LETTER: Donald Trump: the asymmetrical president
Wayne Allyn Root’s May 23 column, “Australia should be a warning to Democrats,” made me wonder why Democratic presidential candidates might employ such wrongheaded strategies. The answer could be that Donald Trump is not so much a racist or climate change denier, but simply the anti-establishment, even asymmetrical president. As with the West and the war on terror, Democrats are frustrated by the fact that they often don’t know how to deal with the enemy.
The number of candidates in their presidential field may be a symptom. Most experts thought that nominating Mr. Trump after he had faced 16 establishment types in the 2016 primaries would inevitably lead to defeat of the GOP. They were wrong. Could Democrats pull off the same trick in 2020? They could try by appearing to mount their own asymmetrical campaign.
There are three major obstacles, however. First, the Democratic candidates least aligned with the establishment are also the most radical, thus presumably the least electable. Second, an inexperienced Democrat likely would not be as good at conducting an asymmetrical campaign. Third, what if the electorate can’t fathom two asymmetrical campaigns at the same time?
I’m pretty sure President Howard Schultz is not the Democrats’ objective.