Donald Trump isn't strong. He is weak.
His governance-by-decree is proof of that.
New York Times columnist Ezra Klein has an insight and a message: Trump looks strong, but don't be fooled.
Today's post has two points. The first is to share the unintuitive -- but persuasive -- message of Ezra Klein. The second is to remind Democrats of the power of a clear messenger. Biden couldn't deliver a message if the country's life depended on it. It is good to hear and watch a good communicator at work.
There is a great deal of talk in the various media about Trump's show of power with his executive orders. He claims a mandate to act. He expresses the will of the people. He ordered mass firings, mass invitations to resign, mass pardons, mass freezes on government functions, mass tariffs, mass action on trans athletes, and mass cancellation of any reference in federal materials to DEI, gender, race, affirmative action, equality or equity. The popular image is that Trump is a colossus. He is the action figure he sells. Trump Superman.
Ezra Klein says no.
Klein argues that he is declaring executive orders because he is weak. Neither the House nor Senate have reliable majorities. The House is divided between the regular GOP, the MAGA-GOP, and the batshit-crazy GOP nihilists who are furious with any House Speaker who attempts to govern. The Senate is almost as fractious. Since the Senate needs 60 votes to pass almost anything, whatever passes the Senate is at odds with whatever can get through the House.
If Trump really had power, he could pass legislation and have durable policy, placed into law. He could govern as a president, not as a would-be dictator. Trump cannot get his tariffs passed into law. Too many people don't want them. Nor could he get legislation defunding of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Nor would Congress consent to his offering federal employees an incentive to resign. Nor would it support reversing the 14th Amendment section on citizenship. Nor would they go on record supporting his firing the Inspectors General. And most certainly Congress and the American people are not ready to take "ownership" of Gaza.
He is bluffing.
The second point of today's post is one of communication. By position and job title, Biden was the only person who could speak for the Democratic Party. It was his job to explain stuff, to justify and sell the value of Democratic policies. Anyone else who presumed to do it would have been doing so in direct or oblique opposition to Biden. The Democratic Party leadership insisted that not happen, and they enforced that with threats of party banishment. It was Biden or nothing.
Take two minutes or so to watch Ezra Klein here. It is a 13-minute video, but the point on communication is made almost immediately. Democrats may have forgotten what it sounds like to have a spokesperson, a reasonable clear-sounding messenger. It is an essential part of leadership, and Democrats have been missing this. The next Democratic leader must be someone who can do this. One doesn't qualify that job by being in the U.S. senate for two decades. You either have the gift, or you learn the gift. Democrats should insist that their next leader has the gift.
Watch: YouTube
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12 comments:
Everything he says he's going to do is basically a trial balloon. Then he sees the reaction. If it's negative, he backs off or amends it. If there's no opposition, he goes forward. It's a simple strategy and seems to work for him. By the end of the year, we'll see what actually stuck.
Good points, well made. The only comment I question is: “The House is divided between the regular GOP, the MAGA-GOP, and the batshit-crazy GOP nihilists who are furious with any House Speaker who attempts to govern. The Senate is almost as fractious.”
There is no more “regular” GOP, and I don’t see any difference between the MAGA-GOP and the batshit-crazy GOP. As for the Senate Republicans, they aren’t fractious. They’ve raised no objection to Trump usurping their power and are busy confirming the most unqualified but wealthiest cabinet in the history of the U.S.
I have to agree with Lindsey Graham, who declared in 2016 after Trump’s nomination, “My party’s gone batshit crazy.” That would be the whole Trump-loving mess of them. They no longer have a lunatic fringe – the lunatics have taken over the asylum.
Trump may be weak procedurally given small majorities in the House and Senate. But Trump is strong culturally, at least compared to the Democrats.
Caring about “they/them“ is a weak cultural position; caring about “you“ is much stronger. Special treatment and lower standards for minorities is a weak cultural position; equal treatment and uniformly high standards for everyone is much stronger. “Equity” is a weak cultural position; equality is much stronger.
The Democrats need to break the hold of the identity politics interest groups on their policy positions. If they don’t, they will be wandering in the political wilderness for a long time.
Agree with MT on cultural power. Democracy is nothing more than an idea held together by the institutions (including the media) that protect it. Trump is hedging his bet that sledgehammering those institutions with “muzzle velocity”, and putting fear into the hearts of opponents (and would be opponents) will dismantle that fragile idea, and seal his goal of a monarchy.
Your hatred for Joe Biden is over the top, beyond. The green-eyed monster strikes again. You also admire the Orange Psychopath. That speaks volumes.
How long will you continue to attack and insult President Biden? In case you forgot, Joe Biden persuaded Democrats to nominate him over all of the *MANY* other Democratic candidates during 2020 primary. Then he beat the OP in the general election by 7 Million votes. People heard his message and they liked it. These are facts.
Apparently you cannot bear the fact that voters wanted Joe Biden from Scranton, PA to be our President. You were only a county commissioner in your tiny corner of the planet.
Joe Biden is gracious and generous in spirit. You are a frustrated, angry, power-hungry narcissist.
Joe got old and infirm and he hid it from the American people -- until he could not three minutes into the June debate. We were lied to. I wrote about it in real time, both when I saw the teleprompters back in 2019, at the high dollar fundraiser I attended for his campaign in Portland a year before the election. We weren't allowed photographs or recordings. The campaign could not trust that he wouldn't freeze up. Were you at the fundraiser, Ms. Anonymous, showing your support for Joe Biden? I don't hate Biden. I am disappointed that his refusal to come clean about his decline means that most of what he accomplished is reversed. And I do resent being gaslit by him, by Jill, by his advisors. He and they told us Joe was fit to serve another term. That was a lie. Yeah, I feel unhappy about that. And voters preferred a lying autocrat to the Democrats, once voters realized that Democrats were being dishonest about Joe.
Gavin Newsom would be our best spokesperson by virtue of his gift for articulating positions with a positive spin and plenty of common sense. He’s also photogenic. But he’s a bit stymied right now since he doesn’t want to alienate the Orange Toddler while California needs wildfire help. Chris Murphy has been outspoken and effective at taking apart the administration’s nominees and Musk’s recklessness. But I don’t see him as a presidential candidate or party leader. Time for Hakeem Jeffries to take off the gloves and get out there on offense. As for Ezra Klein, I’m starting to agree with him. My worry now is that Trump and his henchmen will refuse to comply with the injunctions against them, and there won’t be anyone to stop them. In the absence of DOJ, I suppose a judge could send out federal marshals to toss Musk in jail.
Peter is right. I had to turn off the debate half way through because Joe just looked bewildered. That's when I and probably the American public realized that Joe had to go. He was toast. Unfortunately, Harris didn't have to go through the primary process...she was just appointed. A bad decision. One of many by the Democrats.
Many people see everything through the lens of being either heroes or villains. That’s why I’ve abandoned social. Anonymous takes your objective critique of Biden as “hating” him. Such hyperbole.
C’mon Anonymous: swallow some pride (like we all must) and admit you too have been deceived. We all were. You’ll feel better.
Really? Trump's White Nationalist identity politics has worked pretty well for him.
Is he strong enough to make the trains run on time?
So far he’s been throwing his, ahem, weight around.
He's strong enough to give a blanket pardon to 1600 or so of his thugs who attacked the Capitol police, assaulted them with pepper spray, beat them with American flags, stomped on their heads and sent many to the hospital. He's also strong enough to remove the security details from people he doesn't like.
As he said, he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and Republicans would still kiss his butt.
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