🧩 BND Motif Index · M657
Ducking the fight
Someone refuses to face an opponent, in a debate or a real confrontation, and the refusal becomes the story: proof they're scared, weak, or hiding something.
- 5claims filed under it
- 3left shows it came up on
- 1center show it came up on
- 1right show it came up on
- 1claim retold online
⚠️ A story people tell, not a claim that it's true.
A motif is the shape of a story as its tellers tell it, named the way a folklorist names a tale type, so the same story told about other people, by the other side or in another year lands in the same place. Some of the claims below are true, many are false. Arguing against a story is often a story of its own, its answer (Voter fraud is answered by Voter suppression, Lawfare by No one is above the law), and we file it there; where no answer has a motif yet, the arguments against a story sit with its tellings.
🎙️ Who it came up with
the shows we follow where its claims came up, by the show's lean
⚖️ center 1
🐘 right 1
"Came up on" means one of its claims was heard on the show: told, reported or argued against. We don't yet mark which. Show leans are our own grouping of the shows we transcribe.
📰 In the news
the stories its claims were told about, the most told first (matched by our tools, so a link can be wrong)
- 📰 Federal judge orders Trump to sit for deposition in BBC defamation lawsuit 2026-10-22 to 2026-10-24
- 📰 Texas Senate candidate Talarico absent from campaign trail for 12 days 2026-10-08 to 2026-10-09
🧶 Its claims
what's been told in this shape, newest first, in our words, with where each was heard
- 2026-10-23 “Donald Trump is a bully who cowers and runs away when faced with opposition.”
🎙️ The MeidasTouch Podcast - 2026-10-23 “Donald Trump is avoiding a deposition in a $10 billion defamation lawsuit from the BBC.”
🎙️ David Pakman Show (podcast) 🎙️ The MeidasTouch Podcast - 2026-10-21 “Amy Acton avoids substantive issues and refuses to debate.”
🎙️ The Megyn Kelly Show 🎙️ CNN 5 Things 🎙️ Breaking Points 🎙️ The Tim Dillon Show - 2026-10-13 “Ken Paxton is a poor candidate for office.”
🎙️ CNN 5 Things - 2026-10-09 “Ken Paxton is refusing to debate James Talarico, despite Trump's call for a debate, and this refusal is seen as cowardice or a sign of his dishonesty.” 🧶 people online
M657 · first seen 2026-10-09 · last 2026-10-27 · what this is · how the index works