Never Give Your Opponent the Battle He Seeks

Look for an Asymmetric Response

Nelson Rockefeller interacting with constituents, 1976.

Turning the other cheek is not a strategy that young men, well-fueled with testosterone, are likely to find appealing. 

There is another way that does not play into the enemy's hands: The asymmetric response. 

At the battle of Cannae in 216 BC, Hannibal responded to the frontal attack from the Romans by outflanking them on both flanks. This approach was replicated at the battle of Cowpens during the American revolution.

Responding to a frontal assault with your own frontal assault sends you against your enemy's strongest point.

In this context, our goal in Minneapolis should be pin the enemy's main force by holding the line and harassing him at every opportunity. One thought: A wildcat strike at certain hotels might force those hotels to shut down.

The counterattack needs to come elsewhere. I see two main avenues: the Epstein files and the Affordable Care Act. Both of these should converge as demands during the upcoming government shutdown. And we should be advertising that right now, and widely. The dilly-dallying about whether we're going to shut down the government has got to go away right now. The message needs to go to the people holding the line in Minneapolis: You have Trump pinned, his numbers are cratering, even Republican senators who aren't up for reelection are looking fondly at the exit signs. Hang on: We're going to get the Epstein info out no matter what. The ACA subsidies will come back. And ICE will go back to their barracks and stay there. You owe this to the people fighting on the front line.

There are other issues, like impeaching corrupt judges. I do not understand why Democratic consultants insist that the people cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. These are all components of an overall strategy to kill fascism in this country for once and all. They are related and can be explained in a clear, logical way.

And frankly, it would give more variety to the chants we use when we're marching. I'm actually getting a little tired of Whose streets? Our streets! I think the people of Minneapolis should be chanting, in addition to Ice Out Now, something very simple like Epstein! And maybe something a bit more subtle, like Trump Finger-Flipper!

Rockefeller never did live down the bird he flipped in Binghamton, N.Y. People talk about it less, now. But it's still in living memory.

See also The Democrats Need to Fight the War, How the Dam Breaks, Circling the Drain, J'Accuse!