It’s a funny thing how none of President Trump’s critics and haters, particularly the putatively smart observers in the press, ever get what he is doing. He’s a step ahead of them and he’s outwitting them, even as they preach to him from what they think is a perch at least twenty IQ points above his.
But as Trump said Saturday night at a gathering of veterans in Washington, the media are in fact looking up to him as he stands upon on the presidential bully pulpit. “I’m president and they’re not,” he noted.
There is a method to President Trump’s madness, and yes, he is crazy like a fox. While the media speculate about Trump’s mental health, they continue to underestimate him and get him wrong, as they have for two years now. Isn’t the definition of insanity making the same mistake over and over and over again?
Trump’s calculation is this: By baiting the media with his Twitter account, Trump is both revealing and provoking their instinctive liberal bias, helping undermine their legitimacy. And he is maintaining the energy and commitment of his voter base, which reviles the mainstream press.
Now, even if they serve a purpose, I don’t like Trump’s recent tweets. I don’t think the president should be lobbing barbs at women’s faces or putting up videos altered to show him punching out the media. And yes, I agree with those in the press who are concerned it could provoke violence against reporters. The president is supposed to be an inspiration. If he is demonstrating violence, he may well inspire it. It’s not a case of lacking a sense of humor to take seriously the gif of him beating on Vince McMahon with a CNN logo on his head.
But I do I enjoy a good chuckle over conservatives who were outraged that Barack Obama had his feet up on the desk in the Oval Office but who somehow think this is acceptable. It’s not.
And I worry, as I wrote, that Trump lets things get under his skin and that they fester there. I am concerned that the next people who will go subdermal on Trump are Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, should he still be alive. And that could have serious consequences.
But I’m not quite sure how worried I should be because, even if he is genuinely angry, Trump also knows what he is doing and is never, ever, as spontaneous, reactive, and improvisational as his critics think he is. And by the way, he possesses the twenty IQ points journalists think they have on them, plus a few. Maybe quite a few.
“He was playing people,” said Tony Schwartz, who helped Trump write “Art of the Deal,” in an interview with the New Yorker last summer. The New Yorker paraphrased Schwartz, who listened in on many Trump calls: “On the phone with business associates, Trump would flatter, bully, and occasionally get mad, but always in a calculated way,” the New Yorker wrote.
In another venue, Schwartz, who hates Trump and wanted to harm his candidacy, recalled that he once saw Trump verbally abuse someone on the phone, hang up, look at Schwartz and calmly say something like, “Do you think it worked?”
I’ll bet it worked because it’s working now. “Morning Joe” used to be an oasis of intelligent and informed news commentary from both sides of the aisle. But Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s pique at Trump has sent the show crashing into the gutter, just another partisan stage for showcasing Trump hatred. And CNN has shed its labored efforts to portray itself as a neutral alternative to MSNBC and Fox News, working itself up into a fit about Trump and flinging itself over the left, where, as some recent ratings show, it will have a hard time competing with MSNBC.
Trump may just be destroying CNN, as he intends. Or rather, helping them destroy themselves.
“The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House, but I’m president and they’re not,” Trump said Saturday.
“The fact is the press destroyed themselves because they went too far. Instead of being subtle and smart, they used the hatchet and the people saw it right from the beginning.”
That’s right. The press used to be subtle about its liberalism. Or at least more subtle. Now they’re over the top. And they’ve raised doubts, probably even among independents, about whether they can be trusted. Meanwhile, Trump has inspired his band of followers to fight on, sparking an energy he may need if Republicans in Congress fail to enact the agenda they’ve been promising for nearly a decade.
Trump recognizes subtlety because he practices it. And one way he does it is by appearing to be unsubtle.
39 thoughts on “The Method To Trump’s Supposed Madness”
Seriously – “provoke violence against reporters”?
For years, the left/MSM has adored, encouraged violence and vile language against anyone who won’t toe the progressive PC agenda.
If Griffin’s vile rendition of Trump’s decapitation or the faux Shakesperian play in the part isn’t a provocation to anti-Trump people to harm the President, then I don’t know what is.
The MSM consistently allows anti-Trump insults, calls to violence, and worse by the commenters they support and promote on their cable shows, and the printed press has never found a single good thing to come from the Trump agenda, but a lot of lies, insults, and hatred to fill their papers.
