Joe Battenfeld: Democrats' strategy to trip up Trump before he's even begun to govern

Joe Battenfeld, Boston Herald on Jan 10, 2025

Published in Op Eds

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The Donald Trump honeymoon is over before it even got started because Democrats and the media are determined to trip him up and fan the flames of dissent.

The minority party’s strategy is to tie Trump up in court, file lawsuits and fabricate a narrative of chaos, similar to what they did in Trump’s first term and after he left office.

Any economic dip will be amplified, any personnel or policy decision will be attacked. So much for giving a new president a chance.

Democrats will even go so far as to glorify Joe Biden on the way out the door, and present a rosy picture of the Jimmy Carter era in order to compare them to the abrasive Trump.

Trump’s close associates like Elon Musk will also be targets of derision and attack.

Rather than welcome the new president and wish him well, look for snubs and dirty looks from Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Jill Biden on Inauguration Day.

Democrats are already taking advantage of the Republicans’ thin majority in the House to try and divide the majority party and prevent them from snaring any early legislative victories.

And there is no question the mainstream media will try to play along with the Democrats’ strategy, blowing out of proportion any defeats or slip ups by the incoming administration.

Trump’s proposal to take over Greenland for strategic purposes prompted a barrage of blasts from Democrats who called a press conference to highlight their views.

“What about the November presidential election had anything to do with invading Greenland or seizing it by force,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said of Trump’s “obsession.”

The New York appeals court also dealt Trump a blow this week by denying his bid to block his sentencing in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.

But all of those strategies to deter Trump will probably only make him stronger in the eyes of the public.

The 77 million voters who backed Trump on Election Day will give him some leeway to start out his administration without any baggage.

And if Democrats look desperate or out of bounds that will only feed into the narrative that they are being unpatriotic or irresponsible.

A good test will be on Inauguration Day, when Trump addresses the nation before Washington skeptics and dignitaries who mostly did not want him to win and will have to hold back their snide smirks before the public watching on TV.