(Note: The purpose of my pieces on politics are not to hate anyone or boost anyone, but to try to explain to confused and frightened people what is really going on, using my own experience as a former TV news producer (CBS News) and as a political writer and reporter and media critic. I see a lot of argument, but very little honest insight and analysis. People need it, judging from my e-mail. I don’t do left-right parroted dogma, nor do I argue my ideas on social media. If you don’t want to think about things, go somewhere else, thanks.)
The first thing to understand is that President Trump is neither crazy nor stupid.
If he were either of those things, he would not be where he is, and I would not be writing about him, and you would not be reading what I write.
In political terms, he has accomplished the impossible and is now the most formidable force in American politics. It is imperative to understand how this happened and is happening.
The second is a quote from George Orwell: “Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your choosing.” We can see that happening every day. That is his power.
Donald Trump has made it quite clear that he knows nothing about curing the coronavirus, or about medications and how they work or if they work. Nor does he care if what he is saying is true or false, or if it might kill people if we took it.
He is a survivor, and he will do what he has to do to survive, at all costs and by any means.
His survival now depends on him being accepted as a true leader during this crisis. If not for the partisanship crippling our politics, he would probably have resigned by now.
As it is, victory remains within reach for him, providing he can establish himself as a powerful and competent leader.
So what is really happening here, when a President of the United States suggests people might inject themselves with disinfectant to fight off a Pandemic? I look at it this way: I’m not interested in joining the chorus of outrage, but in exploring this extraordinary window – his mind-numbing advice – into who he is and how he uses outrage for gain.
We’re not playing by the old rules, the way America processes things is radically different than what most of us know and accept, or what I grew up with. I take Donald Trump seriously.
This is something we need to understand if we want to know what is happening and how to respond to it.
Last night was another triumph for Trump, it worked for him in every possible way, and I want to try to explain why.
Every morning, we awake to a new and shocking Trump “controversy,” and all of the media oxygen in America is his. He takes up all the space in the media universe, day after day, more than any political figure in American history.
Every morning we – the people from the previous world – wake up in shock, anger, and disbelief. It works for him every time. No one has ever understood how modern media works better than President Trump. His political opposition has no idea what he is doing or why and how and why we are all complicit in his rise.
As a politician, Trump works the dark side, not the bright side. He doesn’t evoke a city on a hill, as Reagan did. He lives and works on the dark side of fear, grievance, and xenophobia. That’s where his political soul resides. That’s where his strength is.
This morning, the outrage of the day was his sly – and yes, seemingly insane – ruminations about how ultra-violet light and sipping Bleach and disinfectant might cure the coronavirus.
Almost in unison, his many critics fumed and screamed – this is outrageous, irresponsible, dangerous. As they are ethically obliged to do, every responsible physician in America tweeted and sounded the alarm: don’t drink disinfectant, don’t try drinking bleach.
The people who dislike him freaked out, wringing their hands at yet another horror coming from the mouth of this President.
They made this President very happy, yet again. It worked one more time.
For President Trump, being outrageous is like pushing a button and watching Times Square light up at night. He can grab his remote switcher, lie in bed, watch the fireworks, and see his image everywhere.
He makes Big Brother look like a pretzel vendor on the street.
The elemental truth there is that one can’t understand what he is doing by putting him down as an ignorant lunatic or getting stressed and discouraged.
This completely misses the point of what is happening. Media wise, Trump is pure genius, being outrageous is his core ideology, the reason he is President and might be once more. And in this corporate media climate – ratings and profits are everything, there is no other ethic – it just keeps on working.
To Trump, saying outrageous things is now an art form, he can sit back and watch journalists and millions of educated people jump up and down like hungry puppies. For cable news, it’s now a ritual, broadcast everything he says, and then argue about it. Everyone has bought into it.
What a travesty.
And everyone in the universe this morning has one thing in common: they are talking about one thing: Donald Trump, they are talking about him and thinking about him. There is nothing else; Trump takes precedent over everything, even the deaths of 50,000 people.
