On Monday night, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump finally faced off against Hillary Clinton in the first presidential debate of the season. Clinton proceeded to wipe the floor with Donald Trump, and the post-debate polls prove it.
The tactics that Trump used mirror those used by emotional abusers. Here are some of the tactics he used.
1. Lying
Trump’s been doing that for the last year-and-a-half. He has gotten plenty of practice lying on camera. He can look at the camera head on, and lie his head off.
Timothy Egan at The New York Times said:
“How can we discuss the economy when Trump suggests that the unemployment rate, just under 5%, is actually 42%? Or debate the Paris climate accord, when Trump falsely claims it ‘gives foreign bureaucrats control over how much energy we use on our land?’ Or deal with terrorism, after Trump said he knows ‘more about ISIS than the generals?’”
2. Blame Shifting
Trump takes this approach for just about anything he argues about. He kept sniffling while he was talking during the debate, he blamed it on the sound equipment. When he was asked about the American economy, Trump blamed China for “… stealing American jobs.” He blamed Hillary Clinton for most of the issues that came up during the debate.
She even quipped:
“I’m pretty sure that by the end of the night, I will have been blamed for everything that ever happened.”
To which The Donald replied, “Why not?”
3. Bait And Switch
This is classic Trump. During the debate, he used what should’ve been a discussion on jobs to attack Hillary Clinton. When asked about his tax returns, Trump said:
“I will release my tax returns when Hillary releases her deleted e-mails.”
This is the Republican broken record for the election season. They just keep harping and harping on the emails.
4. Generalizing And Exaggerating
Hillary Clinton has more than ten times as many policy pages on her website then Donald Trump does. He’s not really that great at making plans. He just says things like “It’s a disaster,” or “This is tremendous,” among others.
5. Yelling And Interrupting
During the entire debate, he kept trying to talk over Clinton, and he interrupted her many times.
These are all things that emotional abusers use to keep their victim with them.
Here is a news clip talking about Trump’s lies during the debate:
https://youtu.be/14HDAuZL1gk
Featured image via Twitter.
