One way Clinton can hurt Trump

Each party is on track to nominate the only candidate who could possibly lose the election to the other. In the latest Washington Post-ABC poll, a sizable majority of Americans considered Donald Trump unqualified to be president. But Hillary Clinton is so unpopular that they still preferred Trump to her.

Anxious Democrats are wondering just how they should take him down. There are many possible lines of attack — but many of them come with drawbacks.

It might be tempting, for example, to portray Trump as a misogynist. But some liberals worry that doing so will compound Clinton’s deficit among men. Democratic strategist David Axelrod suggests that Clinton stay away from this criticism because it’s unnecessary: “I think the behavior that would drive women to react negatively to him is pretty evident, and you don’t need to make that the focus of your campaign.”

Clinton could attack Trump instead as a con man and a fraud. But the message may not be effective coming from her. Most voters don’t think she’s honest either, and think she too is looking out primarily for herself. Besides, she doesn’t need to gain support from people who are being fooled by Trump; she needs to win over people who dislike him but dislike her too.

Trump’s business record might not end up being as much of a liability for him as Mitt Romney’s was in 2012. Democrats said that he had made a fortune by laying people off. While this was not exactly true, Romney never offered a simple explanation of the basis of his business to most Americans. Trump has: He builds things — creating jobs in the process — and then slaps his name on it. The creditors and customers he has stiffed might tell you the truth is more complicated than that, but it puts him in a good initial position.

Democrats will be strongly tempted to attack Trump as a far-right extremist. He has taken positions that lend themselves to this