Trump: The President's either getting played or undermined.
So I've noticed something interesting south of the border. And naturally it involved everyone's least favorite Donald - unfortunately the largest current contributor to political news in the ol' US of A. And consequently the world, since they've got so many guns...
This is definitely good for those in the reporting business, if not so much for the rest of us. Because the never ending coverage is frankly exhausting, mostly useless and largely uninformative. Seriously, all that happens is hash, re-hash, analyze, re-analyze, comment, discuss commentary and start projecting possibilities until the next tidbit of information comes out, 'forcing' everyone to start the whole process over again.
Frankly it's hard to believe there's so much to talk about when the issues at play are pretty simple: the guy's racist, sexist and classist, and has been largely allergic to objective facts so far.
Maybe you don't believe me. Fine - this isn't for you. But if you pay attention to all the various liberal and conservative outlets in the States and Canada and Britain (among others), the spin cycle follows a fairly predictable pattern. Just look at an aggregate site like Reddit sometime - you get headlines from dozens upon dozens of news sites (both reputable and not so much), and they're largely all the same. But I digress.
The reason I think Trump is either a patsy or just plain ineffective is pretty straightforward. If you look at what he's doing and saying in his announcements/news conferences/tweets, and then look at what his various lackeys are doing and saying, you start to see two very different pictures. Which means whatever 'grand America' he envisions isn't quite the same as the one his administration is trying to build. And that begs some questions.
The formula goes something like this: Trump announces something (say an immigration ban) and uses all sorts of language to describe what his intention is. I say take him at his word - the guy operates utterly without remorse and is accountable to no one. So why would he lie? I think he just says what he thinks, as in 'this is how I see the world,' while most of us struggle to comprehend what the hell he's actually talking about. But why wouldn't we - the guy's a billionaire. He's lived in a golden palace most of his life. And before he became the world's self proclaimed 'greatest businessman' he was already rich. So his worldview is going to be pretty messed up. Unless you're the type who likes doing and taking and getting whatever you want with no thought of anyone else. Or the consequences. You know, the whole 1980s power man thing - if that's your game Trump makes a lot of sense.
Anyway, Trump says what he says. Then out comes his press secretary, his various mouth-piece advisers on the news, supportive pundits and the bigwigs of the Republican party. What do they do? They proceed to deny Trump said or 'meant' what he said - they try to spin his words into their vision. And when that isn't enough, someone like the Vice President or Secretary of State is dispatched to clear up the diplomatic tensions (read: mess) created by Trump's comments. NATO, the EU, Mexico - it's only been a month and already Trump's people have been travelling the world, contradicting his various positions on foreign policy, treaties, trade agreements, etc.
The same goes for things like how or if the repeal and/or replacement of ACA (Obamacare) is going to happen, the Muslim ban and the reorganization of the Security Council. Seriously, just look it up - you'll find plenty of instances of direct contradiction.
Not every issue requires this kind of intervention. Obviously the Republican Party marches in step with Trump on a variety of issues - taking away women's and minority rights, general classism (eg. tax cuts for the rich), a focus on deregulation (dumping coal waste in rivers) and a host of strategies designed to keep their party in power (ie. gerrymandering, a general lack of transparency in operations, false information, barring dissenting voices, ignoring blatant conflicts of interest, heavy reliance on laws that disproportionately affect their opponents, etc.).
But when you look at the big issues, you start to see a fairly significant divide between the Trump, his own administration and the Republican Party. As for why this is happening, there are only a couple of reasonable explanations.
Perhaps Trump is the ideas guy - the one who paints in broad strokes what he wants to happen and then has people put together his vision. Only they aren't doing exactly what he says - they're putting their own touches in, changing his plans to suit their own interpretation of what 'should' happen.
Any good leader should know the signs of subordinates undermining their authority.
Or perhaps Trump is more or less in the dark, being hand fed information that suits his tastes and reinforces his view of the world. If that's the case, he's either knowingly or unknowingly being guided - which would make him a patsy - a convenient fall guy in the event plans go spectacularly wrong.
Any good leader should know when they're being set up.
I suppose someone could argue this is all some brilliant strategy on his part to keep everyone occupied, but it's been my experience that really effective people don't need the drama - they just do what has to be done.
Because any good leader doesn't waste energy on unnecessary things.
So, there it is. After a couple of months of constant Trump coverage and my own (unfortunate) consumption of same - a distilled theory of what the f*ck is going on in the states.
