How Trump survives blunders through repetition and message discipline
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Donald Trump is the master of revisionist history.
One might argue that TikTok is a national security threat and then that it is vital to society.
This reminded me of his famous quote that I wouldn’t lose support by shooting someone on Fifth Avenue, and I thought he was probably right – at least right now, among the MAGA diehards.
And it does so through the sheer power of repetition.
TRUMP DRAWS THE CURTAIN ON THE FORTRESS-LIKE DEFENSES ABOVE AND BELOW THE WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM
President Donald Trump speaks at the White House. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)
How many times have you heard that the January 6 rioters he called to the Capitol were great patriots? Even though they attacked and injured police officers, occupied members’ offices, and called for Mike Pence to be hanged?
When this happened, even many Republicans thought Trump was done. Leading members of the GOP and Democrats condemned him in harsh terms.
‘SHARK TANK’ STAR SUPPORTS TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM PLAN OVER SECURITY CONCERNS: ‘TWO PIECES’
But Trump gave the same answer over and over again. Reversing his usual law-and-order stance, he argued that this was not actually a riot. It wasn’t that big of a deal. Some people, having heard him say it hundreds of times, thought there must be something to it. He just wasn’t going to make it up. For all his unscripted digressions, Trump has an uncanny ability to stay on message.
Like the loud guy in the Home Depot parking lot, he uses a megaphone to yell at everyone within earshot.
But hey, this guy is still arguing about the 2016 election he won. Trump still says the 2020 election was stolen from him, but that was never proven in court and he was the one making the calls trying to change the votes.
The latest hubbub is about Trump resolving the IRS lawsuit by creating a $1.7 billion fund that will be used to benefit Jan. 6 protesters, even those convicted of serious crimes.
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A scene from the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. (Julio Cortez, File)
Trump has battled four criminal investigations in his years out of office; Everyone now accepts that these things helped him by appearing as political persecution. And this clearly fueled his unquenchable desire for revenge.
During the first impeachment, the president asked Volodymyr Zelenskyy to announce an investigation into Joe Biden and his son Hunter, according to a transcript. This was after Trump personally ordered a freeze on nearly $400 million in congressionally approved aid to Ukraine.
“I heard you had a very good prosecutor and he got shut down, and that’s really not fair,” Trump says in a transcript. “A lot of people are talking about this, that they shut down your very good prosecutor and some very bad people were involved…
“There’s a lot of rumors about Biden’s son that Biden stopped the prosecution, and a lot of people want to know, so whatever you do to the attorney general would be great. Biden was going around bragging that he stopped the prosecution, so if you look into it… It sounds terrible to me.”
TRUMP WARNES IRAN’S ‘THE CLOCK IS TIcking’ OR ‘MOVE FAST’ OR ‘THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT’
Problem? No. The president went on to call it “an excellent phone call.” Do you understand?
The Senate did not vote to convict on the House impeachment charges.
Which brings us to the war in Iran.
The president has gone back and forth so much in his rhetoric that it is absolutely stunning. “An entire civilization will die tonight,” Trump said. He then continued to extend the time. He said Tehran’s response was “garbage” and didn’t bother reading it.
The resumption of the bombing campaign was planned for yesterday, but Trump agreed to a short break at the insistence of the presidents of three Middle Eastern countries.
Two armed members of Iranian police special forces stand behind the country’s flag placed on an armored military vehicle during a pro-Government rally in downtown Tehran, Iran. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
In terms of message discipline, Trump has said perhaps hundreds of times that the war is over, that he can break out whenever he wants, that our military has crushed Iran’s defenses, destroyed its navy and air force, and all of this is true.
The President quipped on Truth Social: “If the entire Army leaves Tehran, weapons fired and hands raised, each one shouting ‘I surrender, I surrender’, the representative wildly waving the White Flag, and the entire remaining Leadership signing all the necessary ‘Surrenders’ and admitting their defeat to the great power and might of the great United States” the press will still write that Iran has achieved a ‘Masterful and Magnificent Victory’.”
I have no doubt that some of the negative coverage is due to anti-Trump hostility in the media, but I have to defend the press here to some extent. Although mentioned more frequently, no journalist or commentator can dispute the scope of America’s military victory. But with dueling blockades and the Strait of Hormuz still not opening, that’s the current story. There is no way to avoid focusing on this, because the ceasefire hangs in the balance and there is no visible progress in dissuading the mullahs from developing nuclear weapons.
Trump was so determined to meet this goal that he entered into this exchange before heading to China.
A reporter asked if the president was willing to make a deal with Iran because of “Americans’ financial situation.”
“Not even a little bit,” Trump said, and then it happened.
TRUMP MEETS NETANYAHU, SAID HE WANTS AN IRAN DEAL, BUT REMINDED TEHRAN OF OPERATION ‘MIDNIGHT HAMMER’
“When we talk about Iran, the only thing that matters is that they can’t have nuclear weapons. I’m not thinking about the finances of the Americans. I’m not thinking about anyone. I’m thinking about only one thing: We can’t let Iran have nuclear weapons. That’s all.”
This was a language error that Trump rarely makes; Instead of framing the question in more positive terms, as he usually does, he repeated the offending soundbites.
Democrats, the press and other opponents condemned the comments; television and online sites broadcast his words repeatedly.
“That’s a perfect statement. I’d say it again,” Trump told Fox’s Bret Baier.
US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Perfect. There’s that word again. None of this “I regret that my words were misunderstood” or any of that kind of pathetic talk. It was absolute perfection.
Despite being embroiled in two foreign wars and collapsing domestic polls, Trump has not let go of his past obsessions.
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As the New York Times reports, Trump aides have been holding secret talks with Greenlandic and demanding that the United States play a much larger role on the island. Greenland’s leaders are worried about the tactics.
Greenland again? Really?
Donald Trump makes news on everything. We’ve all been living in Trumpworld for a decade. It will create a dozen controversies between now and Memorial Day. And that’s a perfect guess.