Without this greedy corporate media, Trump would have long ago become a fringe figure. If I were looking for blame, I could go there. What a wide-open door for a demagogue.
That is what real power is—every day. So chalk up another win for the President.
Once again – for perhaps the thousandth time – everyone bit this morning, everyone did what they were supposed to do and what he wanted them to do. He wins by losing.
The so-called “Left” – liberals, progressives, college people, elitists, smarty-pants, etc. were outraged, angry, and lining up to condemn this unquestionably irresponsible, even dangerous idea.
How can he say such things? How does he get away with them?
How can we not know the answer to this question by now?
And when will we finally learn it, and move onto the next chapter in our political lives?
Once again, Fox News rushed to defend him. MSNBC rushed to attack him. CNN rushed to fact-check him, each pretending they are the honest brokers, that they care about the truth and health of people, each pulling in big ratings and billions of dollars. The serious print press – the New York Times, the Washington Post – tracked down various experts to explain to us why gulping down bleach isn’t a good idea.
By being “insane,” Trump is the story again, all day.
Once again, his followers rushed to defend him against the bureaucrats, elitists, and entrenched experts who are again plotting to thwart him and his so-called war against the norm.
Everybody bit, everyone followed his script. If it weren’t so disturbing and fraught, it would be boring.
I should say here that when I was a producer at CBS News, just before the corporate takeovers of TV and TV news, we would never have aired Trump’s press conference live for two hours every night in an election year.
That is how much things have changed in the media landscape. Donald Trump has been paying attention all along.
When I was hired at CBS, my boss told me that only one thing could get me fired instantly, and without any discussion or due process, and that was airing something I wasn’t sure was 100 percent true. If you’re not sure, he said, wait until you are.
If it’s inflammatory, or politically expedient, or irresponsible, don’t dare put it on the air.
The networks were hardly angelic then, but they were owned by individual people who had pride in them, and who felt accountable for what they puy on the air. There were four hundred fact-checkers at CBS News when I worked there, there is a handful now.
I don’t mention this to rail about the old days, but to point out the radical change in media ethics that is standard now in almost all of the broadcast media, online and off. This and social media have transformed our politics.
They created a system that makes Donald Trump inevitable, as well as successful.
Facebook, one of the largest news organizations on the earth, is proud of taking no responsibility for what they publish. It is the kingdom of lies and provocations.
If CNN is concerned about airing President Trump’s calculated lies and misinformation about the coronavirus, they won’t air his press conferences for two hours every single night, so that they can “correct” them.
If MSNBC thinks the President is dishonest and dangerous, why broadcast his daily show and talk about him for hours and hours every single day?
Corporations – including Fox News – are constructed to care about one thing: profits and ratings bring benefits, and President Trump brings ratings and big profits. He doesn’t hate fake news, he loves fake news, and they love him in return.
While Fox News anchors dismissed the virus as a Democratic plot, the corporation was sending workers home to quarantine themselves and stay out of the office.
As for Trump himself, he understands well the lessons of modern media. It doesn’t matter if you are right or wrong, honest, or lying. What matters is that you are out there, that your image is ubiquitous. In media terms, Trump is everything all the time. In politics, air time is more precious than anything.
How often have you seen Joe Biden on TV in recent weeks? This is what it means to be complicit.
There is no one else. Just think of that when you consider the political implications in an election year.
Trump’s genius comes from understanding that the more shocking, outrageous, and irresponsible he is, the more the media and “progressives” will hate him, his followers will worship him and accept him and rationalize him. What does he have to lose?
The process is stuck in the wrong place, and Trump knows how to milk this cow for all it’s worth. It’s simple enough to hate him for it, but it’s getting harder and harder to blame him for it.
Trump is like the cheeky schoolkid who dares to get up in front of the teacher and read a book report when it’s obvious he hasn’t read the book. Most of the class loves him for it.
