Two ways to write about Ben Cline: The nice way, and the honest way

There’s two ways to write about the latest recent Ben Cline jab at Democrats supposedly being socialists.

Setting the scene: Cline posted a screenshot of Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed to his socials on Tuesday, with his own caption that reads:

“THIS is one of the new faces of the Democrat Party: a socialist who hates America.”

First way to write about this: taking the analytical approach.

Going that route:

It might be hard for the likes of Ben Cline to get away with calling Abdul El-Sayed a “socialist,” against a backdrop of Donald Trump openly embracing Kim Jong Un, the Communist Party dictator-leader of North Korea, in a dispute with South Korea, our democratic ally.

Mr. Cline seems to be trying to confuse the support of Mr. El-Sayed and others who identify as Democratic Socialists for policies like universal healthcare and criminal-justice reform with the rigid totalitarianism of Communist regimes like, for instance, the very North Korea that the leader of Cline’s Republican Party, Mr. Trump, has recently aligned himself with.

That’s the first approach, the way a New York Times columnist might offer a take on the matter.

Understated, reasoned.

Wordy, to the point of, obfuscating the point.

In other words: boring.

The second approach:

Who the hell does this Ben Cline think he is, calling anybody else a socialist, when his Dear Leader is kissing up to actual Communists?

Ben Cline needs to ask for his sack back from Trump so that he can stand upright and tell the Communist dictator in the White House to go to hell.

The second approach is more akin to the one that Cline himself used with his attempt at a takedown of El-Sayed, by the way.

Attention-getting.

Direct, sensational.

Kicking ass, taking names.

Ben Cline knows, as he’s typing out his message for his fans on the socials, that Abdul El-Sayed doesn’t hate America.

It’s all performance art.

The psyops tricksters who consult with the MAGAs on these matters emphasize to them that they need to come across as looking tough.

Ben Cline shows up for a tour of a Shenandoah Valley farm in a three-piece suit and wingtip shoes.

Tough.

To mask his inner effeteness, he posts mean things online.

As he sits at a desk in a three-piece suit and wingtip shoes.

The debate series that he’s apparently agreed to with Beth Macy sure should be interesting – assuming he doesn’t back out of the debates at the last minute.

Sorry, let me do the New York Times version on that last point:

Mr. Cline, who has rather famously avoided making himself available to constituents since his last run for the Sixth District seat in the fall of 2024, holding just one town hall in the intervening period, an invitation-only affair in Lexington last year, could find himself very much out of his element in a toe-to-toe encounter with Ms. Macy, a journalist and best-selling author.

There is already speculation among pundits that the move of Mr. Cline’s campaign to accept the debate challenge is a serious misstep that could move the race in the Sixth, widely considered a safe seat for Republicans, into the toss-up category.

The second version:

Ben, you ol’ Commie dictator-lovin’ dog you, she’s going to eat your lunch and make you pay for it, buddy. Abort!