Nobody has ever seriously accused the Democrats of being over zealous or over aggressive. That’s just what Republicans love to claim. Why do they do this? Simple. If they say we’re being over zealous, then we’ll tend to be less-than-zealous. We default to civility and politeness. And, just like the mob, Republicans understand and exploit that weakness.
So when they want to win a political point all they have to do to gain the advantage is accuse us, out of nowhere, of “bringing a gun to a knife fight.” By doing so, they know we’ll arrived un-armed. And, as an added bonus, they can arrive heavily armed because we’ve already taken an opposing view, saying, “we’ll do no such thing…” and “we won’t sink to their level…” Unfortunately, that means all we’re left with is the all too common head-shaking sentiment of: “how could they?”
So we need to get wise. Because the Trump tactic is easy: Accuse your opponent of what you’d like to do in a way that they find disagreeable… this way they’ll drop their guard and then you’ll have the advantage (especially since Chump voters will believe the lie and revile Democrats for things we haven’t… or would never do.) This creates a feedback loop where they can ‘push us off the board’ by exaggerating our position.
The simple way to win against an opponent who uses this tactic is to ignore their fake rules of engagement and just do what’s right. [See Merrick Garland]. i.e. If they’re breaking the law, uphold the law. If they’re saying we can’t do something for some weird reason – even though it’s clearly within the law – then don’t fall for it. Be strong and do what’s right. We’re not the ones who are belligerent with power. That’s a Republican thing.