To his followers, he is the rebel, the outlier, the renegade, challenging the system, and its conventional wisdom every single day. In this sense, they see him as one of them. If every doctor goes on TV to say never inject yourself with disinfectants, he says think about it, study it, don’t let the establishment tell you what to do or think.
And if there’s anything his followers hate more than journalists, it’s rich doctors that they and their children can’t afford to go and see. Why should they listen to them?
It’s an appealing message to the alienated and dispossessed. Whatever the establishment says, say the opposite. All criticism is a conspiracy.
For President Trump, the essential thing is topping himself almost every day by being outrageous and, to some, offensive. Open up the states (kind of), stop giving money to the WHO (maybe), ban all immigration (mostly), think about sipping Bleach to kill the coronavirus. And this is all in one week.
He knows most people can’t even keep track of all the outrageous feints, promises, and falsehoods. In our country, outrage has a shorter lifespan than milk. TV is never static, up and running 24/7; it is even needier than the Presidents’ Grievance Machine.
What on earth would they do without him?
And what is the common denominator? The so-called “elites” are angry and messed up and outraged. Always. They are offended at the Presidente so often that outrage isn’t even outraged any longer, it’s reflex.
His followers get to admire his courage and daring, the media has a dream story that will earn them lots of money day after day, and they get to pretend to be virtuous, holier than thou, and full of “truth.”
And yes, our minds are being torn to pieces.
Trump has mastered Orwell’s doublethink more than anyone in the history of modern media.
It is a major reason he is President and the primary reason he needs to be outrageous, each day more than the next. He has created a monster that is hungry and needs to be fed: every day.
Doublethink, wrote George Orwell, is the power that comes from holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously and accepting both of them.
One day the President admits in writing to the quid pro quo, the next day he says it’s a hoax. And nearly half the country believes today that it was a hoax. Call him anything you want, but don’t call him crazy.
If you study the texts of his outrages and outright lies, you can see the calculation and animal instincts in play. He isn’t just running his mouth; he knows precisely what he is doing.
One day he calls the Governor of Georgia to commend him for opening up businesses in his state when every medical expert says it’s too soon.
The next day at his press conference, he cuts the governor’s legs off by saying that he told him opening up was a huge mistake.
This is how doublethink works so well for him – he can hold two or three different truths at one, tearing human minds to pieces and putting them back together again in new shapes of his choosing.
When reporters challenge him, he further delights his followers by calling them names and insulting them, showing them how tough he is, how willing he is to stand up against his conspiratorial detractors and accusers.
The difficult questions do not harm him; they strengthen him, give him some martyrdom. Every night there, he is, for two hours at a pop, an extraordinary gift of free television for a political candidate. In the moral inversion that Trump has so skillfully created, there is no lying, no penalty for being false.
Every lie is a win. And all of us are enablers.
The befuddled and abused journalists in the White House press room are perfect foils for Donald Trump; they are content to be both abused and used. Why else would he submit to their questions when he fires anyone else who disagrees with him?
Early on in his first campaign, a friendly reporter asked him why he seemed to hate the media so much?
“I don’t hate them at all, he said, I need them. I call them fake so that when I do something wrong, and they report it, no one will believe them.” Does that sound dumb to you?
The political challenge in 2020 is that Trump understands his followers better than anyone else running for office or hating him understands them. Dismissing them as stupid fools is not understanding them, it is feeding them – and him – more fuel.
This morning, his followers had yet another reason to hate the media and the doctors and bureaucrats and governors telling them what to do, calling them dumb and irresponsible, taking away their jobs, and threatening their families.
Outside the convenience store this morning, the men in trucks were already on it: he’s just trying to come up with a cure, he didn’t tell people to drink Bleach, he just asked if they were testing the idea, look at how they jump all over his ass because he’s trying to help people. They’ll do anything to destroy him.
That is the genius of Trump right there if you wish to understand what’s happening.
You take people who have been lied to and left behind for generations now, and come along and say I will take this system and set it on fire. It’s the perfect storm of the Demagogue.
