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| Attributed to multiple authors |
Democrats hate him, sure, no problem.
But Republicans. Even Fox. Trump is facing constraints. He went too far.
The G-7 gambit may have just been a negotiating ploy, an opening offer. Maybe he could, indeed, do utterly anything and get away with it. He wanted to find out.
He backed off having the G-7 conference at the Doral. Maybe the Doral suggestion is a net-net win for Trump. It might have worked--a high publicity event in the off season, but he still gets publicity about the Doral, and gets to tell the world that he wasn't going to make money, remind voters he doesn't take his salary, and claim that dropping the Doral will cost American taxpayers unnecessary millions thanks to nay-sayer Democrats.
And if Trump actually plays brilliant, strategic three dimensional chess with long term goals, then there was another payoff, even if he had to drop the gambit: It is a big, public reassurance that Trump has limits. See, America??? You don't need impeachment to put constraints on Trump. The system of checks and balances and norms are working.
My guess is that this is not three dimensional chess. In fact, it is sign that Trump is weaker now. Key support is getting skeptical.
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| Click: Note the word "claim" |
Of course, the Democrats. Their opposition is a benefit to him. Trump-the-victim is an element of his brand beloved by this 40%, and he has a billion dollars already to demonize whoever is nominated. Trump has a good path to re-election, as long as a recession is held at bay.
But the Doral was so flagrant a case of self-dealing that even Republicans objected. And it comes on top of the snap decision to abandon the Kurds and let Turkey do what it wishes. This, too, was a bad idea, criticized publicly by Mitt Romney--no surprise--but also by Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell, his dutiful wing men. It was a signal.
Trump can endure a few snipes by GOP officeholders. What he cannot endure is apostasy from the conservative media. The NY Post, too, the reliable downmarket Murdoch tabloid. The NY Post post described Trump looking openly boastful and silly, and put distance between themselves and Trump. Emphasis added:
"Trump went so far as to say it was his administration that wiped out the ISIS caliphate in Syria. “I’m the one who did the capturing. I’m the one who knows more about it than you people or the fake pundits.” Trump has been criticized . . . . A bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers raised concerns. . . . that the fighting between Turkish and Kurdish forces might give cover to ISIS militants to escape and reconstitute the terror group."
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| Trump tweet |
Meanwhile, Fox's website is doing fact check.
First it introduces Trump's tweet, calling the impeachment a lynching. Then they follow it by a tweet from a Democrat, expressing outrage: "You think this impeachment is a LYNCHING? What in the hell is wrong with you? "
This, of course, is classic Fox. The Fox/Trump audience loves "provoking the libs" and woke culture. This is on-brand for Trump and on-brand for Fox.
But then this warning shot to Trump:
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| From Fox website this morning |
Notice what is happening here: a flat description of the phone call to Ukrainian President Zelensky stating that Trump in fact did the central impeachment claim and denying the White House version. Fox puts the "nothing wrong" in quotes, after having described it as untrue.
Yikes. Fox!
Trump is helped by Democratic opposition. Impeachment builds his brand: Trump the victim of those sore loser Democrats trying to steal the people's victory.
But criticism and skepticism from inside the tent matter, and he is getting pushback. The dam that holds back a catastrophe for Trump is not the Republican Senate.
It is the conservative media. Watch for more of this.
In my daily activities I interact with people my age (retired) and exchange opinions on politics rarely.. Living in urban Portland there are few Trump supporters but there are some even in my social circle. But something strange happened yesterday, Two members of the group approached me individually after a morning coffee and the other after lunch to inquire my thoughts on the current Democratic presidential candidate field and the current situation regarding Trump’s latest decisions on Syria and the G7. Both of these individuals are strong conservative Republicans and wear that badge proudly. But this interaction in each of these encounters showed both were concerned that something was broken in the Trump administration. Both welcomed the impeachment inquiry. Both were genuinely seeking assurance that a centrist Democrat could gain support and stop the chaos they see in Trump’s current behavior. I know this is antidotal and not statistically significant but I believe it marks a change and a deepening concern. Time will tell.
ReplyDeleteI think what we are witnessing is chaff.
ReplyDelete"strips of metal foil or metal filings released in the atmosphere from aircraft, or deployed as missiles, to obstruct radar detection or confuse radar-tracking missiles." (Webster)
FOX viewers are already somewhat confused and conflicting information offers cover for FOX while they figure out how to navigate these uncomfortable new realities. Duck!
Was the Doral move a ploy? That's actually scarier than if it was a whim because if it was deliberate it reveals a deep disrespect of the intelligence of....well, just about everyone.
At long last FoxNews and Mitch McConnell and even Lindsay Graham have had enough and have decided to do the right thing and work with Democrats and the New York Times to insure Trump is impeached or at least not reelected. These are acts of heroism in the willingness of FoxNews to lose viewers and revenue, for McConnell to give up his dreams of 6-3 conservative Supreme Court, and for Graham to jeopardize his own 2020 re-election.
ReplyDeleteBut Trump's quid pro quo for the Ukraine (a country which 67% of Americans say they never heard of), and proclaiming without any plan or order that his Miami Beach resort would host the G-7 (an organization that 71% of Americans say they have no idea what it is), well these high crimes and misdemeanor finally turned the tide. Yep, "the Ukraine quid pro quo" and "G-7 meeting" will do what we all thought would be Trump's downfall from Mueller, or Stormy Daniels, or Air Force paying to stay at his Scotland resort, or firing Comey on tv, or his campaign chiefs being in prison, or the Mooch, or "shitholes", or "nice" racists at Charlottesville, or kids in cages, or "I believe Vladmir", or "obstruction of justice", or "promising pardons"-- but no! It turns out that far stronger than all these things is a place called "Ukraine", a thing called "quid pro quo", a "G-7 booking", yes, these against all odds are the straws that broke the camels back for FoxNews and McConnell and Graham, and independents.
And now I'm so afraid it may all be ante climatic in coming weeks, under the drumpbeat of an anti-Trump FoxNews, to behold the GOP Senate onboard to impeach Trump, and to throw Trump out of office even BEFORE the election no less. Yes, that's right, the GOP and FoxNews for the good of our country are going to hand the election to the Democrats, shrug as we throw open the borders, walk hand in hand with Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler, fall in behind Nancy Pelosi on issues of late term abortion, limits on religious liberty, turn over a new leaf on guns, all as the New York Times and FoxNews line up to share Pulitzers or even the Nobels.
And not a day too soon.