As a former political consultant it does my heart good to see a candidate who doesn’t let ego get in the way in debate. A candidate who can expertly take a hostile question and bend the response to his favor by ignoring the hostile premise of the question. Mike Pence pulled off that political jujitsu Wednesday night against Kamala Harris.

It’s an acquired trick and takes lots of practice. Most politicians have large egos and when attacked foolishly take bait and rush into the fray. They also can become so personally wound up in a race they forget flies (my only recorded Pence fly joke) like honey rather than vinegar. Mike Pence is wise on both counts.

He told Harris it was a “privilege” to be on the same stage with her. He never raised his voice or got personal. That takes training to subsume the natural competitive instinct into patient lying in wait for opportunities.

Much of it is the likely work of Pence’s team. Even though political jujitsu, using the other candidate’s power against them, is obviously effective many candidates never master it. The president is not a practitioner. He prefers the direct approach and many times it works for him. If he tried the Pence method it would seem staged and odd and thus not genuine Trump. And one thing you can say about the president, he always is who he seems to be. At least in public.

Can you defend against political jujitsu? Only one way, go on automatic. Next time you get to speak after a candidate has pirouetted around a question, keep hitting on it. Pence did that to Harris on packing the Supreme Court.

VP pivots to Court packing speech and doesn’t answer question when asked how Trump will protect coverage for people with preexisting conditions while in court trying to end the Affordable Care Act.Then Pence says Harris refused to answer his court packing question. #jujitsu

— joe johns (@joejohnstv) October 8, 2020

As Harris did, many candidates will just ignore the repetitive nature of the question and move on. But then they seem cowardly and hiding something. If they return the serve and go on their own offensive after a hectoring riposte, then you can have the spectacle of two candidates berating the other for not answering a question. This while, of course, neither is actually answering any question. It’s like a rhetorical merry go round. I’ve seen it. Hell, I’ve trained clients to do it. This electoral martial art is how Pence won in Salt Lake City. I doubt it will be the last time he deploys it.

This piece was written by David Kamioner on October 9, 2020. It originally appeared in DrewBerquist.com and is used by permission.

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