Trump’s political genius is centered around his manic style. He issues one outrageous statement after another, so that the media and critics can only begin to respond to each before it gets eclipsed by the next one, with the net effect that nothing ever gets fully processed. If elected president, he’ll probably do the same thing. Hey, it worked for George W. Bush!
Trump’s Maniacal First 100 Days
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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I can’t but wonder how our sycophantic media here in Sweden would deal with Mr Trump as US president. Would they still fall all over themselves, fawning at the spectacle ? With Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, of course, there’s not the slightest doubt ; they’d never get off their knees….
Henri
The funny thing — and with Trump, it’s never funny “ha ha” it’s always funny “odd” “disturbing” “alarming” — is that the media doesn’t seem to know how to handle Trump. They don’t write simple declarative pieces that tear him apart. They draft these half-hearted criticisms with no bite and no anger. Do we no longer have media that can actually feel outrage or offense anymore?
I’ve noticed a similar thing in academia. You used to be able to say stuff like, “Well, I think that’s a bad premise. You aren’t taking into account A, B, C.” If you do that now, people look at you like you’re a monster. You have to go “Wow. That’s a great premise. Thanks for that. I have a couple of minor questions. The part where you say there are many even prime numbers. No, no, I’m not attempting a microaggression by questioning your math ability because you’re a woman. Sorry, I mean a cis-female. What? Why am I bringing up your gender in the first place? Actually, you were the one who responded to my half-asked question by asking me f I was questioning you because you’re a woman. (and so forth).”
I think Trump is so effective because his detractors are usually bogged down six sentences earlier, processing their feels before deciding what color the icing on the cupcakes should be at the meeting to discuss forming an exploratory committee to write a strongly worded op-ed to some obscure newsletter.
Myself, alex_the_tired, I’d rather see journalists confining themselves to reporting – as objectively as possible, whatever that means – what people do and say and leave pontificating about it to others who clearly identify their pieces as so-called «opinion pieces». This report by LSE provides us with an account of this sort of «journalism», which, I presume, is as prevalent in the US, as it is in the UK or, for that matter, here in Sweden….
Ted is, to my mind, a great commentator on what is going on in the US, who provides me (and, I presume, others as well) with invaluable help in understanding the country’s social, political, and economic system,, but he is – at least when he’s publishing cartoons – not a journalist, but just that, a commentator ; I don’t appreciate it when people who claim to be journalists imitate Ted’s approach, while lacking his insight and his talent….
Henri
“This just in – Al Qaeda supporters disagree with The Donald on the matter of even prime numbers. They claim to have invented numbers. Fox Snooze will be first with balanced reporting as the controversy continues to develop….”
«They [i e, al-Qaeda supporters] claim to have invented numbers.» Well, thanks to the Arabs – nota bene : almost certainly not affiliated in any way with al-Qaeda) – who transmitted Indian notation and concepts to Europe (thus the somewhat misleading term «Arabic numerals»), we here no longer have to write «2½» as «IIS». I am most grateful….
Henri
Some say that “Indo-Arabic” numerals were invented in Baghdad. 😀
More on this controversy as events unfold…
«Some say that “Indo-Arabic” numerals were invented in Baghdad.» All Saddam Hussein Abed al-Majid al-Tikriti’s fault, I presume – no wonder Messrs Cheney & Bush found themselves constrained to go to war in 2003 !…
One of the interesting things about the numbers in Arabic script is that, unlike the script itself, which is read from right-to-left, the numbers, which derive from Indic scripts, are written left-to-right. Thus, when reading a text with, e g, the current Hijiri year (٧٤٣٧ = 1437), one would read from right-to-left until one came to the ٧, hop to the left to the ١ and thence read to the right back to the ٧, and then, having noted the year, precede to the text to the immediate left of the ١ and continue reading. Fun and games !… 😉
Henri
The June 6 Candorville http://www.gocomics.com/candorville/2016/06/06
has people trying to criticise Secretary Clinton. ‘Your e-mails?’ ‘President Trump.’
‘The fact that some were classified but not on a secure server?’ ‘President Trump.’
etc., etc.
The more I’ve learned about Trump, the worse he sounds. Lawsuits to prevent wind farms anywhere near his golf courses. Trump University. Contradicting himself, often in the same sentence.
I don’t care about what Trump says, he said outrageous things and 35% of Republicans voted for him, and he thereby won a majority of the delegates (which says something about 35% of Republicans).
But then I think, ‘President Clinton.’ Will she actually go green, or is she just pretending to win Sanders voters?
And she has vowed to remove the evil Syrian dictator, the one who opened the Syrian Prison called Camp Bucca and created the Daesh to justify his murder of 300,000 innocent, peaceful protesters in Syria
However, the evil Russian dictator has said he will not allow anyone to overthrow the legitimate government of Syria and put in a Wahhabi who will evict Russia from its sole Med port.
And if the evil Putin does NOT back down, President Clinton will not repeat Chamberlain’s horrible mistake at Munich that caused the UK to lose in France. She knows that NOW is the right time to replace the impoverished dictatorships in Syria, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China before their militaries grow to where they could overpower the US. Today, like Germany in ’38, all will be easy pushovers, and we can make them all as peaceful, prosperous, and democratic as Iraq and Libya with very little risk to the US and very little cost in US lives or money.
Thanks, Michael, for showing us how the München 1938 trope should be used when one desires to engage in a major military adventure….
Henri