Trump may soon get back on Twitter.
Democrats can hope.
The glass is half empty for Democrats. The sooner Democrats face the reality of voter malaise and frustration, the better for them. This will be a "time for a change" election.
Voters are looking at inflation, not the low unemployment rate. When voters see high home values they aren't looking at how much equity they have; they are looking at how crazy-expensive homes are. When voters see "Help Wanted" signs, they aren't thinking how this is good for job-seekers; they think how hard this is for businesses to hire people.
Joe Biden isn't good at one of the key jobs of a president: Explaining things to the American people. Therefore, Americans have fallen into thinking the U.S. is on the wrong track. Democrats are led by old, stogy people: Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer. They are boring communicators and they project weariness. They don't shape the Democratic brand. The brand is shaped by its media-savvy progressive wing. They say provocative things. Those are what get picked up and amplified by the GOP and Fox.Net-net, Democrats have a problem and cannot talk their way out of it..
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| Fox is happy. It should be worried. |
Trump saves the day for Democrats. Had Trump disappeared and had a new generation of GOP candidates acceptable to Americans surfaced, then Democrats would face some ugly elections, at least until a new generation replaces the current Democrats in power. The GOP went the other direction--toward Trump and MAGA. The MAGA wave forced Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy to forget what they thought and said immediately after January 6. They are Republicans and Trump is the center of the Republican Party. Trump is endorsing full-on loyalists in high-profile primaries. The party of George Bush, Mitt Romney, and Dick or Liz Cheney is gone. They aren't just out of the GOP; they are enemies of the GOP.
Donald Trump is indefatigable. He is relentless. He has been kept slightly in the background by being out of office and off of Twitter, but that is likely to change soon. Musk appears to want Trump back on Twitter. Trump says he wants Truth Social, not Twitter. I don't believe it. Twitter is center stage. That is where Trump and Musk want to be, at the center of attention. It need not be "good" attention. Here, Musk makes a remark on Senator Ron Wyden's penis. Really.
Juvenile taunts create a flurry of commentary, and if nothing else, they show Musk to be a fighter. That is what GOP voters like about Trump. He is willing to say or do anything in attacking enemies.
Donald Trump is the salvation for Democrats. The freer Trump is to be outrageous on Twitter, the better for Democrats. He frightens and offends voters and he is undertow for otherwise-electable Republicans. J.D. Vance brought an attractive package to the Ohio Senate race. Then he got sucked deeper and deeper into MAGA as he sought Trump's endorsement. He proposed ending Civil Service and making it an arm of the Trump campaign, then defying the courts.
I think Trump is going to run again in 2024. I think that what Trump should do, if I was giving him one piece of advice: Fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people. And when the courts stop you, stand before the country, and say, [quoting Andrew Jackson] "the chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.”
Trump can survive sounding wacko. As Trump observed, he is a star.
When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy.
People were shocked by the "grab 'em by the pussy" comment, but the prior sentence is equally important. Trump has Teflon; he looks courageous and bold when he is outrageous. To be noticed on Twitter Trump needs to keep amping up the trolling. The outrage. The wild and crazy. People who echo Trump look like followers and supplicants. They aren't stars. They look like puppets in the Trump drama. They also look like kooks.
Twitter is center stage for Trump. It is where he loves to be. Trump and Republicans see it as an opportunity: The more Trump the better for Republicans. No. Trump on Twitter hurts Trump and it hurts Republican candidates who get the scent of Trump on them.
10 comments:
The genius problem is the "idiot savant" problem. Someone can be brilliant at one thing and incompetent at everything else, for instance, manners, or guitar.
The Wyden dig is utterly juvenile and a characteristic of what passes for humor in our social media age, i.e. what a self-conscious fourteen year old thinks is funny. Not a great portent for someone now in control of a media behemoth.
I'm hopeful we are seeing the endgame of Trumpism, also the the territory of pre-pubescent intellect. Yes, let'm at it! One of the things about promoting shock and outrage is that it must always be escalating. The "Big Lie" has run its course so what will lil Donnie, that clever imp, come up with next?
For one thing Trump back on Twitter will also be the death knell of Truth Social, so it will be interesting to see how investors react.
Trump is the worst thing to happen to this country but the best thing to happen for the Democratic party.
Regarding the new rules:
I don't like the idea of other commentators' misinformation not being challenged.
I may not be visiting as often. I visit to see what Peter said and to see how others respond to what Peter said. Quite often it's the predictable rightwing drivel/talking points rather than informed opinion.
But I respect the ownership's rules.
I would say, be careful what you wish for.
It’s like the old joke about two hikers in the woods:
They come around a bend in the path and encounter a bear. The bear charges them. One of the hikers immediately drops down on the ground, pulls off his hiking boots, and starts lacing up his running shoes.
The other hiker says, “What are you doing? You can’t outrun a bear.“
The first hiker says, “I only have to outrun you.“
Trump is pathological in so many ways. But he only has to beat Joe Biden or Kamala Harris.
Republicans think that by banning those who spread dangerous lies and conspiracy theories, Twitter has targeted them and violated their right, to free speech. They appear to be the targets because they do it the most, and private companies can censor whatever they want.
Now that Musk owns Twitter, he can do what he wants but by giving free rein to the malicious lies of Russian bots, conspiracy theorists and wackjobs like Trump, I don’t believe he’s doing our democracy any favors.
The scary thing is that Trump is a charismatic ranter who feeds on public angst. In this way he is a classic fascist leader. Fascism has long had fertile soil in the USA. We are on the brink of descending into a nightmare world run by various narcissistic leaders who could easily bring back the kind of social upheavals which we all thought were buried in the 1940s. Having Trump back in the limelight has no positive outcome as far as I’m concerned. We are in deep trouble.
Tom, You are correct
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Latin for “who will guard the guards themselves?”
Those who are happy about the censorship currently practiced by social media platforms may not be so happy once those guardians come for their free speech.
Be careful what you wish for. (I seem to be developing a theme here today.)
Elon's plan is most likely to market the Twitter brand as a preferred Starlink protocol.
TFG already lost once to Biden/Harris.
And the election wasn't "stolen."
TFG is just a child who never learned to think beyond his orange nose.
It's not censorship, Michael, if your account is terminated for violating the terms of service every customer has to agree to.
Most adults know that.
Just as holding a politician accountable for their crimes is not a "political witchhunt."
Whining does not change facts. They only reveal the complainant to be a misinformed whiner.
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