Joseph Sabino Mistick: Strategies for Democrats to stay in the fight

Anyone who follows boxing has seen the guy who charges out of his corner at the sound of the first bell, arms flailing, fists flying wildly, striking his opponent everywhere at once. Think of what Donald Trump has done in the first weeks since his inauguration and you’ll get the picture.

Trump is in the early minutes of the first round, and it is hard to keep up with the flurry of punches he has thrown. He wants to invade Panama, annex Canada, rename the Gulf of Mexico, buy Greenland, punish our friends with high tariffs, punish his enemies, eliminate the Department of Education, investigate those who investigated him, and occupy Gaza and turn it into a Middle Eastern Riviera. And that’s just some of it.

James Carville, Democratic strategist and President Bill Clinton’s adviser, is trying to calm frantic Democrats. As he told MSNBC’s Katie Phang, “What we have to learn is, Democrats: Just let him punch himself out. Remember Muhammad Ali and his rope-a-dope?

“But you just got to keep bobbing and weaving and bobbing and weaving,” Carville said. “And then, in due course, you’re going to be able to come in.”

In a 2024 article in The Sporting News, Tom Gray described the rope-a-dope strategy that Ali used 50 years before in “The Rumble in the Jungle” to defeat George Foreman and regain his title. “With gloves high and appearing to be languishing against the ropes … Ali allowed Foreman to pound away.” Foreman threw and landed hundreds of punches, but in the eighth round, when Foreman was finally punched-out and exhausted, Ali came out swinging and knocked him out.

The internet has been filled with advice on how to deal with Trump-related fear and anxiety. By the middle of Trump’s first stint in the White House, Newsweek ran an article with the headline, “Therapists Coin New Term: Trump Anxiety Disorder.” And even though he has just started his second term, it seems that Trump can take credit for job growth in at least one sector: psychotherapists.

It’s normal to be discouraged when your side loses an election. And it is normal to look for ways to survive and even work with the winners when you lose. That is not the case now, because Trump has the most vulnerable Americans — the poor, elderly, disabled and infirm — scrambling and afraid.

But “rope-a-dope” may not be the best defense because it won’t work for most people. It can wear you down and take you out of the fight before the other guy gets worn down. Boxing historian Doug Cavanaugh, whose latest book is called “Pittsburgh Boxing: A Collected History,” says, “There’s a reason that Ali is the only fighter who has used it that successfully.”

According to Cavanaugh, Paul “The Pittsburgh Kid” Spadafora was a great defensive fighter with a different strategy. “The former IBF lightweight champ kept his cool, knew when to duck and block and slip and parry, and picked his shots. Like Willy Pep, the featherweight champ in the 40s, he knew how to hit and not get hit,” he said.

And maybe that’s a better example than Carville’s “rope-a-dope” strategy for Democrats who want to win back their supporters. They can’t get distracted by Trump’s windmill punches. They must stay in the fight. And when they see an opening to make life better for all Americans, they better take it.