by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Oh boy. Trying to untie the logic behind Trump’s comment at his recent South Carolina Nuremberg rally is going to take some time. So, according to Trump at the news conference today, what he meant was the concern that the press was showing was the hoax, not the virus itself.
Ok.
So, in essence, he’s using the Zoolander argument MAGA is so fond of — he’s too bad a speaker, and too stupid, for anyone to accuse him of being a poorly informed racist misogynist hypocrite. But, really, it also admits that Trump wants it both ways.
He wants to scream at the top of his lungs to the base that the evil liberals are out to get him then within hours turn around and “respectfully” as the press not to hurt him by explaining how bad things are. It’s the same-old same-old scream at you to win power, then once power is attained scream at you for having Trump Derangement Disorder if you have the gall to scream back.
The reason why this usual bullshit begins to fall apart with COVID19 is, well, people’s lives are at stake. So the dynamic is significantly different. Or, to put a more fine point on it, old white people‘s lives are at stake. So, for once, MAGA may find themselves having to take Trump’s lies and bullshit both seriously and literally.
That’s a rather existential threat for Trump whose political power comes from lying and dog whistles. If he has to act like a traditional politician — and is judged by those metrics, his political goose is cooked.
And he knows it.
