After presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden repeatedly condemned sexually assaulting former staffer Tara Reade on Friday, President Donald Trump gave a rather curious response. Trump told Biden to “fight it,” saying he knew what it was like to be falsely accused. In fact, the president even said he was “sticking up for” his Democratic opponent.
Dilbert creator Scott Adams insisted this move was brilliant: a kill-shot “so perfect” no strategist could ever have thought it up – it has the Trump master-touch.
“I would just say to Joe Biden, ‘Just go out and fight it,'” Trump said in a podcast interview with Dan Bongino. “He’s going to have to make his own decision, I’m not going to be telling him what to do. Biden is going to have to go out and fight his own battles.”
Then Trump identified himself with Biden. “I’ve been falsely accused by people that I’ve never even seen, I’ve never even seen many of these people. And some of these people, I met them – zero interest, Okay? Like zero,” the president said.
“And all of a sudden you become a wealthy guy, you’re a famous guy, then you become president, and people just – people that you’ve never seen, that you’ve never heard of make charges. So I guess in a way you could say I’m, I’m sticking up for him,” Trump said of Biden.
“If that’s not the funniest thing you’ve heard in your whole life,” Scott Adams said, laughing.
The Dilbert creator explained that the president threaded the needle exactly right. Sexual assault claims are a touchy subject because the president has been accused so many times — but he found the perfect way out of this dillema, Adams insisted.
“If President Trump had said yeah, ‘Joe Biden is guilty,’ that would totally open up Trump for the same accusations and you know that would be just automatic,” Adams said. “So President Trump didn’t really have a play to talk about it at all.”
“There’s nobody else in the world who would have found that path, it’s so, it’s so perfect,” the Dilbert creator added, in awe. “The president is embracing Biden…”
“The president is using as a kill-shot that his opponent is just like him. Do you understand how sublime that is?” Adams asked. “Because there’s only one person in the race who can survive being just like Trump, and it’s not Joe Biden.”
“The more Trump says, ‘Yeah, we’re like brothers. We’re practically the same guy. I lie, he lies, I’ve got some allegations, he’s got some allegations. You know, … we’re practically bros,'” the better it is for the president’s campaign.
By identifying himself with Biden and daring Biden to defend himself, Trump not only taints his opposition but also draws attention to Tara Reade’s claims. The president took a situation where the sexual assault claims against him might very well become the bigger story, but he pivoted around it perfectly.
“This is like somebody getting out of the escape room when there’s no escape,” Scott Adams said. “How the hell did he find this path? You know, in a million years, if you hired the best consultants in the world… The way you know that this came from him and did not come from an advisor or a paid consultant is that no paid consultant could come up with this plan.”
“It’s just too good, and only Trump could pull it off,” Adams said.
Join me for a quick laugh about the funniest Trump kill shot on Biden. Ever.🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 https://t.co/xn6U5w5iZe
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) May 1, 2020
Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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