Every outrageous thing he says or does or that shocks or goes against the grain, becomes a part of the revolution they so badly want, and believe is at hand.
Every criticism becomes part of the vast conspiracy to make him fail.
Being outraged with and to one another doesn’t accomplish much but tear us to pieces. People will have to put it somewhere, that means something if it is to matter politically.
The shrinks always talk about accepting death, and they might also suggest accepting Trump, and not turning every stupid thing he says into Watergate. He’s not getting into my head in that way, I promise.
Trump, or somebody in his orbit, is a student of George Orwell, and especially of his landmark book,1984.
In a righteous world, the networks would not cover his press conferences. There is no real news in them, and they are thinly disguised and re-furbished political rallies, the kinds he could go outside for before the coronavirus.
Why should the networks give him so much political rallying time when they admit every day that he is spouting lies and misinformation?
Producers know the only reason they air them at all is so that they can either defend him or attack him the next morning, and make even more money—our political structure as a circus.
It’s like the Weather Channel has a record-breaking blizzard to report on every single day. Their ratings and their revenues would go through the roof.
To understand Trump, I believe, I must appreciate him as a Media Creature, from beginning to end. He spends most of his time watching TV in his bedroom or office, and projecting and experimenting with his image and surviving one catastrophe after another, including four separate bankruptcies, after which he published a best-selling book about his business genius.
I can’t speak to his business skills, but I can testify to his media genius. Politicians will be studying his methods for generations.
The challenge for the polis – for the body politic is different. I don’t ask whether Donald Trump is right or wrong, or accurate or dishonest, or crazy or sane.
The coronavirus may be too much even for doublethink; what we see and feel might be too powerful for even a genius to manipulate.
Trump has set his outrageous bar so high that it may be impossible for him to maintain it without blowing up the country altogether. If it’s a mistake to glory the common man and woman, it would be a mistake to underestimate them.
I keep thinking of the Greek playwrights – the hero always goes too far and sets himself on fire. Hubris is his real enemy, not the millions of people fussing or fuming over him every day. They are all, to a one, his greatest allies, and enablers.
When I saw the headlines this morning, I reminded myself not to waste a minute of time or peace of mind wondering why he would tell such irresponsible lies yesterday.
The challenge is not to argue that what he says is true, or succumb to hatred, but to understand why he is saying it and why so many people might believe it.
As Orwell argued, you really can’t fight doublethink with rational argument, but with comprehension and understanding.
Reality exists in the human mind and nowhere else.
I’m a betting man, and if I had to bet, that’s what I would bet on. What I won’t be doing is taking his bait every single day. I want to keep the pieces of my mind together, and in one place.
BINGO! You hit the nail on the head with this one!
In many ways, we are seeing replay of the 2016 election.
Media was completely obsessed with every “crazy” thing Trump said everday. His rallies were televised on CNN, MSNBC and FOX. Hillary Clinton was relegated to after-thought.
But there is no such thing as “bad publicity” when you are the candidate the media loves to hate. Media appears as pretentious, elitist bullies and the condescension for Trump is obvious.
Trump plays that like a fiddle.
Much of what the media hates about Trump, many people love.
Trump has no filter. Whatever pops in his brain, flows through his mouth. But many people see that as genuine and authentic as opposed to calculated and rehearsed. They don’t care that Trump can be bombastic or mean. Just as long as he “speaks his mind” and “tells it like it is.”
I see this election as replay of 2016. Hard to see Biden competing with and standing up to Trump.
To my mind, the only one who could is Cuomo.
Cuomo is smart, tough, understands media and most of all, doesn’t take crap from anyone.
Cuomo got his hands plenty full tackling the crisis of COVID-19. NY needs his leadership more than ever right now. Besides, the primaries are nearly over, the voters have spoken, so where would Cuomo get the delegates to win the Democratic nomination. Let’s be real. “Hard to see Biden competing with and standing up to Trump?” Not if we open our eyes. The majority of Americans are hungering for real leadership (polls all over the battleground states are showing that), and we will win and rid ourselves of this evil, orange monster if we turn out in numbers never before seen, and if we work our butts off to make it happen. (Also, picking Kamala Harris or Stacey Abrams as a running mate would do even more to excite OUR base and gin-up turnout.)
