Trumpery

Just go the fuck away:

Trump just released a third statement on Biden's speech today, calling it "very hurtful to many people." He repeats his conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, which he still hasn't conceded he lost.

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) January 6, 2022

Third statement! Trump’s smarter sociopathic clone DeSantis is slamming the “New York DC media” for “milking January 6” to “smear” Trump supporters. So the Trumpers perceive Biden’s speech and the ongoing media coverage as an attack. Good. That confirms my perception that Biden gave the right speech and the MSM is striking the right tone.

Sort of related, Josh Marshall published some thoughts yesterday about whether or not deplatforming Trump and refusing to amplify his comments in the media is a negative or positive for the deposed demagogue:

It’s become doctrine for many right-thinking people that people shouldn’t “amplify” what Trump is saying. That only does his work for him, we’re told. This is the logic that got him booted off social media. But if what Benjy says is right, this state of affairs, which has clearly driven Trump to distraction, has also proved almost the best of all possible worlds for him. Trump’s supporters hear his message loud and clear: through NewsMax, OANN, talk radio, Facebook and to a significant degree on Fox News. But for the rest of the political world it’s muffled. So the horror and craziness of Trumpism recedes from public consciousness while people are focused on the day to day imperfection of the Biden presidency.

This hasn’t made Trump any weaker. His hold over the institutional and electoral GOP has only intensified since leaving office. The very small number of elected officials who refused to support the Big Lie have mostly been drummed out of the party. Trump’s Big Lie propaganda has become unassailable in heavily state-legislative-gerrymandered states where it will matter most. In short, the “don’t amplify” doctrine has allowed Trump to speak freely to his supporters and intensify his hold over the GOP, while keeping the incendiary messages that mobilize a majority of the country against him largely off mainstream airwaves.

All of the upside and none of the down.

Marshall concedes there are other ways to look at it, but he may have a point given the fragmented media environment. We all hoped the orange fart cloud would dissipate, and in a way, he did. As I’ve mentioned here before, when Trump got kicked off Twitter, it felt like an airhorn that had been blowing in my face for four years suddenly fell silent. I didn’t follow the shit-stain, but he was inescapable.

But the airhorn is still blaring on the propaganda outlets, and its odious source still controls one of the two viable political parties in this country. That matters. I don’t know what will happen next or which is the right approach on this specific issue. What do y’all think?

Open thread.

Don’t go away mad…Post + Comments (233)