Why would you kick a dog that barks? Do you kick dogs?
Of course not. Again, it’s a metaphor.
I once had a guy tell me that he liked to kick cats and I nearly punched him in the face. Of course I held back, and based on the silent hesitation, I suspect he was correctly interpreting the look on my face.
Let’s try a different metaphor;
Like others here (but not suburban moms apparently) I appreciate that Trump hits back and defends himself, which is a breath of fresh air compared to how all previous republicans have been trained to be sissy boys by the media. Trump refuses to be trained. But it starts to get tedious and look silly when he is playing WHACK-A-TROLL every time a head pops up.