"The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who's best on public safety and law and order."
Kellyanne Conway, on Fox and Friends
Joe Biden says that Trump creates violence and unrest. Exactly. That is the point. He wants to win.
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| Not a radical socialist |
Biden spoke yesterday and made a point that is central to the choice facing voters: more Trump drama vs. a low drama time out. Trump is exhausting. Haven't we had enough? Biden thinks so.
He said, "We have a president who fans the flames rather than fighting the flames. . . . Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is re-elected? We need justice in America. We need safety in America. We're facing multiple crises--crises that, under Donald Trump, have kept multiplying."
And then the lines that got widely covered in the media:
"Ask yourself. Do I look like a radical socialist with a soft spot for rioters? Really?"
And for better or worse, that is narrative choice, and it will be played out largely by body language and well established branding. Trump defined Biden as "Sleepy Joe" and runs ads showing him to be a doddering old clueless fool.The most true and persuasive statement Biden has made in this campaign is that question about what he looks like, and, no, he does not look like anybody's radical anything. Sleepy, yes. Radical, no.
Trump has an advantage here. A fight-picker can create a fight, while a calm-seeker cannot create calm if the fight-picker demands a fight. Trump has the cover of the protests, the images of violence, even if from years ago or far away. Breaking news. Fires on sidewalks. Trump is arguing that his violence is the violence necessary to keep the peace. He sides with the police and they with him. He is a defender, he says. The other guys started it.
Trump has a disadvantage here. Trump is utterly plausible as a bully, the guy who pushes other people around, the guy who fights dirty to win. Trump does not have credibility as the guy who was slow to a fight. For better or worse, Trump, too, has a brand.
Trump's disadvantage, too, comes from the people random news events served up. The Country Club looking St. Louis couple were a mixed message, but enough of a net positive that Trump's convention thought to showcase them. Trump thought them thoroughly sympathetic, White people defending their home waving guns against mob violence. My sense is that the local DA who is prosecuting them for brandishing weapons inappropriately risks making them double victims (first the mob, then the fault-finding government!) but that the couple is not fully sympathetic, and they look like they were escalating a problem, not stopping one. They were too rich, a little too quick to bring out guns, and too easy to perceive as White folks defending their gated community neighborhood from the riff-raff who don't belong in their cocoon of privilege. It's a social class issue.
The 17 year old Kyle Rittenhouse is a complicated situation, with his attorney--and Trump and Fox hosts--saying this was a self defense matter, him shooting three people, killing two, because he feared for his life. Rittenhouse was a volunteer, a young man with a big gun, there in a protest zone after dark, after curfew, looking for situations where he could be a hero. He found them. He got into a skirmish, fired his gun multiple times, then began being chased by people. People chasing a shooter raises the question whether others, some of them armed themselves, when confronting a shooter, creates, in the shooter, a justifiable fear for his life. Who is the bad guy here, and who the hero? It will be a complicated case legally. In school shooting situations the heroes of the incidents are people who rush to stop a shooter. Trump himself said had he been at the Parkland, Florida incident, he would have run in unarmed to stop the shooter bare handed. In this case, a man with a skateboard hit Rittenhouse. Someone threw something. Other people were armed. It is complicated.
But something is not complicated. Seventeen year olds wandering around on the street, carrying an AR-15, looking for people to confront, getting into gunfights, comes across as dangerously chaotic. Tucker Carlson called him a hero and Laura Ingraham said she wanted him to be president, and Trump praised Rittenhouse. This may sit right with the Trump core base, but if there are any swing voters with an open mind, I think it comes across as dangerous disorder. Young men at night, unsupervised, with big guns are frightening per se. It comes across as disorder. Trump's support comes across as Trump fanning the flames, just as Biden said.
Biden has a problem, though, too. Being right isn't enough. Biden comes across as slow to act and weak in the face of a problem. The narrative that is circulating out beyond the Fox/talk radio bubble is that Biden failed to step forward, that he waited in his basement and didn't really lend his leadership and authority to urge protesters to go home, that he seemed reluctant to disagree with leftists who say only violence moves the needle. The narrative slides from a positive frame--calm and reasoned--into a negative one--weak and ineffective.
Could Biden have done more, earlier, and louder? Yes. The pro-Biden punditry has been uniform for weeks in urging him to speak up, speak out, do a Sister Souljah, to intervene. He seemed dragged to this.
So, the narratives will play out over the next two months. Trump is a bully, a provoker, and willing to use strong, decisive force, even if it makes things worse. Still, once everyone is arrested and enough police and troops are deployed, America can be assured peace. Meanwhile, Biden attempts to calm the waters, because people want peace, not provocation from a president, and we would have it with Biden calming the waters.
The grave danger for Biden is that Trump has the power to keep provoking, and he has the willingness to do it. Kellyanne Conway said it correctly: violence and chaos help Trump win, and Trump's goal here is victory.
4 comments:
Great analysis. For me this cries out for in-depth reports on who, what and why these protests are attracting those who are breaking laws and damaging property. Looting in particular is a senseless crime and anyone watching should know it is counter-productive to what are very justifiable protests. So I take issue with the media for focusing on images of fire and smashed windows without putting a face on the story and following it through, including discovering if the violence is being done by those who want to discredit the protests.
Common sense and history should tell us that street confrontations between rock throwers and riot police achieve little, as witnessed by decades of clashes all around the World. Those responsible for the ills are far distant and impervious to a flying bottle.
I sympathize with those whose anger and sense of injustice drives them into the street. I can imagine the feeling of hopelessness and despair that could compel some to pick up a rock. But even as I do, as I know all of us of conscience do, I would remind us of this:
“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” - Martin Luther King Jr.
Trump is not blaming the cities as much as he is blaming Biden. Biden needs to be tough and remind people that all of this is on trump's watch. He has done so, but needs to do more of it. Biden literally has no power here, but that of his influence on the peaceful protestors.
I really believe that the rioting and looting are in part, at least at the beginning, caused by agents provocateurs and some right wingers taking advantage of the situation. Curt, the democrats have never wanted the violence! Now my concern is how organized and enlarged the right wing response has become. This is especially true in Oregon where the republicans walked out of the legislature, and where the loggers have organized bigly due to the state legislative bills on climate change.
I think that any pleas from Biden early on for it to stop would have had no effect, as the peaceful protestors only would have listened to him, the rioters coming from a different place politically. Had he done so, with no effect it would have made Biden look weak.
The only solution is for the peaceful protestors to realize that we have gotten the point of the protests, and to stand down now. The election might depend on it. But that probably will not happen.
Trump’s only contribution to the sh*tstorm dumpster fire that has become Portland was to serve as a convenient excuse for it, rather like how our current governor got elected by pretending to run against him.
This is in NO way a defense of Trump. It is an indictment of Oregon and Portland.
Blue line patriot killed in Portland. Socialists have guns too here in Amerika.
A sad statement today in the City of Rogue River. Various city police and sheriffs needed to keep the peace. A return to the 50’s...Westside Story starring white bikers/truckers vs. the Brown young idealists.
Unbelievable goings on up here in La La Land.
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