I’ve written before about my view on how to tactically approach the Trump Admin (and the MAGA congress) - use humor, ridicule and derision to respond to their idiocy and then pivot to playing on our home turf, i.e., talking about the values and issues that we truly believe in and that directly impact the American people. Those posts are HERE and HERE. Those posts also discuss what I believe Dems need to do from a strategic perspective.

After reading about certain events over the last couple of days, I’d like to add a few more thoughts.

Specifically, Dems should be talking about incompetence.

We all know that Trump’s cabinet is full of people who were hired not for their competence or experience but primarily for their sycophancy and MAGA media cred: Pete Hegseth at Defense, Kristi Noem at DHS, Sean Duffy at Transportation, Patel and Bongino at the FBI, etc.

Recent stories highlight not only their incompetence, but the danger this incompetence poses to our country and everyday residents.

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STORY 1

Gift link to a WSJ article: A Laser Weapon Targeted Suspected Drones. It Hit Party Balloons Instead.

The whole thing is worth a read. Sean Duffy announced that the El Paso airport would be closed for 10 days due to this utter stupidity. But there is a bigger question here that underlies the danger of giving inexperienced and utterly unqualified people access to these types of weapons: “What in god’s name was the Customs and Border Protection agency doing with a military-grade anti-aircraft weapon?” If they are literally shooting down a kid’s party balloon, what/who will they erroneously be shooting at next?

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STORY 2

Another gift link to another WSJ article: https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/chaos-kristi-noem-homeland-security-f095ac95?st=VrkE4C&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

We’ve all seen the incompetence of untrained ICE goons in Minneapolis, resulting in unnecessary death, destruction and mayhem by a paramilitary force on the streets of an American City. But it’s also the pettiness and incompetence of the appointed officials at the top (I initially wrote “leadership” but that would be giving far too much credit to those people).

Noem fires a trained Coast Guard pilot for not recognizing she forgot her special blankie? Did she forget her binkie as well? Oh, and then rehires the pilot after word of her vile action leaks out. What capricious action will Noem and her lover-turned-unofficial-DHS-Head Corey Lewandowski take next that endangers US residents’ lives?

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STORY 3

And then there’s Trump’s tariffs (which I think Dems should start calling “domestic import taxes” or “import taxes on the American people”). His yo-yoing on tariffs cost each American household $1,000 in 2025 and is projected to cost each American household $1,300 in 2026.

Clearly Trump’s imposition of tariffs is illegal (read my post on the Constitution and who has tariff authority). But I’m not sure that is even the worst part of this. It’s Trump’s sheer incompetence in both understanding tariffs and the way he is imposing then removing then imposing then removing them based on his uninformed whims.

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There are so many more examples, including DOJ’s incompetence (not just malfeasance) in releasing whatever part of the Epstein Files they’ve released to date.

So, part of the “derision” and “ridicule” aspects of tactically responding to Republican actions/words must, IMHO, include referring to the sheer incompetence of these unqualified people cosplaying as real government officials. And connecting that incompetence to direct harms done to voters. (and all others living in the U.S.)