Another well written enlightening piece! I think I finally understand this whole Trump/media/loyal follower thing. It’s like a three-headed beast, each feeding off of the other and always hungry. Jon, thanks for the free therapy session. I needed this and feel much better now.
Yes, thanks for the therapy session too. I actually feel better! Watching from only a few miles north of the NY state border, I had failed to understand the Trump phenomena. Now I understand. Thanks, Jon. Keep up the good inciteful writing. I really like the balance between doing good locally and national politics. They really are two worlds. Oh, yes, and the animal stories too! Maybe we should try Lenore’s strategy of licking the nose of the anxious animal! ( See ” Second Chance Dog”)
Me too! I remember growing up, there was an add for something and one of the lines was ” The mind is a terrible thing to waste!” Thank you again for honesty and perspective! Your blog is a breathe of fresh air everyday!
That’s from the UNCF-United Negro College Fund.
This article really makes sense. I have found myself often thinking “how can this guy be that stupid”. But since he came out with the disinfectant in the arm idea, my thinking now is that not even he is that stupid. So your article came to me at the perfect time.
I also agree that the news media got him elected the first time and they are working on it again. Let us hope he oversteps.
Thanks
“Does that sound dumb to you?”
No. It sounds evil.
Thank you Jon! This makes so much sense. I am not sure how to counteract it except to not re-post or comment on anything he says or does. THIS is why he actually might be re- elected. I have my vote but is it enough? Very scary times in more ways then just the pandemic.
You got it, JILL D.
And I’ve been trying to get people to stop giving him the “he’s stupid,”, “dumb”, “crazy,” etc passes for MONTHS.
This man’s malevolence is staggering!!
“Trump is a sad, embarrassing wreck of a man.” GEORGE WILL
Hear, hear!
Jon… I really appreciated your sharing this viewpoint. Even though I’d rather read about the animals, I understand that your distress justifies this departure, and that your background enables you to see things I can’t,
I wrote this yesterday to my brother. But my vague suspicions could not illuminate the media angle.
“Trump’s Tools” Trump is a lot smarter than he acts. But he follows one consistent truth: he relentlessly performs in his self-interest.
• The act, in fact, is one of his tools: he wants people to underestimate him.
• Obfuscation is another tool. His daily mind-changing and playing musical chairs with his subordinates – that’s part of it too. He wants nobody to figure out and counter his next moves.
• Diversion, that’s a tool too. He captivates with his daily briefings, like the magician who refocuses your attention while he performs his slight-of-hand. If you doubt this, look at this NYT article, “Trump: Why Waste a Crisis?” Outlines what he’s been up to during the outbreak.
Absolutely right! Talk about thinking outside the box!
Hi Jon…like you, I’ve been watching Trump play out with the media. I understand and get that Trump is not stupid and that the media needs him for audience viewership. Gaslighting, double-think, and fascism come to my mind on a daily basis. Our world has never been just one way. All good or all bad. We’ve witnessed malicious, power hungry politicians. Weve seen mobs of people support what they see as their “justified” candidate. The question I ask, “Where do we go from here?” Public education used to be such a venue. A place where young people learned a basic (still imperfect, but at least debated) universal curriculum. Students need to be taught how to understand media. How it works, who funds what, how do visual images alter what we see and how we think. Maybe you can address some of these issues as we move forward in this election year. Thanks again for your time and effort posting relevant thought on our current world.
As usual, this is a riveting, thought- provoking piece. Thank you. To me, I was particularly interested in your comments about television and how that medium has evolved into covering the news in a different way. For the last 42 years I was so busy working 3 jobs that I didn’t notice all the subtle changes in politics, news coverage, the emotions of Americans, etc. Now I’m retired, I look around, and I can’t believe how America changed when I wasn’t paying attention. As a small child, it was a family tradition to watch Walter Cronkite, after dinner, with my father. Afterwards, my dad would explain what Walter had reported. I had and have high respect for national news coverage. I would very much enjoy reading something by you that discusses what has happened to our news coverage over the past couple decades. How and why did it change? Please consider it.
