Trump’s counterpunch strategy mirrors the opponent’s alleged crime back at them

Evidence

This builds on Trump’s signature counterpunch move, honed on the campaign trail. Whatever he was accused of, he punched back with a claim that his opponent was guilty of the same thing—corruption, lying, foreign collusion—only worse. Bannon’s fingerprints were all over that strategy, most infamously after Trump was caught on tape bragging about sexual assault. Hours before he was set to debate Hillary Clinton, Trump held a press conference with a lineup of women who had accused Bill Clinton of a range of sexual crimes. Bannon, then Trump’s campaign manager, could be seen smirking on the sidelines, as if thoroughly enjoying the show. Mirroring, deflection, and projection all work well, especially when you’ve got a point. — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 382

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to the book’s core claim that the right metabolizes left rhetorical frames; the Bill Clinton women press conference is a concrete instance of mirroring a left-feminist accusation.
• SEED: Essay angle: ‘the counterpunch as genre’ — how rhetorical mirroring works as a defensive political technology across Trump, Putin, and Bannon.