Who caused the crazed Bernie fan to try to kill as many Repubs as possible – Trump? his supporters? Rush Limbaugh? no. The atmosphere in the la-la land of progressives is to destroy anything that impedes their agenda, even if it means destroying our own country and way of life.
Suck it up, MSM. We know who you are, and we don’t like you.
MAGA, MrTrump, one tweet at a time.
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I somewhat disagree with your assessment of “conservatives who were outraged that Barack Obama had his feet up on the desk in the Oval Office but who somehow think [Trump’s wrestling video] is acceptable.” Your contrast lacks the temporal context that defines it: Obama put his feet on the desk at a time when George Bush had most recently exemplified “presidential,” so it was shocking. Eight years later, the standard of what is considered “presidential” is based on Obama’s disrespectful, divisive and deceptive example. So, to me, Trump’s tweets are tame by comparison. As someone clever noted, “We all know the president likes to yell at the television.” So we Trump supporters are judging him by his actions, and he’s keeping his promises. Amazing. I love the man.
It was “shocking” only because it was Obama. There are pictures of George W and Gerald Ford in the exact same position. No outrage from conservatives (or anyone else) ensued.
The press wasn’t “subtle about their liberalism” they lied about it. They tried to say they were moderate when in fact they were a little to the left of Stalin. The best thing that Trump has done is to unmask them and give the republicans an example of backbone that they would be well served to follow. Trump is probably about 20 IQ points ahead of most of these nitwits in the press who not only don’t know history they believe their own rewrites of it. They think that the riots of the 60’s and 70’s were successful; they were not, they gave Nixon a 49 state landslide. If they knew history they would know that this country has always been to the right of center and Americans don’t hate the rich, they want to be rich.
Yeah, lying about it might be more accurate. Or at least, pretended it wasn’t so.
Yes, they flat out lied and people know it. The New York Times is paying the price as they circle the drain…
I think you pretty much nailed it. Excellent analysis.
Thanks.
Dan Bongino’s Friday podcast did a great analysis on this, too.
Never underestimate President Trump.
A joke vid of Trump punching CNN might provoke violence against reporters — but Griffin with Trump’s head is just edge fun — and a play that shows Trump being murdered is high art.
Yeah, right.
We all know Low I.Q. Mika has had more than one facelift. You can’t get that icy blank disdain at her age with help. Was it her or Joy Beyhr who said they felt sorry for Melania because she had had to have sex with Trump once to get Baron?
Hard to keep all these classy MSM types straight.
All right – can’t get that look WITHOUT help. I need an assistant to proofread my posts — lol.
Trump is certainly showing his disrespect towards the media while Obama, with his feet on the desk attitudes, showed disrespect towards ordinary people and the presidency itself. So, big difference. I enjoy Trumps tweet-war against Brezinski and CNN. Trump is right: ” They destroyed themselves because they went too far”.
Yes, his feet on the historic desk said, “All of U.S. history is beneath me. I control it now and I will treat like the dust it is.”
And the ass doesn’t have the dignity to be a quiet ex-President. He has to travel the world and mouth off about his successor.
Obama is Trumps’ Stalker. He is not going to meet with the President of South Korea.
Beggar on Horseback this one.
Talk about behaviour unbecoming a (ex) President.
oops. He IS going to meet with the President of South Korea.
x2 Especially good point that Obama was showing disrespect for the office and for the American people.
Barry’s habit of putting his filthy feet on the historic Resolute Desk even pissed off this Canadian!
How ironic that the MSM is appalled with threats of violence, but everyday you see examples everywhere of them advocating violence against Trump. Now we have armchair psychologists calling for his removal due to being imbalanced? Really? Check yourselves 1st I say.
The president is supposed to be an inspiration.
Yes, he is . And the media will not allow that. No matter what the President does it is never covered in a serious and respectful manner.
The changes and accomplishments that are happening now are never covered. And maybe, this is just as well.
While the media is consumed with Trump hate, he can accomplished a lot of his agenda and make America great again.
Although inspiring is not the word I would use, the President has done a lot for America by exposing the worst of the American media. But they will destroy themselves in the end. Mika and Joe are a good example of this.
And finally, the Republicans are not exactly supporting the President or his agenda, so he needs the American people on his side. Believing that America comes first for him. And I believe that.
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I find it very odd that any of the news outlets will attack Trump are shocked that he has fired back. In the real world if you talk trash about somebody you had better be prepared for a rebuttal. It appears the media feels they can do what they want and there will be no repercussions. The lesson learned is that if you go after Trump he is going to return the favor and hit you back. Welcome to the real world and keep it up Mr. President you are putting these arrogant smug news types in their place. They are just another talking head and most of us have very little respect for them.
