There’s far less Trump bashing than you might imagine in the opening round of the 2020 presidential race, particularly from the lips of Democratic candidates who are trying something unusual: barely mentioning his name.
President Donald Trump is an around-the-clock, all-consuming presence in American politics. He is one reason the contest is drawing so many Democratic contenders. Yet the word Trump often goes unspoken on the campaign trail.
“We have got to understand this is not about him, it’s about us,” Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey told voters here during a weekend South Carolina visit, where he spoke for more than an hour without so much as a mere mention of the name Trump.
Whether referring to the President as “him” or “that person in the White House,” Booker is trying to leave Trump out of the conversation, so he and his Democratic rivals can introduce themselves — and define their young candidacies — on their own terms.
It’s an open question, of course, how long most Democrats can ignore the elephant in the room in a race that revolves almost entirely around Trump.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who has been on the receiving end of Trump’s mocking and name calling, told CNN that “you never let bullies run over you.” But when asked by a New Hampshire voter how she intended to deal with the attacks, she said she would try to deprive the President of the attention he is seeking.
“I think in some ways the biggest punishment to the guy who always wants to be in the spotlight is just turn the spotlight off,” Warren said.
It’s not as though all Democrats are choosing the high road over the hammer, but those running for president are trying to take a page from the party’s 2018 playbook to talk about health care and the impact of the Trump administration’s policies rather than cathartically airing grievances.
“If you are a Democrat or if you’re leaning Democratic, chances are you’ve already come to a pretty definitive set of conclusions about Donald Trump,” said Guy Cecil, chairman of Priorities USA, a Democratic political action committee. “The upside of continuing to talk about it is pretty limited.”
A more effective approach, he said, is to talk about stagnant wages, seeing no benefits of the GOP tax cut and other fallout from Trump’s presidency, rather than focusing on his behavior, which already receives extensive media coverage.
But avoiding the President may be easier said than done, considering how large he looms over today’s politics and how eager he is to shape the Democratic primary.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who calls out the President by name more than any Democratic rival and repeatedly did so during his weekend announcement rallies in Brooklyn and Chicago, also reminded supporters the campaign should be about something far bigger than Trump.
“Make no mistake about it, this struggle is not just about defeating Donald Trump,” Sanders said. “This struggle is about taking on the incredibly powerful institutions that control the economic and political life of our country.”
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who formally jumped into the race on Monday, told voters on a recent trip to Iowa that “talking about Trump a lot is a waste of time.”
“I recognize the gratification: When people are really angry, talking about Trump somehow is a release,” Hickenlooper said. “But it’s not solving the problem, right? If anything, it’s playing into his hands.”
But most Democratic hopefuls are still finding their way in navigating Trump, searching for a balance between showing strength and not taking the bait.
The argument that Sen. Kamala Harris of California is making against Trump is a bit more subtle than that of some of her fellow Democrats. She peppers her speeches with the word “truth,” which she also uses as an opening to remind voters of her career as a prosecutor.
“I plan on prosecuting the case against people who do not tell the truth and who are purveyors of injustice in this country,” Harris said, without elaboration or a direct mention of the President’s name.
Campaign advisers tell CNN they want voters to remember positive attributes and ideas from their candidates — not just how cleverly they’ve constructed their Trump criticism. Aides are also mindful of how unsuccessful Republican candidates were in 2016 when they tried to follow Trump’s lead of belittling or name calling.
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg says all candidates fantasize about standing on the debate stage with Trump and firing off zingers, but it’s far more productive for Democrats to tell voters what they would do for them. He barely mentioned Trump on Monday as he campaigned in Iowa.
“The reality is this can’t just be about the President,” Buttigieg told CNN. “When he says something false, it has to be corrected. When he does something wrong, you have to point it out and then you move on.”
Voters say they are searching for a candidate who can strike a balance between being a healer and a fighter, while offering a vision about life after Trump in the White House.
But after more than two years of bashing Trump at such a fevered pitch, whether at marches across the country or simply in conversation, the absence of his name at Democratic campaign rallies is striking.
Here in Charleston, after shaking dozens of hands and taking even more selfies, Booker didn’t hesitate when asked why he didn’t mention the President’s name even once.
“Look, it’s not about what we’re against — it’s got to be about what we’re for as a country,” Booker told CNN. “Clearly, this election has urgency to make sure he’s not the President after 2020, but we should not be motivated by what we’re against.”
For Steven and Jane Morris, Democratic voters in Charleston who were seeing Booker for the first time, the Trump-free approach suited them just fine — for now, at least.
“If you start playing Trump’s game, it’s going to get you in the gutter. And he’s the best gutter fighter there is,” Steven Morris said. “But you can’t lay down and be weak in front of Trump.”
