“Rope-a-Dope” in Life and Politics

Note : First, a response to a question from a reader. I welcome sharing of any of my posts and of my sub stack itself. I have no grand goal of amassing hordes of readers; that said, I like having more readers, and I believe my existing reader base would have great judgment in sharing my sub stack with anyone they choose. So share away however you desire!

When I was in my 30s, I was chair of the board of a Reform Jewish day school that our children attended. The school was an important part of a large synagogue. No one should be shocked to learn that there were internecine quarrels between the school and the synagogue, between the headmaster and the head rabbi.

In my position as chair of the school board, I was constantly battling the synagogue board president and the head rabbi to win greater independence for the school on many matters of which renewing the headmaster’s contract was the most vital. It was an emotional battle for me because of my close personal relationship with the headmaster and my admiration for him, a view not shared by either the head rabbi or the various synagogue presidents I dealt with.

I recall an encounter with one of those synagogue presidents, a very nice, older man who had always treated me with respect but who did not want to switch headmasters. As a thirty-something, I had little of the patience I do now. So that day I railed at the president, alleging that if he changed the headmaster, he would be personally responsible for the doom of the entire institution. Or something else equally subtle. He said nothing. That made me even angrier, and I intensified my attempt to sting him with my words. Still no reaction. Finally I turned my back and left, thinking I’d just had an encounter with the human equivalent of Jello.

I was wrong. I had been “rope-a-doped.” The president had the bylaws on his side and had simply decided to let me exhaust myself verbally in vain. He was now able, accurately, to portray me to his synagogue colleagues as immature and perhaps not ready for the role I possessed.

I was never able to win the independence I wanted for the school or, ultimately, to keep my friend the headmaster in place. Although it took the synagogue powers many years to finally dislodge him.

It was the inimitable boxer Muhammed Ali who “invented” the rope-a-dope. In a 1974 championship fight against the younger, favored George Foreman, Ali leaned against the boxing ring ropes and enticed Foreman to throw punch after punch. Ali used his arms and a sort of crouching stance to protect his body and used the ropes to dodge or help absorb the force of Foreman’s blows. When Ali sensed that Foreman had exhausted himself, Ali went on the offensive and won the fight.¹

I thought of rope-a-dope, while reading a recent and typically excellent post by Robert Wright who writes the “Nonzero” sub stack. ² The jumping off point for Wright’s post were quotes by Ron DeSantis and Charlie Crist who are opponents in the upcoming November Florida gubernatorial election.

DeSantis, in his latest attempt to cruelly defame Anthony Fauci, said: "Someone needs to grab that little elf and chuck him across the Potomac." (Don’t skip important end note on elves.)

On the same day, his opponent Charlie Crist, said: "Those who support the governor [DeSantis] should stay with him. I don't want your vote. If you have that hate in your heart, keep it there."

Wright’s point in choosing these quotes underscored the title of his post, “Don’t Feed the Narrative,” meaning do not take the bait when someone like DeSantis wails away at common decency. If their comments bait you into saying something negative about their supporters, that’s a delightful win for them. It riles up their base and will probably get them free airtime on Fox. That’s what happened for DeSantis who was on Tucker Carlson as a result of Crist’s unforced error of “I don’t want your vote.”

It occurred to me that the best strategy against the trolling of a DeSantis is to be like Ali, do a rope-a-dope, and just let the blows come without directly responding. Frustrate your opponent into getting crazier and crazier (hard as that may be to conceive!) At some point, they’ll say something that will antagonize your base enough for you to take advantage of it. At the very least, refrain from calling out any group of voters like Crist did, or like Clinton did in 2016 with her “deplorables” comment, or like Biden just did with criticizing MAGA, which has sadly become an almost perfect synonym for Republican.

By the way, in parent-child relationships, you never want to be in the George Foreman position of struggling to get a win over your child who will instinctively know exactly when to use a rope-a-dope against you.

Example: My nine-year old son being sent to his room from the dinner table after multiple, escalating disciplinary threats said this: “Great. This was boring and I’ve got lots to do in my room.”

At the same time, a parental rope-a-dope is often the right strategy. Let your child vent at you when something’s bothering them. It may not be pleasant, but absorbing their venting can eventually calm them down, whether they’re nine or an adult, and lead to something valuable.

1. Footnote 1: Here is a well done clip of the fight highlights, under five minutes

2. Footnote 2: Below is the link to the Nonzero sub stack.

I’m not sure how much of the Nonzero content is free and how much requires a paid subscription.

End Note: About DeSantis calling Dr. Fauci an elf: It would be fantastic if there was ever an elf available to occupy any position of national responsibility. As anyone with the slightest familiarity with The Lord of the Rings knows, elves are superior creatures in every way. So, when I hear Dr. Fauci called an “elf,” I think of his wisdom and kindness and moral clarity. Let me also say this; by those standards, it would be hard to find a person less elf-like than Ron DeSantis!