Because the only other possibility I can think of is that Trump and his people are just flying by the seat of their pants. And that would be terrifying.
This is definitely good for those in the reporting business, if not so much for the rest of us. Because the never ending coverage is frankly exhausting, mostly useless and largely uninformative. Seriously, all that happens is hash, re-hash, analyze, re-analyze, comment, discuss commentary and start projecting possibilities until the next tidbit of information comes out, 'forcing' everyone to start the whole process over again.
Frankly it's hard to believe there's so much to talk about when the issues at play are pretty simple: the guy's racist, sexist and classist, and has been largely allergic to objective facts so far.
Maybe you don't believe me. Fine - this isn't for you. But if you pay attention to all the various liberal and conservative outlets in the States and Canada and Britain (among others), the spin cycle follows a fairly predictable pattern. Just look at an aggregate site like Reddit sometime - you get headlines from dozens upon dozens of news sites (both reputable and not so much), and they're largely all the same. But I digress.
The reason I think Trump is either a patsy or just plain ineffective is pretty straightforward. If you look at what he's doing and saying in his announcements/news conferences/tweets, and then look at what his various lackeys are doing and saying, you start to see two very different pictures. Which means whatever 'grand America' he envisions isn't quite the same as the one his administration is trying to build. And that begs some questions.
The formula goes something like this: Trump announces something (say an immigration ban) and uses all sorts of language to describe what his intention is. I say take him at his word - the guy operates utterly without remorse and is accountable to no one. So why would he lie? I think he just says what he thinks, as in 'this is how I see the world,' while most of us struggle to comprehend what the hell he's actually talking about. But why wouldn't we - the guy's a billionaire. He's lived in a golden palace most of his life. And before he became the world's self proclaimed 'greatest businessman' he was already rich. So his worldview is going to be pretty messed up. Unless you're the type who likes doing and taking and getting whatever you want with no thought of anyone else. Or the consequences. You know, the whole 1980s power man thing - if that's your game Trump makes a lot of sense.
Anyway, Trump says what he says. Then out comes his press secretary, his various mouth-piece advisers on the news, supportive pundits and the bigwigs of the Republican party. What do they do? They proceed to deny Trump said or 'meant' what he said - they try to spin his words into their vision. And when that isn't enough, someone like the Vice President or Secretary of State is dispatched to clear up the diplomatic tensions (read: mess) created by Trump's comments. NATO, the EU, Mexico - it's only been a month and already Trump's people have been travelling the world, contradicting his various positions on foreign policy, treaties, trade agreements, etc.
The same goes for things like how or if the repeal and/or replacement of ACA (Obamacare) is going to happen, the Muslim ban and the reorganization of the Security Council. Seriously, just look it up - you'll find plenty of instances of direct contradiction.
Not every issue requires this kind of intervention. Obviously the Republican Party marches in step with Trump on a variety of issues - taking away women's and minority rights, general classism (eg. tax cuts for the rich), a focus on deregulation (dumping coal waste in rivers) and a host of strategies designed to keep their party in power (ie. gerrymandering, a general lack of transparency in operations, false information, barring dissenting voices, ignoring blatant conflicts of interest, heavy reliance on laws that disproportionately affect their opponents, etc.).
But when you look at the big issues, you start to see a fairly significant divide between the Trump, his own administration and the Republican Party. As for why this is happening, there are only a couple of reasonable explanations.
Perhaps Trump is the ideas guy - the one who paints in broad strokes what he wants to happen and then has people put together his vision. Only they aren't doing exactly what he says - they're putting their own touches in, changing his plans to suit their own interpretation of what 'should' happen.
Any good leader should know the signs of subordinates undermining their authority.
Or perhaps Trump is more or less in the dark, being hand fed information that suits his tastes and reinforces his view of the world. If that's the case, he's either knowingly or unknowingly being guided - which would make him a patsy - a convenient fall guy in the event plans go spectacularly wrong.
Any good leader should know when they're being set up.
I suppose someone could argue this is all some brilliant strategy on his part to keep everyone occupied, but it's been my experience that really effective people don't need the drama - they just do what has to be done.
Because any good leader doesn't waste energy on unnecessary things.
So, there it is. After a couple of months of constant Trump coverage and my own (unfortunate) consumption of same - a distilled theory of what the f*ck is going on in the states.
Because the only other possibility I can think of is that Trump and his people are just flying by the seat of their pants. And that would be terrifying.
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