"The Democrats don't matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit."
Steve Bannon, provocateur and strategic advisor to Donald Trump
"We'll take the hit."
JD Vance, GOP vice presidential nominee
On Friday I posited something so unintuitive as to seem ridiculous. I wrote that Trump's claim that Haitian immigrants were killing and eating pet dogs and cats, a claim that appeared to be blowing up in his face, would in fact help his campaign.
Oh, the story would confirm that Trump was undisciplined, unreliable, divisive, cruel, and happy to spread racist dog whistles, but that was already well-understood by voters. The important thing -- and the benefit to Trump -- was that it pictured immigrants as profoundly foreign and dangerous, and that the mental image of dark-skinned people eating cats or dogs would be mentally "sticky."
The Haitian immigrant BBQ story crowded out discussion of Trump's poor debate performance and Harris' credible one. It took off center stage news about inflation dropping below 3%, news of a pending interest rate cut, news of polls showing Harris now ahead of Trump. The Haitian claim moved immigration back to the center of attention.
JD Vance: "American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do."
Dana Bash: “You just said that this is a story that you created.”
JD Vance: "It comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents. I say that we’re creating a story, meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it. I didn’t create 20,000 illegal migrants coming into Springfield thanks to Kamala Harris’ policies. Her policies did that. But yes, we created the actual focus that allowed the American media to talk about this story and the suffering caused by Kamala Harris’ policies.”
The Haitian story is dishonest, but useful.
Biden and Democrats made a giant policy and political error on immigration. They were baited by the "If Trump says it, we must be against it" reflex. Across a wide political spectrum, Americans -- like Europeans -- are feeling unsettled about immigration from poorer countries. Trump opposed immigration on bluntly xenophobic grounds, and did so from the first day of his campaign. He didn't like Mexicans, to whom he soon added Muslims, and then the rest of the non-European world. There was ample political space for Democrats to have re-framed the issue as one of immigration control and accountability, not one of Trump-style prejudice. Democrats could have been conspicuous for border bureaucracies. Instead they are conspicuous for allowing mass scofflaw immigrants to arrive and stay by gaming a failed asylum system.
Democrats accepted Trump's frame of good people vs. bad people, a frame of well-controlled vs. uncontrolled immigration. Democrats left the border in a chaotic state for too long, lest they be thought cruel and racist. Public opinion has jelled. Democrats are living with that history now, and that failure may result in Americans electing a felon who instigated a plot to overthrow an election to stay in power. At least he will do something about the border. Democrats had their chance and didn't.
Harris has a job to do: show herself to the American people and explain what she might do regarding food, housing, and fuel prices, and what she will do about the southern border. The debate showed her to be personally competent -- adept, articulate, and far more mentally and emotionally credible than Trump. However, she did not make the sale that her policy positions will solve America's problems. Trump keeps stealing the spotlight. The Haitian cat and dog story was intentional. So was Trump writing that he hates Taylor Swift. The second assassination attempt on Sunday was not part of the campaign plan, but it will serve the same purpose.
The spotlight is on Trump, always Trump.
9 comments:
Yes, Trump will do whatever he can to draw attention to himself, no matter how reprehensible. Vance defends their bullshit story about pet-eating Haitians by saying that even though it’s made up, it proves their point about the threat from migrants. You’d think a Yale grad would know that if you have to lie to make your point, you don’t have one. The sad thing is that so many people eat that crap up and think it’s presidential.
So, it looks like yesterday another crazy guy with an AK-47 was planning to assassinate Trump. Like the headline after all the school shootings says: NOTHING CAN BE DONE TO PREVENT THIS, SAYS ONLY COUNTRY WHERE THIS REGULARLY HAPPENS. Word is, the perp voted for Trump in 2016. From supporter to would-be assassin – that’s a pretty radical change of fart. Meanwhile, Republicans are blaming it on all the hateful rhetoric about Trump. It seems Democrats are reminding people of what he’s said and done; the difference is, they don’t have to make it up.
