When all else fails for Trump, he goes back to what works in GOP politics: blame the black guy.
Another weekend at Mar-a-Lago, another early-hours Twitter tirade. Such is the new presidential norm, and I’m certain Putin is grinning from ear to ear.
But why does Puppet Trump do it? Labeling him unstable is too easy, and it’s not healthy for our democracy to write him off as such.
Donald Trump’s success has always been contingent on one thing: having an enemy. Without an enemy, he can’t direct the constant anger within the Republican Party toward implementing Steve Bannon’s über-nationalism plan.
Prior to running for president, Trump’s enemy was President Obama’s birth certificate. During the 2016 presidential campaign Trump’s enemies were Hillary Clinton and the liberal media. Since entering office, The Trump Presidency has run into a bit of a brick wall. Blaming the media – even going as far as calling it “fake” and “the enemy of the people” – has not been enough to distract most Americans from the train wreck of his fledgling administration.
And so Trump decided to return to the enemy who, for all intents and purposes, made him a political figure in the first place: President Obama. When all else fails for Trump, he goes back to what works in GOP politics: blame the black guy… given all the hearts and retweets, it seems Trump hit the right spot in the dark hearts of his voter base.
The “Re-blaming Obama” chapter of The Trump Presidency began a couple weeks ago with a simple narrative: “the huge mess left by Obama.. I tell you folks… it’s huge.”
But that propaganda had no impact on his poll numbers, so Trump quickly changed the story to blaming “Obama people” who are plotting against him – adding a little conspiracy theory always gets the GOP riled up. Sensing he gained traction with that narrative, Americans were blessed with another Trump Twitter tirade that pushes Trump’s stability to the cliff’s edge: calling President Obama a “bad (or sick) guy” for being the man behind wire tapping Trump’s gold-plated phones.
If Trump Tower phones were tapped, it was by the FBI, because his campaign is packed full of Putin fan boys. It wasn’t political: a judge signed off on it.
It’s no secret that President Obama wasn’t a great friend with the good ‘ole boys at the FBI, and as such, they wouldn’t have been doing him any political favors. If the Justice Department tapped Trump, it’s because they wanted to listen to what he was saying to Papa Putin. It’s dog-whistle clear that blaming Obama and calling the former president a “bad (or sick) guy” is targeted directly at his snarling alt-right base.
It’s also meant to distract the media Trump hates, but loves to manipulate. Reporters have been running around as if their hair is on fire. They’re elated that Donald’s daily shenanigans boosts their ratings, and the new president has made reporting the news like a drunken scavenger hunt.
The real story is already being lost: in October, 2016 a judge was presented with enough evidence to grant permission to tap Trump Tower phones.
Trump’s latest media manipulation is working. Once again, cable news will spend more time on presidential tweets than it will the story from the tweets are intended to distract: that Trump owes Putin some big league favors for helping him win the White House.
