Taking Down Trump 2.0 - Rule 7

Trump's biggest enemy is Trump: use his own statements against him. His catastrophically bad press comments after the DC crash are a prime exhibit, rivaling his Covid meltdowns in 2020.

In the next installment of our adaptation of the Taking Down Trump rules to fighting the new administration, Rule 7 concerns the use of Trump’s private and public statements to counterattack him in litigation or prosecutions.

This is equally true when it comes to the political arena. Donald Trump will inevitably wander off script and reveal himself as an incompetent, ignorant, sociopathic narcissist who has no idea what he is doing and does not care about literally anyone other than himself. He can mostly stick to his own talking points when he gives a speech at one of his rallies: yes, he often strays from the teleprompter’s prepared remarks, but he generally sticks to familiar turf and can control the narrative.

Press conferences are another story entirely. Responding to questions is not Trump’s forte, shall we say. Forced to think on his feet, Trump’s answers becoming rambling, bumbling, fumbling nonsense — or just plain mean. And all of that can be used against him.

Yes, it’s true, many of Trump’s very worst statements (like, say, the Access Hollywood tape) damaged but failed to destroy him.¹

But it’s also true that Trump’s embarrassingly bad press conferences in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic had a terribly detrimental effect on Trump’s re-election prospects that year. Trump’s obvious lack of knowledge or competence or even common sense was as corrosive as the bleach he recommended people inject into themselves to fight the Covid virus. People lost confidence in Trump’s ability to lead America out of the pandemic — and it was a major factor in Joe Biden’s victory that fall.

As a candidate, Trump has somehow hoodwinked the media and gotten away with having hardly any press conferences at all — but as president, Trump has to take the podium on a fairly regular basis.

Every single one of these press conferences is must-see TV for anyone who wants to defeat Trump and his agenda.

For the latest example, look no further than Trump’s devastating and disgusting press comments after the deadly plane-helicopter collision at Washington National Airport last week. The headlines were about Trump blaming DEI — but that itself, as awful as it is, is on-brand for Trump and baked into his opposition and his support. The real damage for Trump was in the overall picture of a president who responded to a national tragedy not with a promise of action, or a shouldering of responsibility, or even with a sense that he had any competent understanding of what had happened, but with casting blame on anyone other than himself.

The very worst moment for him, though, actually occurred after the already-infamous DEI press conference.

Trump in the Oval Office, making the “swimming” remark.

Asked if he would be visiting the site of the crash, Trump responded: “What is the site? The water? You want me to go swimming?”

The tone-deafness. The callousness. The disregard for human life, for the grieving families, for all the children aboard that flight — it’s disgusting. Repulsive. Just plain sick. There is something wrong with him.

A methodical examination of Trump’s statements can yield these moments, where even if briefly, a bright light can be shone upon the darkness where his soul should be.

These moments must be seized and amplified, so that people see Trump for what he is — and so that his disgusting, despicable words and actions are tied in turn to his MAGA allies.

Run the “swimming” clip as part of every anti-Trump political ad from now until 2026, 2028, and beyond — that’s the equivalent of playing a clip in front of a jury at trial.

Use his own words against him.

And if past is prologue, then we may see the return of another phenomenon from the first Trump term — his own staffers leaking to reporters, making stories public, or even secretly recording Trump so they have their own insurance policies. Those statements may be even more damning than the ones Trump makes to reporters on the record. And in an administration filled with TV personalities, crisis actors, and inexperienced intern-level lackeys being put in charge of significant government functions and data, well, what could possibly go wrong?

1. Although it did help cost him millions of dollars to E. Jean Carroll, as I describe in my book.