I’m excited about where we are in this country; he talks down America every chance he gets — he calls us names, he calls us a “third-world country,” he talks in such dire and dark terms. That’s not who America is. We are the best problem solvers in the world. Our diversity is a strength. I am excited about helping to pull our country together, to set some big goals on infrastructure, advanced manufacturing and clean energy to take on climate change, which, by the way, is not a ‘hoax made up by the Chinese,’ and do everything that I’ve talked about.

She’s right — Trump is a drama queen constantly describing a dystopia that exists only in his mind. Clinton in the first debate rebuffed his take on the African American community, saying that “it’s really unfortunate that he paints such a dire negative picture of black communities in our country.” She continued, “You know, the vibrancy of the black church, the black businesses that employ so many people, the opportunities that so many families are working to provide for their kids. There’s a lot that we should be proud of and we should be supporting and lifting up.” It was a way of conveying awareness of and familiarity with African Americans, the large majority of whom do not live in poverty.

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Remember when Jimmy Carter was ridiculed for Americans’ “malaise” (a word he didn’t actually use). Republicans were indignant: How dare he run us down! Why is blaming us? Trump is Debbie Downer to the nth degree.

To Trump, everything is “terrible” or “the worst.” Generals have been reduced to “rubble.” We “lose” at trade deals (because he misunderstand that the point is not to run up a surplus). Things are so horrendous that minorities, he says, don’t have anything to lose. We never win anymore he says. Immigrants are pouring over the border, ready to murder your children, he would have you believe. “Millions of jobs” he says are “fleeing” the country. Everyone — except him! — in public life is “stupid.” Other countries are smarter and outwitting us (e.g. Mexico sends us “murderers”), and despots around the world are superior to our elected president. Crime, which is no where near where it was in the 1970s, is the worst ever.

Part of this is plain manipulation: He’s telling people whose lives are not what they should be that everything is bad. Not your fault! It’s not you, Joe Voter, who cannot win but our entire country that is losing.

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The portrait of peril and danger also is meant to justify his own extreme measures (e.g. a Muslim ban, deporting 11 million people, starting a trade war). It’s a common theme for wanna-be autocrats: We’ve been sold out, everything is horrible, “I alone” (as Trump says) can set it all right.

Clinton does not want to sound Pollyannaish. Telling people they are better off than they are rarely proves to be a successful theory. In the next debate she would do well to personalize this. Trump is saying you, Mr. and Mrs. Voter, are losers and only he can help. You, Mr. Military Officer, are an incompetent in Trump’s eyes. You, Mr. and Mrs. Blue Collar Worker, are so feeble according to Trump that you cannot beat Chinese or Mexican workers. You, Mr. Policeman, have allowed crime to reach new heights. This is all profoundly untrue and treats the entire country as victims or bumblers.

Ironically, for a country that is such a hell hole Trump has precious little to offer voters to repair these grossly exaggerated failings. Clinton might point out that aside from stock phrases “law and order” or “support police” Trump has no clue how to reduce crime in Chicago. Other than starting a trade war, he has nothing to offer American workers. She should start pressing him for answers: How do you reduce murders? Who would you put in charge of the military in lieu of all the current generals? Tell us a few things that would fix schools in the inner city. Go ahead, we have time.

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