Politics

The Strategy to Defeat Donald Trump Was Reportedly Revealed

June 16th 2016

If you've been wondering how Democrats plan to attack Donald Trump, who has so far proven resilient to harsh criticism, there's a newly leaked document that might be able to answer your question.

donald-trump-iraq-war-2002AP Photo/Matt Rourke - apimages.com

Documents that appear to detail the Democratic Party's strategy to defeat the presumptive Republican presidential candidate were reportedly leaked on Wednesday after Russian hackers infiltrated servers for the Democratic National Committee.

Gawker's Sam Biddle and Gabrielle Bluestone got an exclusive look at the 200-page document, which is basically an extensive accounting of everything Trump has said and done that could hurt him in the general election. (You can read it in full here.) The alleged hacker behind the leak says additional documents will be published on WikiLeaks soon.

There's nothing especially explosive about the Trump opposition research; it's a thorough overview of Trump's personal history and policy proposals (with an emphasis on his flip-flops), but the document doesn't contain information that you couldn't otherwise find through a Google search. What it does show, however, is the outline of an attack plan.

"A section titled 'Top Narratives' describes a seven-pronged attack on Trump’s character and record," Gawker reports.

Top NarrativesGawker - gawker.com

If the document really did come from the Democratic National Committee, it indicates that Democrats will focus on the "divisive and offensive" nature of Trump's campaign, his questionable business practices, his "dangerous & irresponsible policies," his reputation as a misogynist, and details about his personal life, including the fact that his ex-wife, Ivana Trump, accused him of rape. (She later clarified that she did not mean rape in the "criminal sense.")

Here's how Biddle and Bluestone describe the leak.

"What follows is roughly two hundred pages of dossier-style background information, instances of Trump dramatically changing his stance on a litany of issues, and a round-up of the candidate’s most inflammatory and false statements (as of December ‘15, at least)."

"It appears that virtually all of the claims are derived from published sources, as opposed to independent investigations or mere rumor. It’s also very light on anything that could be considered “dirt,” although Trump’s colorful marital history is covered extensively."

Trump's campaign has an interesting theory about the leak. In a statement tweeted out by campaign reporter John Santucci, Trump alleged that the Democratic National Committee itself was behind the leak, dismissing the information contained in the document as mostly "false and/or entirely inaccurate."

"We believe it was the DNC that did the 'hacking' as a way to distract from the many issues facing their deeply flawed candidate and failed party leader," the statement reads. "Too bad the DNC doesn't hack Crooked Hillary's 33,000 missing emails."

[h/t Gawker]

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