“When they go low, we go high” is the stated mantra of the Clinton campaign. The sentiment, uttered to acclaim at the Democrats’ summer convention, was Michelle Obama’s. It’s a nice line, and Hillary has repeated it—she just hasn’t followed it. For that matter, neither has Michelle’s husband, who goes around saying that Trump is “not fit in any way, shape or form” to succeed him in office.

The real strategy of Clinton, her campaign team, and her surrogates is: “When they go low, we go lower.”

In August, days after the Democrats’ convention ended, the Clinton campaign spliced together video clips of Ku Klux Klansmen, white nationalists, and other haters extolling Trump. In September, Clinton allies in the movie business produced an anti-Trump video featuring, among others, actor Don Cheadle, who asks voters if they want to elect a “racist, abusive coward who could permanently damage the fabric of our society.”

By October, the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, was trotting out the mother of one of the victims of the Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Orlando. “We have to continue moving forward as an inclusive society,” says the aggrieved mom. “If you love a gay person, if you know someone who’s gay, and you truly love them, I don’t know how you could justify a vote for Donald Trump.”