If your opponent gets to show himself to the American people and he’s not as you’ve described, who ends up looking foolish?

From Neo-neocon's analysis of the State of the Union address:

...If you spend a lot of time hammering home the idea that your opponent is stupid, crazy, and/or senile, then every time he acts smart, sane, and competent it makes you look stupid, crazy, and/or like a lying propagandist. If your opponent gets to show himself to the American people and he’s not as you’ve described, who ends up looking foolish?

It’s highly likely that the Democrats’ base loved that the party hung tough against Trump and his populist celebration of America and its people. But the great middle—what did they think? I can’t help but believe that they felt even more estranged from the Democrats than in November of 2016, when that gulf was responsible for the stunning election of Trump the underdog.

A lot—a lot—can happen between now and November 2018. But I don’t see that the Congressional Democrats helped their own cause last night. They were unable to improvise a response that made more sense to most people. Clapping enthusiastically would have seemed like they were approving of Trump, and they didn’t want to do that. But looking grumpy made them seem like they were disapproving not just of Trump, but of America and the success of ordinary Americans.

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