Trump Turns the Tables

"You're another, but worse!!"     Kids learn how to do it at an early age.

This morning's tweets

Trump is a master at accusing his accuser.   It changes the subject and it excuses Trump.

It works for him.

Breaking News:  He is doing it right now, accusing Obama of having wiretapped Trump Tower.   The Trump administration is being accused of secret dealings?  Well, Obama wiretapped me, which is worse.  Plus Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer also met with that Russian Ambassador.  

The boldest--and most successful--time Trump accused the accuser was when he countered the Hillary Clinton campaign's attacks on him as a misogynistic womanizing groper, especially after the shocking crotch-grab tape was released.  Trump's response was to bring to the debate the next night several of the women who had accused Bill Clinton of abuse.   You think I am bad, Trump asked?    Bill Clinton was worse.  Bill Clinton was disgusting.   You accuse me?   Well, you're another, but worse.

The campaign had countless examples of Trump employing this technique: 

       Trump lies and exaggerates?  What about "Lyin' Ted?"  

       Trump sought favors from politicians?   What about Hillary giving favors to donors to the Clinton foundation?

       Trump manufactures ties overseas, buys foreign steel, and goes bankrupt and gets to write off other people's losses?  Hillary's rules made those laws available to use.  Blame her, not me.

       Trump is bad for blacks?  Hillary's policies hurt blacks and she took advantage of them.  "What have you got to lose?"  Blame her, not me.

As president, it continues:       Trump can't be trusted?  The media can't be trusted.       Trump says untrue things?  The media projects fake news.

Trump Tweet:  Democrats are guilty!!

       

And today's breaking news: Trump may have secret arrangements with Russia?   Well, Obama used power secretly to spy on Trump.  Democrats are worse and they met with a Russian ambassador, too.  It's Watergate.  Investigate Obama, not me.

Trump, the relativist.  Trump's use of the technique demonstrates a cast of mind that conservative opponents of Trump found troubling.   Trump is a relativist, not an absolutist.   Ted Cruz projects a black/white, evil/virtue mindset which had appeal to his religious conservative base, while Trump is very conscious of the other side of a conflict.  That could have been a fatal problem for Trump.  But in compensation Trump also has a strong drive to compete and win, so he asserts his positions vigorously and boldly.   Religious conservatives did not vote for Trump because of his virtue.  They voted for him because he asserted he would fight for their interests and appoint traditionalist Christian judges.   

A Freudian slip by Trump.  This relativism got him into trouble when asked about Russia's involvement in his campaign.   We meddle too, he told Bill O'Reilly.  Every country intervenes in other countries' elections.  We aren't so perfect.   

Trump says the un-sayable.  America and Russia both meddle.

Trump's political "mistakes" help us see better what is going on.   This was pure Trump on relativism but it was an off-note because, briefly, because his sense of the relativity of regime meddling overcame his sense of self-interested identity and competition, the "I win, you lose" competitiveness.  He briefly  forgot America's perception of itself as always-virtuous and instead revealed his understanding that Russia and the US are similar and our behaviors relative.   We are both big powers who want our way.  We aren't so different.

Informed Americans understand that what Trump said is certainly true--America has actively intervened in the elections and leadership of other countries--but Americans don't want to hear it.  They want a leader to stick to the story that we are good and Russia bad, that our meddling is virtuous and Russia's is an outrage against democracy and sovereignty.  It was a Freudian slip for Trump, and mistakes are understood to windows into hidden truths.  Trump thinks in terms of relative power not absolute morality.

Trump is persuasive when he attacks his attackers because it comes from this authentic mindset.   Everyone is more or less bad.  There are winners and losers, but it is a struggle between strong and weak, not good and bad.  

For Trump everything is fair game in the competition because the game rules are not absolute or valid or legitimate based on the sanction of some external moral value.    People who claim there are rules are fake; it is all more or less "rigged" with people taking advantage where they can, not where they should  based on some outside rule or moral arbiter.

This mindset makes Trump a formidable political opponent.  He doesn't let accusations stick very long before he changes the subject and changes the target back to the accuser.  The media, mindful of a need to be "fair" and full of relativists themselves, play along.  It works for Trump.

It also portends an attitude that will show up in policy making: realpolitik in foreign policy and pragmatism in domestic policy.   Voters who wanted an ideologue had other choices.  They chose Trump instead.   Whether realpolitik and pragmatism work for Trump will play out in time.