Great comment by dcg2 in Kerry’s recent great post:
Thin-skinned is the perfect taunt for [Donald Trump]. It puts him in a box where any attempt to strike back reinforces the image of him as responding because of his thin skin, it can be easily tied to the risk he poses to the nation, and it has the benefit of ringing 100% true. Plus, as a bonus, it elevates Hillary rather than debases her.
Great insight, really nailing why Hillary Clinton’s speech was so amazing that it literally stopped Trump’s tweetstorm on its tracks. (For real. His last tweet on her speech was at 3:18 ET, she mocked his live tweeting at 3:22). Of course, there’s more to her speech, as Kerry noted:
Her charge that he's a "fraud" who’s scamming America was downright sticky. Her suggestion that he's a mad man who might blow up the world because of his "very thin skin" resonated. And her quip that she doesn't "believe him" when he says he knows "more about ISIS than the generals, believe me," impugned the entire basis of his candidacy. You either believe him or you don't, cuz god knows there's no there there.
But while “fraud,” “stupid” and “shallow” are character attacks, and good ones. “Thin-skinned” really hampers his ability to respond to attacks, because every response will reinforce that narrative. And since no other Republicans are apparently willing or able to defend him, he can’t depend on surrogates to bail him out. He really is on his own, and as this week showed, he’s not his own best surrogate. In fact, he’s pretty awful at it. And Hillary just made his life even more difficult.