There is proven talent among the current Democratic presidential hopefuls. But being smart, well informed, articulate---and believing you have a thick enough skin to deflect dirty blows--is not enough. Those positive traits were true for the seasoned Republican candidates who debated Trump in 2016--and it was not enough.
Not one of the sixteen Republican hopefuls was prepared for Trump's thug tactics and crude blows. They had never encountered anything like his behavior in the political arena. That's why they went high, assuming that his tactics were so repulsive that he would suffer a knockout by the public, if not in the first round, certainly by the sixth.
But they did not anticipate that an overwhelming majority of white evangelicals would abandon their moral principles for seductive Trumpian promises. They did not anticipate that the suffering of workers was so deep and pervasive that they would fall for empty promises and ignore immoral behavior despite Trump's well-known history of abusing workers, defaulting on deals, and stiffing contractors.
So the candidates talked policy, logic, and legislation, while Trump reviled each one of them and steadily conditioned the public to embrace his degrading monikers: "Lyin Ted, little Marco, low energy Jeb..." Trump's challengers did not understand that they were engaged in psychological warfare in which he so effectively diverted their attention that they let their guards down and did not defend or respond to relentless sucker punches. Trump's mind control techniques catapulted him to victory.
On the next round, in 2020, the Democratic candidate will have one advantage in a face-off with Trump that his 2016 Republican challengers lacked. By now, everyone is so familiar with Trump's below-the-belt tactics that the Democratic candidate will surely take Trump's strategies into consideration as he or she plans the campaign. The candidate will not be surprised or unprepared as in 2016. Will that be enough to claim victory? It's doubtful. Not unless the candidate had signed on for serious pre-match training.
Trump's nasty behavior is a default mechanism. He doesn't have to think about his tactics. He's on automatic. He's like a robot that's been carefully programmed to denigrate, distort facts, and self-aggrandize. Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov who introduced the world to the power of behavioral conditioning would surely praise Trump for his masterful application of conditioning for mind control. To meet Trump's psychological tactics will require serious training for all the hopefuls since we don't know who will be the chosen one
Coaches who are experts in the psychology of manipulation, conditioning, and mind control can help candidates neutralize Trumpism. Presidential hopefuls and their handlers must find these experts and sign up for training immediately, or the 2020 election might end in another disastrous knockout of Democrats. In addition to cognitive-behavior therapists, another good source to begin a search for a psychological warfare coach is the 37 psychiatrists and other mental health experts who contributed to The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump (expanded edition) edited by Yale University Psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee
The Democratic Party should not support any candidate who does not get intensive psychological warfare training.
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