Hillary Clinton may have lost to Donald Trump on Election Day but it certainly wasn't because of her debate performances. Clinton systematically dismantled him piece by piece on the debate stage right down to the moment where he muttered into the mic, "Such a nasty woman."
Those debate performances now provide the perfect road map for how Democrats on Capitol Hill can learn to play Donald Trump like a fiddle and, in particular, how Democratic women can get under his thin, orange skin.
So while it's totally lamentable that someone with a clear personality disorder (and I don’t say that lightly) will soon be serving as our president, it does provide strategic advantages. Notably, his responses are entirely predictable. On stage, Clinton questioned his personal wealth, his success as a business man, his sexism toward women, and more. It was part of a larger strategy Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri actually copped to just before the election. But generally speaking, Trump just can't stand having his authority challenged by women.
Indeed, the perfect people to pick up the Clintons’ mantle are Democratic women in safe congressional seats. Sen. Elizabeth Warren probably trolled him better than any other Democrat besides Clinton during the election. Nancy Pelosi seems to be positioning herself alongside Warren. And certainly someone like California's newest senator, Kamala Harris, would be in the perfect position to go after Trump.
The idea here is to willingly aid him on measures that will clearly help the working class—places where he held positions that cut against GOP establishment types like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. And where he fails to make good on certain promises to his supporters, bait him into defending himself for tossing them aside now that he's president.
There's just no way his team can insulate him from his own predictable impulses. They can't permanently deny him of both his twitter account and access to cable news, the internet, etc. So if he joins with Ryan and McConnell to get GOP establishment stuff done—rail on him for failing to "Drain the swamp!" Is he really the man he said he is? Clearly, he's just a tool of the establishment! Who knew he could be suckered so easily?
Bottom line, there's a clear path to manipulating someone as classically flawed as Donald Trump. Part of what it means to have a personality disorder, regardless of which one, is that you predictably respond to certain input in a similar way every time. That proved true throughout the campaign, and Trump was at his most unhinged when reacting to widespread criticism of things he said or did. The campaign trail is really just a teaser for how maligned presidents are once they actually enter office.
Democrats absolutely can and should start working that to their advantage immediately. And if they need some insights into his fatal flaws, they can either call Clinton's debate prep team or dial up his Art of the Deal co-author, who knows Trump all too well.