latter. A reflection of how stupid Trump is, is that he does not seem to recognize or understand that things he does like his handshake are a huge turnoff to a lot of people, and are usually counter-productive. When Trump is standing there ranting away about how awful a president Biden is, and that this and that thing Biden has done has been a total failure, and that he (Trump) did all these wondrous, marvelous things, you have to understand that Trump is doing that because he has a need to aggrandize himself and dominate and belittle his opponent. The truth content of whatever he is saying matters not a whit to him, he will say whatever comes to his mind at the moment to aggrandize himself and belittle his opponent. Words to him are merely a tool to aggrandize himself and belittle opponents, he does not use them to reflect intellectual thoughts or express inner feelings. Therefore, when you’re dealing with people like Trump, you have to treat his statements like they’re the rantings of an 8-year-old bully (which they really are) and treat them with the contempt and scorn they deserve. In addition, you have to explain to the debate audience (or at least the moderators and cameras) exactly why Trump said the nonsense he just did. While Trump is ranting away attacking you, you need to be standing there laughing at what he’s saying and shaking your head in disgust. Then when it’s your turn to talk, you need to explain to the audience that Trump just ranted about what you’ve done not because anything he said was true (which it almost certainly wasn’t), but that because he has a psychological need to belittle and dominate you. Make it clear to the audience that with Trump you’re not dealing with a person with normal psychology. Call him mentally ill if necessary. Furthermore, when you’re telling this to the audience, act as if Trump isn’t even there. This should be a communication to the audience, not to Trump. Acting as if Trump isn’t there while you’re saying this (even though he’s there and obviously can hear you) is a way to belittle Trump, as if you think he cannot understand what you’re saying about him (even though he obviously can). One person I’ve seen who seems to have successfully figured out how to deal with Trump is Angela Merkel. Below is a video of their press photo-op after the two met in 2017. Notice Trump’s body language, he doesn’t want to deal with her at all. He refuses to shake hands with her and looks like he wants to get outta there ASAP. Clearly his meeting with her didn’t go well at all and it is making him very uncomfortable. After this meeting I read somewhere that, afterward, Merkel reported to her cabinet that, during their meeting, Trump did and said all these ridiculously stupid things and that she told him that to his face. Merkel did not fall for his shtick and it shows. Biden should give Merkel a call and ask her what she did during her meeting with him. It is clearly possible to deal with Trump so as to put him in his proper place, and Merkel obviously knows how to do that. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/29/2249750/-Before-his-next-debate-Biden-needs-to-prep-with-psychologists-not-attorneys-or-policy-wonks?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/