'Laugh-out-loud funny': Experts guffaw as Times op-ed asserts Trump can win 'on character'

A New York Times headline has political pundits rolling in the proverbial aisles with an assertion about Donald Trump's best bet on winning in 2024.

Rich Lowry, editor of the conservative National Review, argued in a Times op-ed that Trump should ignore the advice of many Republicans and bombard Vice President Kamala Harris with accusations of weakness.

The column had the headline: "Trump can win on character."

"From the headline* to the analysis to the strategy," replied Georgetown Law professor Josh Chafetz, "this op-ed is laugh-out-loud funny."

Chafetz was not the only reader of note to raise an eyebrow at Lowry's claim that Trump could slow Harris' surging momentum if only he hit the brakes on policy-based attacks and revved up a more personal campaign message.

“Presidential races are won and lost on character as much as the issues, and often the issues are proxies for character,” Lowry wrote.

"Everything has to be connected to the deeper case that Ms. Harris is weak, a phony, and doesn’t truly care about the country or the middle class."

That Trump, the billionaire son of a real estate tycoon who was found guilty of falsifying business records, should so target Harris, a former prosecutor and daughter of a cancer researcher and economics professor, did not impress readers such as University of Pennsylvania geophysicist Professor Michael E. Mann.

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"This is what lowlife Rich Lowry (editor in chief of the odious National Review) and the New York Times have both been reduced to," Mann wrote. In a follow-up post Mann admitted to knowing Lowry personally and added, "He's an a------."

Health economist Eric Feigl-Ding also opined the Times was scraping the bottom of the editorial barrel.

"This is a completely real NYT oped headline," he wrote. "The @nytimes has sunk to a new low."

Other readers resorted to jokes.

Dmitry Grozoubinski likened Trump to a villain in a James Bond-based video game from the 1990s.

"Trump couldn't win on character even if the election were Goldeneye 64 and we let him play Oddjob," replied the former Australian diplomat.

"I actually agree that Trump can win on character," political commentator Anand Giridharadas added. "All he has to do is time travel and unborn himself."