Trump Is an ‘Unserious Man’: Ex-Presidents Obama and Clinton Set Trap at DNC, Analyst Says
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Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton strategically used the stage at the Democratic National Convention to set a trap for Donald Trump, according to a CNN analyst on Monday. Stephen Collinson of CNN suggested that Vice President Kamala Harris shifted her speech strategy away from President Joe Biden’s emphasis on the GOP’s national threat, instead targeting Trump as “an unserious man.”
Collinson explained that the addresses by Obama and Clinton in the evenings preceding Harris’s closing speech were designed to provoke Trump to react, thereby validating Harris’s critique. “Her tone shift involved former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton lampooning their fellow ex-president as a figure of ridicule,” Collinson wrote. “Then Harris closed the trap with a line in her convention speech: ‘Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences … of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.’”
Collinson noted that in hindsight, Obama and Clinton appeared to be baiting Trump into a response that would support Harris’s statement. As anticipated, Trump reacted by making frantic posts on his social media platform Truth Social during Harris’s speech. The analyst highlighted that both Obama’s and Clinton’s remarks provoked immediate responses from Trump, not only through real-time social media activity but also in a subsequent speech he delivered.
Despite reports that many of Trump’s campaign insiders are urging him to focus on policy, he has remained defiant, continuing to engage in personal attacks and complaining about Democratic criticisms, according to Collinson. “One reason those advisers are concerned is that the former president is walking into a trap,” the columnist wrote. “Sure, Trump’s rage and revolt helped him win the 2016 election against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
But his cultivation of chaos contributed to his disastrous management of the Covid-19 pandemic, which contributed to his being booted out of office after a single term.” In a speech in Arizona on Friday, the day following Harris’s address, Trump mocked the advice he received, saying, “They say to me, ‘Sir … please stick to policy, don’t stick to personality. You should be nice to people, sir.’” He continued, “I call them up, my geniuses, they get paid a fortune — actually not that much … but I call up my people and say, ‘They are knocking the hell out of me and you say I shouldn’t get personal,'” Collinson reported.
These developments suggest that the strategic coordination between Obama, Clinton, and Harris at the DNC was aimed at framing Trump’s leadership negatively while drawing him into a narrative that underscores the potential dangers of his return to the White House. The analysis underscores the ongoing political maneuvering within the Democratic Party to counteract Trump’s influence, leveraging both policy critiques and personal character attacks to shape public perception.
Overall, the coordinated efforts appear to be part of a broader strategy to limit Trump’s appeal by highlighting the serious implications of his presidency, as articulated by Harris, and seeking to undermine his credibility through public ridicule by respected former leaders.
