There have been at least two recent diaries suggesting that we start a concerted campaign to label Donald Trump as a coward: BorderGal and bosdcla14.  Both authors provided supporting arguments, but is this where we are?  Sticks and Stones?  Well, why not?  I am losing faith rapidly in both the discernment of the American electorate and in the fighting spirit of Democrats. (I know, after the last two mid-terms, who would credit Democrats with any fighting spirit.)  That is where I am, tonight at least, and that’s where I see the race, tonight.  So, what the hell.  Give it a shot.    

It won’t be our most reasoned argument, but, as H.L. Mencken (or somebody) once (or more than once) said, “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”  (And no better explanation of Donald Trump is to be had anywhere.)  But, if we go down this particular road, let me suggest that we include one other pejorative, something I hope will not dilute the attack.  Trump has an oft noted preoccupation with strength.  Except I don’t think he does.  I think he is preoccupied with weakness, his own. 

He strikes out at everyone by calling them weak; it’s more than just a misogynistic attack on Hillary.  Obama is weak.  Our foreign policy is weak.  Our depleted military is weak.  America is weak.  We don’t win anymore because — wait for it — we’re weak.  Trump alone is strong.   

Another of his favored tactics is to blame his opponent for transgressions that he himself commits routinely, a tried and true tactic of Republicans in general.  I suspect that Trump’s charge that everyone but him is weak is either psychological projection or the tactic of calling his opponents by his own worst sins.  Either way, I suspect that one of Trump’s greatest failings, and his greatest fear, quite probably, is his own weakness (or the chance that someone might see it).

If we’re going to call him names, if we’re down to sticks and stones, let’s choose the pointiest sticks and the biggest stones.  “Coward” is good, as others have noted, but so is “weak.”  What the hell….  I guess….  Maybe….