Dear MAGA: Open Topic 20181119

“Schitt was at least somewhat similar to that, sarcastically asking if Trump had actually come up with that all by himself, meaning of course that any idiot could have done it and it was nothing for Trump to be proud of.”
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Agreed, but it lacked any ‘sting’. There was nothing to make the audience reading the exchange go “ooooh…. that’ll leave a mark!”.
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“Your response was much more fine tuned but might not have fit in a return tweet.”
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I am accustomed to unrestricted formats, as opposed to Twitter’s 240 (I think?) character limit. So I would have to adjust to shorter, sharper comments.
The first part turns out to be exactly 240 characters:
‘That’s hilarious Mr. President, I remember the first time I heard that joke about my name, in 1st grade. It’s just as funny now as it was then, the only difference is, you’re not in 1st grade, you’re a septuagenarian… so what’s your excuse?
The objective is to put your opponent on defense, to make him use his ‘turn’ in the back-and-forth (if he decides to reply at all) to defend or explain himself, rather than counterattack.
One way to do this is to present your own attacks in the form of a question. There is a certain pressure to ‘answer’, because it’s like a tennis match. The ball has just been hit into your court, and the entire audience is now looking at *you*.
If you say nothing, if you do not reply, that speaks volumes; it is tantamount to conceding defeat. The ‘ego’ doesn’t usually allow that course of action, unless there is reason to fear that it’s only going to get worse if you continue — and that doesn’t usually happen in the first volley.
So there is an expectation to ‘answer’ when one is asked a question, and the natural instinct is to ‘answer’, when you should ignore the question and counterattack instead, putting the ball back in your opponent’s court. But most people will attempt to explain or justify, to ‘answer’ the attack you posed in the form of a question.
To do so in the context of an attempted ‘smack-down’ is to be losing.
The remaining two comments could be held in reserve, in a comment length-restricted format like Twitter. And ideally, it is best to start with your longest attack, with successive attacks shorter and more direct. Your opponent’s longer explanations and justifications will appear more desperate by comparison.
So unless my opponent answered the first attack above in a way that provided an even better avenue of attack, I would follow up with the second Tweet, refocusing the attention on the immaturity of the original attack:
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“Is that really the best you can do, to make fun of someone’s name? I mean it’s fair game I suppose, but how small do you have to be, to make fun of something about which people have no control over?
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Then wait for the opponent to ‘answer’ or ‘justify’ his original attack again. The trick is that there is no way to ‘justify’ it, and the more your opponent tries to do so, the more ridiculous he will look. That’s why the better move is to ignore the question and reply with another attack of your own.
However your opponent responds, unless he provides an opening for an even more devastating attack, refocus the attention on the original error — make him keep paying for it, until he figures a way out, lol!
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“Do you make fun of short people too?”
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If a line of attack is working, don’t fix it if it ain’t broke.
Imagine the position that puts a ‘prestigious’ person in, being confronted by that kind of question, after ignoring OR trying to explain it away, TWICE.
The best move is to go over-the-top, exactly as DJT did when Megyna Kelly tried to pin him down about calling women ‘pigs, IIRC.
That’s a bad spot to be in, on national television, LIVE, and the person asking the question had weeks to come up with a carefully devised ‘kill shot’.
DJT didn’t hesitate, he immediately diverted the focus of hostility against himself to Rosie O’Donnell, and did it in a humorous way, which completely diffused the attack.
It was brilliant.
And Megyna knew it, you could see it in her expression. That was her best shot — it would have derailed just about anyone else, but he deflected it like it was nothing, and won the audience over in the process.
That’s when I knew this guy (DJT) could handle himself in any tricky situation. It was masterful, as well done as anything I’ve seen (or done), and I’ve never been under THAT kind of pressure, in that kind of a spotlight. It looks easy, but it’s always different when you’re in the hot-seat.
It has to be fast. Timing is everything (just as it is in comedy), so you don’t really have time to ‘think’ about it, it has to be a reflex.
And it doesn’t become a reflex without confidence.
And you don’t gain that confidence without a lot of practice, trial and error.
I don’t believe for one second our president just ‘turned out’ this way. He has put in a lot of time and effort, and no doubt made some embarrassing mistakes along the way to developing this skill.
And it is a thing of beauty to watch someone who has attained his level of skill, and to do it ‘live’, without a net.
It is a rare and amazing thing, the likes of which we’ll probably never see again… so I intend to enjoy every minute of it 😁