Tag Archives: Distraction

Mind Trick

Controlling the narrative1

I would never accuse Donald Trump of being a smart man.  He’s petulant, impulsive, lacking in foresight and self awareness, and has the temperament of a toddler.  And while I would never accuse him of understanding people on a grand level, he does know how to make people talk about the things he wants them to talk about.  Controlling the narrative is a very real skill that Donald Trump possesses.  It’s not entirely the media’s fault that they tend to get played by Trump.  I mean, the man is the President, what he says is by all accounts the “News”, but the media seems ready and willing to continue running in whatever direction Trump points, and Trump is well aware of that.  In what has been a catastrophic week of domestic terrorism that Trump and the GOP can credibly be accused of helping incite, it was in Trump’s best interest to get people to talk about something else in the week running up to the midterm elections, and by openly threatening use Presidential powers to attempt to illegally threaten to quash the 14th amendment and birthright citizenship, he effectively changed the conversation. It’s like the Jedi Mind Trick, except gross and sad.

Football Season

good ol' distraction1

Football season is on the horizon, and that’s a good season for Donald Trump as it turns out.  It’s amazing how quickly he can quarterback a distraction. The season isn’t even in full swing yet, and he’s already expertly misdirecting the public attention of his very worrying behavior in Helsinki with Putin by talking about the national anthem at football games.  It’s an embarrassingly transparent maneuver, and yet his base and media outlets are going to eat it up, because that’s how this kind of thing works, and Trump knows it.  I know it sounds cynical, but it’s so obvious at this point.  Trump doesn’t care about the National Anthem, and I’ll bet he’ll never stand for it again as soon as it’s not politically relevant to do so, but as long as he can use it as a prop for his partisan sleight of hand, he’s gonna do it with relish, because it’s easy.

Beating a Dead Hillary

Obsession with Hillary1

I seriously feel bad for Hillary.  Even if you weren’t a supporter of her campaign, the fact that she continues to be this punching bag for Trump and his followers to hit upon every time they need some kind of distraction is just unfortunate.  I’m sure it has to sting for a seasoned politician like her to have lost to Donald Trump, but for her to constantly be beat upon after the fact is something no other candidate after the fact has had to deal with, at least not to my knowledge.  Take this last week. Hillary mentioned in an appearance that every time something goes wrong, or there is nothing to talk about, Trump or Fox News will take a whack at the ol’ Hillary bag, and how in an ideal world, she’d just like that part to stop.  Which is a reasonable thing to say.  So what does Fox News do?  Well naturally they put her on blast for being full of herself and being awful, then go on to mention her name with some mean comment a full 60+ times this week.  It’s weird and underhanded, and really unfortunate.