Yep. Trump is focused on his strategy to achieve goals, and the press and their assorted rump swabs are focused on his tactics. Tactics become their headlines, but strategy is what drives Trump. That’s why they’re talking past each other right now. I don’t think this will ever get resolved during Trump’s administration.
The wide and open collusion of political elites (R and D), the corporate media and the crazed radical leftists is being exposed every day by President Trump. It’s one of his great achievements, and they hate him for it.
Some thoughts:
-Trump jumped into their (see list above) sandbox and beat them all up or tossed them out of the sandbox they thought they owned. They will never forgive him for that, so forget about them.
-His accomplishments thus far include a greatly improved economy, illegal immigrant flow cut by half, TPP cancellation, took us out of the business-killing, destructive Paris Accord madcap environmental nonsense, stupid EPA regulations thrown out the window, etc. Talk about these achievements all day long. By doing so, Trump is showing us just how bad and evil Obama and his band of gangsters really were, and how their messes can all be fixed.
-He is fearless, like Braveheart. He punches back hard at his enemies, hits them where they are most vulnerable and they hate that, don’t know how to respond to him effectively and make fools of themselves by trying.
– He won the election.
-Tax breaks for the middle class are likely on the way.
-He speaks directly to the people, via Twitter and in public appearances, so we KNOW what he’s saying directly from him, rather than only what the media wants us to think he is saying. He can be very powerful as a speaker, and I think he’s getting even better at this. Stay on point, be clear, be concise.
-He calls ’em as he sees ’em, sometimes awkwardly, sometime brilliantly.
And, etc.
There are issues which need to be fixed: He needs to get all members of his family out of the government. Period. They are not helping. Melania obviously stays in her role as First Lady. He must get the State Department completely on board in a very tight way. I’m not yet sure Rex Tillerson is the right guy, but we’ll see. He needs to scour the government of Obama appointees who are, internally, doing all they can to destroy him. NOW. The Enemies Within. He needs to get his WH Communication office fixed, and fixed fast. It doesn’t seem like everyone in his administration is on board with the same, coherent talking points. Gotta fix that. Lots of other things need adjustment. Now. And a little less drama, and a little more focused energy would be good.
Good points.
I agree- time for the family to move on back to their private enterprises.
Of course, everything they do will be under close watch, but they don’t belong there inside the WhiteHouse.
They can be unofficial advisors.
This is exactly the conclusion I have come to and Trumps appearance on the Daystar Celebrate Freedom Concert confirmed it.
“And yes, I agree with those in the press who are concerned it could provoke violence against reporters.”
Oh for the love of Pete. You’re smarter than this.
It was fake rasslin pointing out a fake press.
Nothing more.
Reporters incite violence. They quickly overlooked the baseball practice shooter, they can’t reflect too long or they may see one of their own that they can’t reel in.
I couldn’t agree more Keith.
Laughed when people made a big deal over Obama and his feet on desk in front of people.. I had done that before (not allowed photo’s though and not in front of others/ meeting).
I think Trump is playing the media and though I personally would not go to his extremes, I do think it’s working…
“If he is demonstrating violence, he may well inspire it.”
What about 0 encouraging black folks to riot, and the police and city leaders “let them blow off steam” (or something similar). 0bama inspired so many folks to act violently. I don’t think President Trump even touches upon encouraging violent behavior.
Brilliant. Spot on.
What is quite interesting to watch it the quick slide down hill Fox is taking since the Murdoch sons took over. They are in high dudgeon over Trump 23.9/7.
They completely miss the point of all this. A ton of their reporting is on what others like the NYTimes, and WaPooh are reporting. The Special Report panels are particularly dense. And Martha McCollum, seems like a nice woman, but seriously, an hour of her!!!
Like a skilled magician, Trump gets the MSM to look at his left hand while he does something with his right. I may not like everything he’s doing with his left hand, but I love what he’s doing with his right hand.
Trump’s success is based on knowing where he come from and where he is now, with a real vision for America’s and the world’s future. The same cannot be said for those unscrupulous members of the perverted, toxic ‘swamp’ who thought getting rid of the desperately awaiting “not(the)world’s President, but America’s” is ‘a pleasant walk in Central Park on a sunny day. “Yuge!” and Beautiful!
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