"I won the 2016 Election partially based on no Tax Returns while I am under audit (which I still am), and the voters didn’t care. Now the Radical Left Democrats want to again re-litigate this matter. Make it a part of the 2020 Election!”
Trump tweet: Saturday, May 11
There are two competing narratives: 1. Trump is really guilty of bad stuff. 2. Trump is a victim.
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| Click: He bobs, weaves, evades, mumbles. |
Trump is being investigated in multiple areas by multiple entities, and Trump is resisting at every turn.
Trump's hidden taxes share center stage with his efforts to stop Congress and the public from seeing the Mueller Report, from hearing testimony from multiple people with information on Trump's behavior, including Mueller, former White House Counsel Donald McGahn, and Donald Trump, Junior. The Treasury Secretary says flat out that Democrats won't get Trump's tax returns. The Mueller Report noted that getting accurate information was hobbled by multiple Trump partisans who testified dishonestly, and by President Trump's refusal to testify in person.
Trump's hidden taxes share center stage with his efforts to stop Congress and the public from seeing the Mueller Report, from hearing testimony from multiple people with information on Trump's behavior, including Mueller, former White House Counsel Donald McGahn, and Donald Trump, Junior. The Treasury Secretary says flat out that Democrats won't get Trump's tax returns. The Mueller Report noted that getting accurate information was hobbled by multiple Trump partisans who testified dishonestly, and by President Trump's refusal to testify in person.
Trump and his team are not obscuring the fact that they are trying to hide information.
We saw useful political theater on television. Senator Kamala Harris grilled Attorney General William Barr. She looked smart and tough--potentially a worthy opponent of Trump. She made Barr look foolish, which advances her presidential campaign.
Barr struggled, attempting not to answer, attempting to avoid embarrassment for saying implausible things as he stalled for time. He wondered philosophically about the meaning of the word "suggest" and said that, no, he hadn't thought to question whether a witness in a prosecution should also serve as the decision-maker judging the matter the witness had evidence on. His obvious evasions make him look unmistakably guilty as he feigned ignorance and confusion while attempting to avoid actual perjury.
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| Tweets today: the Trump message |
The interaction exemplifies the entire multi-pronged investigation into Trump. The Democratic message: Trump and his team are hiding guilty behavior, and it must be really bad for them to hide so flagrantly.
The Trump message: all these investigations are phony.
Trump tweets it is all a witch hunt. He is totally innocent and the Democrats are trying to reverse the 2016 election. Sore losers.
Trump tweets it is all a witch hunt. He is totally innocent and the Democrats are trying to reverse the 2016 election. Sore losers.
I observe very little overlap between the audiences for the two messages. The GOP has near perfect discipline among officeholders and conservative media. The tiny exception of Republican Senator Raymond Burr of North Carolina, who placed a subpoena on Donald Trump, Junior, and is being excoriated for this by fellow Republicans. Burr fits the pattern of GOP senatorial heretics, Bob Corker and Jeff Flake: he is not running for re-election.
Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell are well aware that videotape exists of their unequivocal criticism of Bill Clinton--grounds for impeachment and removal--for actions that are exactly what Trump is doing, and which they now defend unequivocally. Hypocrisy and contradiction protects them politically. They are on the team, on message: Trump is a victim, period. Click: Lindsey Graham on CNN
As this blog has noted multiple times, the public consensus that Trump is guilty of bad stuff does not hurt Trump politically.
His brand is to be the rascal bully. So what if he underpays his taxes and cheats vendors and lies about Democrats? Nice guys finish last. He is a winner, and America will win with him as leader.
Therefore, it is entirely possible for polls to show that a solid majority of people say they do not approve of Trump, but that they will eventually vote for him. His brand is that he is effective in promoting himself and America. He is a winner and nice guys are saps.
His brand is to be the rascal bully. So what if he underpays his taxes and cheats vendors and lies about Democrats? Nice guys finish last. He is a winner, and America will win with him as leader.
Therefore, it is entirely possible for polls to show that a solid majority of people say they do not approve of Trump, but that they will eventually vote for him. His brand is that he is effective in promoting himself and America. He is a winner and nice guys are saps.
Democrats have a risk in pursuing evidence on Trump. One risk is that the evidence might not be so shockingly terrible that it changes opinion. After all, the Access Hollywood tape wasn't enough, so what could be shocking enough? They will look like they were more interested in hurting Trump than helping Americans.
The bigger risk is that Trump will be successful in stonewalling them, and they will look weak. That would solidify the Trump brand value proposition: he isn't a nice guy, but he is strong and gets his way. A winner. Nice guys finish last.
The bigger risk is that Trump will be successful in stonewalling them, and they will look weak. That would solidify the Trump brand value proposition: he isn't a nice guy, but he is strong and gets his way. A winner. Nice guys finish last.
2 comments:
What is the truth? Two plus years in we still don't know.
The suspense is electrifying!
Exposing Trump as a fraud may be cathartic, but unless Democrats get a majority in the Senate little can be done. His cult will not be persuaded to abandon him and give Democrats the polling they need to confidently proceed with impeachment. Republicans have a tiger by the tail with a constituency whose objective is on the one hand shredding the social contract and on the other preserving the legacy of the 19th century industrialists. This is the end of a path they chose 50 years ago that now has ended at the edge of a cliff.
If we look at this as simply a power struggle between equally crooked political factions, which unfortunately many do, the rules of the game dictate lying, slander, conspiracy theories, and all the rest. Progressives are supposed to have higher standards, so in this game they suffer from having to compromise their values to compete, which makes them look bad, never mind if they are, and also adulterates the message.
What to do? Support the free press for starters. In my conversations with "Doomsday Democrats", I try to be optimistic and realistic in supporting the idea that we have to get back to something more normal, before any sweeping Progressive reform can be proposed, hence Biden, although I'd personally prefer Sen. Warren.
"I could shoot somebody in the middle of 5th Avenue and I wouldn't lose any voters".
(Donald Trump,YouTube
https://youtu.be/qC16c98hDPc)
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