Interesting, deep and so much to consider.
Your background is perfect for this sort of commentary. I never thought of all the corporate media as being complicit but they are. While I have enjoyed the stroll through your day to day life (especially with the animals), your insights into what is happening in the world right now are so very important. Thanks.
This is very interesting – you did not reflect in your article about one of the reasons he feels he has to do this is because of his upbringing and never being accepted by his father and that he could never doing anything to please him….which taught him these survival techniques, starting while young, at being a bully and thus is now taking out all his pent up frustrations on anyone and everyone and has certainly figured out how to manipulate people in order for HIS survival. He has had plenty of years to do this and many opportunities to “fine tune” his evil and corrupt mind. While this is an explanation of why he does things, the main point is that we need a leader that will govern our country according to the constitution and who knows how to govern. He is putting everyone’s lives at risk, EXCEPT HIS OWN. He is a very dangerous person and needs to be removed from office. It is also a very sad state of affairs that the corporations with all their money so willingly support this corruptness in order to make more money…..GREED!!! This is unacceptable. He needs to go……..SOON. We do not need to just accept him and say “Oh, That is just Trump being Trump.” Time to “STOP THE TRUMP TRAIN”.
“his evil and corrupt mind.” And THAT is what so many “misunderestimate” about this man. It has to stop, otherwise, we’ll never defeat him nor trumpism.
Well disguised subterfuge. You are a better survivor than President Trump I believe! Honestly, I still do not believe either side still. Nor do I see that battle as the President, pro or con. There is just too much that does not make sense going on that only people with money, power and control really understand because it is they who are orchestrating these theaters that are “tearing our minds apart”. Not the President. Too many items for a logical, pragmatic Independent politically speaking mind like mine to believe is understandable, even given the extremes of the current situations, whether they be natural or manufactured.
I kept waiting for you to explain what is to be understood about the brilliant clever manipulative man.
Trump thrives on chaos and America today is reflected in this tire fire of a president. Trump exhibits all of the characteristics of a psychopath. Like all psychopaths he’s exhausting to live with.
Lucky me, I don’t live in your country and I am so very glad I do not live there.
I can’t promise you a thing, Mackenna, it’s my job to write what I believe..you will have to do your own research..
DOUBLE BINGO! Another great educational essay that is right on the money. I HOPE this gets out there to more than just your blog readers. Keep digging with that pen, Jon.
#45 learned well from his mentor, Roy Cohn, who showed him what worked, how well, and why from Joe McCarthy.
I agree with the comment from Patty, that Cuomo is the right person to defeat Trump. How can we make that happen?
Jon, ” Thomas Mann “Everything is politics”
Aside from that, I think you may have nailed it this time. The point is well taken, though I think you overrate his intelligence and underestimate his pathology. The “animal instinct” sense is more comforting. The analysis is keen and on point, otherwise. It falls apart, though, in your tackling what to do about it. Keeping our minds in tact is only the first step and I would have appreciated something about how to do that and what’s next.
Apologies for a second posting. About “Reality exists in the human mind and nowhere else.” Not so! It also exists at the voting booth and in the limitations of our freedoms.
What you write makes so much sense but it is hard not to react and play into his media campaign. Food for thought even though it may give me heartburn.
Thank you for this article full of sense. I do wish you would link to sources in some cases, like the quote you used when the reporter asked him why he seemed to hate the media so much. I really wanted to know where this came from but could not find it anywhere but here.
After Trump won the 2016 election, CBS correspondent Lesley Stahl asked him why he continued to bash the media. He replied, “You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you.” Heather Cox Richardson. (From her FB info: “Heather Cox Richardson is a political historian who uses facts and history to make observations about contemporary American politics. Her new book is How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America.” She teaches at Boston University.
