Trump steaks. April Fool

Trump's system usually works. 

Sell the sizzle, not the steak.

Sometimes there are consequences. 

"The world's greatest steaks."

People die. The economy shuts down.

Donald Trump is a master salesman. Many Democrats are blinded by their dislike and disgust for Trump, so they don't appreciate how skillful he is. His rally schtick mixes outrage and humor. His fans love it.

His shows are well produced with good sound and light, with warm up acts, with familiar bits in which he would insult the press, share his contempt for his enemies, and act like a rock star. The media covered him nonstop because audiences watched. It is simple as that. It doesn't take a conspiracy theory to explain Trump's domination of the news cycle. People are curious so they watch.

The Trump system is to insist on his own reality. He sells an intangible world that fits what he wants people to believe. A steak itself is a real, tangible thing. It has weight, dimensions, fat quantities, qualities of tenderness. It has a reality rooted in objective, shared fact. In actual fact, there was no Trump farm or ranch or Trump steaks. He bought them from a West Palm beach butcher shop, and repackaged 4 steaks and 12 hamburgers into a box and The Sharper Image sold them for $199. Click Trump sold the brand and the idea. 

But the idea of "the greatest steak in the history of the world" or "selected for you from thousands we rejected" or "rated the Number One best tasting" are completely unmeasurable. That is the arena in which Trump operates. News is a hoax. His appointees are the best. China pays the cost of a tariff. Trump asserts these things with shameless confidence. He wants people to believe and he is believable because he seems so sure of it, so adamant.

It works for him. I watched him tell crowds in 2016 that Obamacare was a disaster, but he would replace it with a health plan that was much better, much less expensive, covered everyone, and immediate. That sounded good to people, better than Obamacare. Of course it did. It was imaginary. 

He was going to drain the swamp. He was going to put into place only the very best people. He was going to build a big beautiful wall and Mexico would pay for it. He was going to replace NAFTA with something wonderful. He was going to cut the deficit and pay off the debt promptly. He sold sizzle.

The coronavirus problem.

Trump's showmanship and cheerleading led him, in December, January, and February, to sell a story that was plausible and favorable to him regarding the economy. The economy is great, the best ever, and there is smooth sailing ahead. Sizzle. 

That meant he had to characterize the emergence of the coronavirus in China as a negligible problem, just a flu that would miraculously disappear.

But the virus--like a steak--has weight and dimensions. Trump needed to manage the numbers in order to manage the sizzle. Taking charge of the virus would mean test kits, quarantine systems, personal protection gear, all measurable, real things that would document that the problem was bad and growing. Senators were getting intelligence briefings that caused them to sell their portfolios. Trump's administration was getting warnings.

Trump made a characteristic Trump-like decision: he dismissed the reality so he could sell the sizzle. He hid the reality. He delayed. He didn't want confounding numbers or visible preparations. Had the miracle happened and the virus disappeared in the warmer spring sunshine it would have worked. But reality intervened. 

Now Trump is attempting to make100,000 to 200,000 American deaths seem like success. 

Heads up to Democrats. Trump has a disaster on his hands but he is still an extraordinary salesman. 

He is adamant:

   1. He handled the virus like a master, a ten out of ten grade.

   2. The problems are the fault of Obama who had no preparation for him.

   3. The problems are the fault of the Chinese, who weren't transparent.

   4. The problems are the fault of GM and other wasteful cheating companies.

   5. The problems are the fault of the whining, wasteful, governors.

   6. The problem is that protection gear is being stolen by health care workers.

   7. The problem is the media, which hypes this to make him look bad.

   8. The problem is the Democrats who distracted the nation with an impeachment hoax.

   9. The problem is huge, but would have been way bigger without his effort.  

Number ten, the most important: Look at me, here every day, standing beside Dr. Fauci and other health experts. Forget the past. Look at the present. I am managing this like the strong business executive that I am. Sleepy Joe is in a basement, and I am standing right here.

That is the new sizzle, and Trump is selling it.