Re: distraction, I think the worst offender is jeffries's "he's doing bad things to distract from his own unpopularity" which doesn't even make sense. Like if your spouse is mad at you would it be a "distraction" to smash all your dishes with a hammer? No, it's a continuation of you being shitty
I could see a case where you could deploy "distraction" if Trump did something you thought was good, as a way to be like, "don't be duped, he's still fucking everything else up on purpose" but as a way to address his transgressions it's just nonsense
Counterpoint: I had an argument with a MAHA Trumper last weekend and she said that she's been very happy with the way that things have been going, by which she meant, Trump is invading DC to harm Dems (especially Black ones). She was easily distracted from specific policies that I asked about.
For instance, I told her that he signed an EO that says he can put her son and grandchild in a concentration camp and she wasn't aware. She also didn't believe me because he's "doing so many good things." My point is: some of these things may be a distraction to *his* supporters. It's not about us
It’s not a distraction though because if he DIDN’T invade Los Angeles and DC, they’d still think he was doing good things and ignoring the bad
I think there's also subtext of Jeffries just being incredibly frustrated Trump drives all the story lines, even the negative ones. Jeffries rarely gets any traction whatsoever (I think Pritzger, Newsom and and a few others show part of why Jeffries flails) but the press is also 100% wired for Don.
The bad actions of a bad person are not like, a distraction from their inherent badness. They're how you know that person is bad!
The Dems biggest mistake is following Pelosi with Jeffries. It's like they're allergic to populism.