I agréé with your article but the results of the next election will depend upon the maturity of the American when will vote. IF America has reached the level of competency, education, knowledge and intelligence you can expect from a Democracy Trump will not be lectern. If he is elected it means America has a long way to get that level!
You’ve done it again! I get up, make my morning coffee, sit down to read your blog before opening the NYTimes to whatever is the new insanity on the front left corner. And then I deliberately avoid reading it. This exactly what I have been thinking for so long. I/we are trapped in a vortex of media hype with no clear way out. My only answer for myself is to do something good each day…for myself, for others, for my community. Thank you for your thoughts on this subject. It is exactly what I have been thinking for…..years.
Well said Jon
Jon, I got to know you when I read your book, Rose in a Storm. Loved it. When I retired they asked all retirees to recommend a book to the school library that would be purchased in my name. Rose in a Storm was my choice. I read this article and applaud your reserve and civilized manner in the way you write about someone I can tell… infuriates you. You always come across as someone who tries to be diplomatic, kind, and weighs both sides of a story, a true diplomat. It is sad what has happened to our world, same mistakes repeating themselves. We don’t get better, it seems we get worse. I thoroughly enjoy your journal, your insight and your good works. Thank you.
This article started with “The purpose of my pieces on politics are not to hate anyone or boost anyone”, but by the end, there was absolutely NO DOUBT in my mind how much you hate Trump. I say this as an independent, neither dem nor rep, neither conserv nor lib… but it was very clear that you hate him. Playing his same game… I see it!
Good for you, Dora, I guess you are way too sharp for me….Did you really read that piece and think I was trying to pretend I love President Trump..I guess nothing gets past you…I don’t hate anyone, I think I see him clearly and honestly good and bad..that’s a long way from hate…I would say your message has a whiff if hate in it, you’re not so clever either…:)
Thank you. I have seen this, but have not been able to rationalize or convey as clearly as you have.
Reading your article has given me another insight about Trump’s press conference. I thought he read the briefing like a 3rd grader because he had not studied the material. I still think that is part of it but I remember something he said at one of his rallies. He began to speak in a monotone, claiming that would be how it would be if he were to be presidential. Of course his followers laughed at the joke. So now, for his followers, he plays “, presidential”, letting them in on the joke. Then, to show it’s an act, he reverts to type. I think what they fail to understand is that he is making fun of them as well. After all, he did say he loves the poorly educated.
This is a fascinating take on the genius of Trump’s media manipulation and popularity among the “disenfranchised”. BUT, I think you are leaving out a major part of the story of his “success”. Could Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have achieved the heights in his career without a team and coach(es)? Could Patriot’s great quarterback Tom Brady have made it without other exceptional players? The 2016 election owes it’s unexpected Trump success not just to the scene-stealer, insulter/name caller, rabble rouser candidate, but the money and influence and strategy of, to mention just a couple, Steve Bannon, Robert (and daughter Rebecca) Mercer who used Cambridge Analytica’s data targeting, to US geographic swing areas thru facebook and other social media. Not to mention other heavy donors like Adelson. In addition to this, PBS, NYTimes, and Washington Post all published articles 7/25/19 on the Senate’s discovery that there was Russian interference in the 2016 election in ALL 50 states —-which BTW is ongoing. And I’m not even commenting on the enormous influx of funding of Trump’s office and residential buildings by Russian Oligarchs and the Chinese.
Just remember the first spending bill Trump signed was the monstrous tax giveaway to the biggest corporations as thanks to their millions in contributions to the Inaugural Comm and the Re-election Comm. Please read, in addition,
investigative journalist Jane Mayer of the New Yorker’s 4/20/20 “Enabler-In-Chief” article about the relationship between Trump and Mitch McConnell (a well as her excellent 2016 book “Dark Money”). BTW She is winner of among other awards 2008 John Chancellor Award of Excellence in Journalism.
Thanks for your interesting analysis. Stay well !