Same old, same old. The Trump formula. Amidst the chaos he creates, Trump's certitude is an anchor point for a confused public.
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| Bomber sends out diversionary flares. |
Trump is throwing up a flurry of diversions. He does it because it works.
There is a lesson here for people willing to learn from experience. Donald Trump has a formula, and he is executing on it.
The formula:
1. Deny critic with indignation, and assert correctness.
2. Identify some reason to doubt the critic.
3. Accuse the media as an unreliable source of information about him.
4. Pivot to strong accusations of someone else, which becomes the new subject.
5. Say it is a matter of opinion and people are right to take his side.
6. Re-assert original position that he is correct.
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| The "meltdown" is strategy and craft. |
White House spokespeople have a strategy and they stick to it. Whatever the question, the answer is Hillary, Benghazi, the DNC, the private email server. News hosts attempt to make careful distinctions and get Trump spokespeople to answer questions, but questions get lost among the accusations and diversions. What about the Clinton Foundation? What about George Soros? What about Benghazi?
It is a confusing mess, and readers and viewers look for someone who seems to have a clear, simple answer to what it all means.
There is one: Trump stands unapologetic.
This result is not an accident. It is a plan, executed perfectly, the Trump formula at work, doubt created, credible sources questioned.
At this moment conservative talk radio, Fox News, Breitbart, the White House, and Trump personally via tweet and interviews are all sending out messages of distraction. A quick list includes:
1. Dossier is actually from Clinton.
2. Democrats spent $12 million creating the dossier.
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| White hot flares. |
4. Former FBI Director Comey is corrupt ally of Clinton.
5. 33,000 Clinton emails.
6. Corrupt "fake news" media refuses to look at Clinton.
7. Democrats are perpetrating a hoax, a "witch hunt."
8. Conspiracy underway by Democrats and media to ignore the tax cut proposal.
9. What about Benghazi?
10. Susan Rice said the Benghazi riots were due to a video.
11. Tony Podesta, brother of John Pedesta, is involved in some way with Mueller probe.
12. Mueller is corrupted by Democrats.
13. People on Mueller's team have donated money to Democratic campaigns.
14. The House of Representatives will open hearings on Democrats.
15. The Clinton Foundation got money from Russians.
16. Papadopoulos is a nobody, and he is a liar.
17. There were leaks of the pending indictments. Investigate the leaks.
18. George Soros is behind all this.
19. Fox News got a legal threat from Tony Podesta complaining about Fox News.
20. Democrats attempting to steal election from Trump.
People want answers and direction. I watched this--and participated in it-- for thirty years as a Financial Advisor. Amidst a flurry of conflicting and uncertain information investors want some direction, and a clear basis and foundation for the direction. Amid confusing markets and tax laws and personal lives, people want a credible answer.
Trump provides that clarity and direction in the world of politics. It would be a mistake to think that Trump's goal is confusion and uncertainty. It is the opposite. The confusing messes he creates are the preparation stage, so people are open and eager for some clarity, some anchor points of reality. Trump has delegitimized the news media and academics and veteran hands as the sources of clear, digestible reality. Trump says they are fake while he is real.
Look again at the Trump formula and note that it resolves itself in certitude. Trump has the answer. He creates doubt and chaos. He delegitimizes alternative answers. Amidst the chaos, we want answers. Trump is there to provide them. Clear, simple, and very certain of himself.
9. What about Benghazi?
10. Susan Rice said the Benghazi riots were due to a video.
11. Tony Podesta, brother of John Pedesta, is involved in some way with Mueller probe.
12. Mueller is corrupted by Democrats.
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| 20 Flares |
14. The House of Representatives will open hearings on Democrats.
15. The Clinton Foundation got money from Russians.
16. Papadopoulos is a nobody, and he is a liar.
17. There were leaks of the pending indictments. Investigate the leaks.
18. George Soros is behind all this.
19. Fox News got a legal threat from Tony Podesta complaining about Fox News.
20. Democrats attempting to steal election from Trump.
People want answers and direction. I watched this--and participated in it-- for thirty years as a Financial Advisor. Amidst a flurry of conflicting and uncertain information investors want some direction, and a clear basis and foundation for the direction. Amid confusing markets and tax laws and personal lives, people want a credible answer.
Trump provides that clarity and direction in the world of politics. It would be a mistake to think that Trump's goal is confusion and uncertainty. It is the opposite. The confusing messes he creates are the preparation stage, so people are open and eager for some clarity, some anchor points of reality. Trump has delegitimized the news media and academics and veteran hands as the sources of clear, digestible reality. Trump says they are fake while he is real.
Look again at the Trump formula and note that it resolves itself in certitude. Trump has the answer. He creates doubt and chaos. He delegitimizes alternative answers. Amidst the chaos, we want answers. Trump is there to provide them. Clear, simple, and very certain of himself.
3 comments:
While it is tempting to cite only fringe media for who agrees with Trump, the Wall Street Journal is very critical of the Mueller probe. A WSJ piece correctly notes as to the recent indictments: "The most striking news is that none of this involves the 2016 election campaign."
https://t.co/Uin5llzZI2. The WSJ Editorial Board wrote that Mueller should resign "to prevent further political turmoil over [FBI] conflicts of interest" in conducting a fair probe given DNC and Clinton involvement with the Russian Trump dossier. https://t.co/JVu2UE0CCZ. And a recent WSJ podcast characterized the Trump dossier as both a DNC and an FBI RussiaGate scandal that may eclipse the Trump probe because of more solid evidence of direct Russian contacts. Even liberal media and Rachel Maddow are starting to cover this Democratic RussiaGate as whistleblower rights champion Senator Charles Grassley is calling for a separate special prosecutor to investigate Clinton and DNC Russia connections during the 2016 campaign.
Trump's attacks on Mueller are gaining traction even from his critics.
In other words, a con.
Not all that brilliant, but sufficient to create the illusion of equivalence. Both parties are complicit, but only the GOP is guilty of breaking the rules. Trump's clumsy modis operandi has exposed much of what hitherto has been an unspoken "honor among thieves". As long as his cult stands behind them they will be able to ride roughshod over all the conventions that constituted the status quo.
That's quite a list, and while each claim can be refuted with facts, it's exhausting, time consuming and yes, confusing. Also very lawyerly. Stall and obfuscate to buy time. Circumstances may change in your favor in the meantime. Ultimately there will be a reckoning. This administration is corrupt, abetted by Republicans who believe they can control it. There is a strategy unfolding: a passive aggressive Congress, investigations, incitement.
Instead of governance we are subjected to a spectacle of political mud wrestling.
Which of the 20 Trump statements you list are not plausible? Your frequent criticisms of Trump's personality are spot on. However, despite personality, many of us believe that this boor is indeed grossly telling the truth; not as to details but thematically. To illustrate, no CNN Allahu Akbar does not mean "God is great;" it means "Allah is greater (then you're God)." But the MSM uses false equivalency to say it's not organic Islam that's the problem, it's a few radicals. The left's house of cards is collapsing because it's built on a secular quasi-religious fantasy willing to sacrifice Americans for that illusion. Other than devout liberals, the rest of America increasingly is seeing the truth.
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