Trump is in the headlines every day, no matter what. His face is shown and something he said is highlighted. He's outrageous, but lots of people like that. Someone tried to shoot him yesterday, but he uses that as a badge of honor. Musk complained that no one is trying to shoot Harris. (He quickly deleted it.) What is going on here? The money, the hate, all of it is just not normal in this country. Where is the honest campaigning? Not much on policy, just stupid stuff like cats and dogs. I wonder how people can decide anything. Inflation? It's down to 3%. Interest rates may be lowered. That's good stuff. But, that's not the focus anymore. Now it's immigration. Virtually every person in the U.S. owes something to an ancestor for coming here at some point, legally or otherwise. Most people who get here are just trying to find a better life. I don't blame them. I would probably do the same if I lived in one of those dangerous countries. There was a bipartisan bill before Congress to help solve the immigration problem. But, Trump told his Republican friends to nix it because it could help the Democrats. That made sense because this election is not about making the country better, it's all about re-electing Orange. Hopefully, if he loses, we'll never see the likes of him again. Normal is pretty good.
Wouldn't it be great if the media actually tells us, or writes about what the Harris platform and policy is if she were to be elected president.
Not with the word salad typically being offered. Not with the media failing to follow-up their questions with request for Harris to answer the question being asked.
Yes, indeed, Trump, rightly or wrongly, is consuming all the oxygen, and apparently keeping Trump in the news 24/7.
Where is the commentary about Harris's interview on the local 6ABC local station that was broadcast last Friday. What stood out for me was word salad.
As for Trump, yes indeed, the media cannot help itself. Their constant attention is keeping him in the news, and apparently that focus is bolstering his support.
I wish VP Harris would be in the spotlight each day with media interviews, town halls, and other publishing and programming that actually might sway the center, rather than simply making her supporters happy.
We can only hope that someday, she will move the needle.
My one criticism that the Harris campaign has not addressed is the clear misstatement that we have no service members in a combat zone during their administration. I don't think a declaration of war is necessary to declare a combat zone officially. We do have service members in harm's way in the middle east, and yes, there have been servicemenbers being killed and injured. Apparently, VP Harris does not realize that, and the media won't follow-up and ask her to clarify the remarks she made during the debate.
I cannot believe we are all still talking about cats and dogs.
What you wrote is true Peter, but the thing is, people now realize Harris is articulate and experienced. They used to try the she isn’t smart or ready, but the people now know she is smarter and more competent then Trump, not a high bar. Polls are starting to reflect she is the safe, more reasonable choice. Texas, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Virginia , North Carolina all changing in Harris direction..
Her statement is true.
But until we bring ALL personal home, including those that protect our allies, there will always be risk from wearing the uniform.
The overseas service personal are probably safer than children in American schools.
Don Old and couch f'er are not "highlighting the suffering." They are causing the suffering.
Peter you should post about the 2016 assassination attempt against TFG.
All media seem to have memory-holed it since it was a white nonMuslim. They keep calling Sunday's Secret Service shooting the 2nd attempt. That is incorrect.
I doubt that the Trump administration will deport illegal aliens on the scale Donald Trump and J.D. Vance describe. In the hospitality sector of our economy, former President Trump's sector--a substantial portion of the workforce is "undocumented," meaning people working with fake IDs. They are the maids, the custodians, the groundskeepers, the dishwashers in the restaurants, and so on. Donald Trump is just another employer who needs these people, and who pretends not to see who they are. But deport them all? Forget it. Democrats and Republicans alike helped create and continue to help perpetuate this workforce; our economy draws undocumented workers to all sorts of jobs. Building a border wall wouldn't be necessary if the federal government were to aggressively enforce laws against employers who employ the undocumented. It's as often as not the employers--liberal and conservative alike--who oppose common sense measures such as having the IRS verify the social security numbers employers use to report employees' tax withholdings. Meanwhile, it's dogs and cats and fairy tales about immigrants. Sad.
We’re still talking about cats and dogs because the Trump/Vance campaign is, which has resulted in Springfield, Ohio being the target of bomb threats and marches by white-wing whackos. That may seem like no big deal to those who have become desensitized to Trump’s criminal behavior, but those who haven’t drunk the Kool-Aid still consider it newsworthy that the presidential candidate of a major political party could be such a lying, racist ignoranus.
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