Trump Lost The Script
May. 13th, 2020 08:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chris_gerribThere was an article on the Internet which I can't be arsed to find that said President Trump, who is not doing well in polling, lost the script. The summary of the article was that Trump in 2016 was talking about things that lower-education white men cared about (immigration and free trade) so he won the Presidency. In 2020, he's basically saying Obama was mean to him. That idea is not getting much traction. I think this is a valid point and I'd like to offer a theory as to why Trump has lost the script.
First, one needs to understand why Trump wanted to be President. For years before he had any political importance Trump attended the White House Correspondent's dinner. Trump wants to be respected by the kind of people that show up at those events. That's why he ran for President - Obama humiliated him at one of those dinners when Obama mocked the birther BS. In the current political climate, most of the people who show up at those events don't respect Trump and it bothers him.
Second, and related to the above, Trump really dislikes Obama. Any praise of Obama gets Trump mad, and anything Obama did is in Trump's mind bad. I suspect the recent "leak" of Obama criticizing Trump was intended in part to get Trump's goat.
Third, what people want to talk about at the moment is COVID-19 and the economy, both of which are connected at the hip to each other. Trump has presided over a lot of failures, from bankrupting casinos to killing the USFL. His response to all of those has been to change the subject. Since COVID-19 and the economy are failing, his natural tendency is to change the subject.
Our character is tested when bad things happen to us. Trump's character has been tested and found lacking.
First, one needs to understand why Trump wanted to be President. For years before he had any political importance Trump attended the White House Correspondent's dinner. Trump wants to be respected by the kind of people that show up at those events. That's why he ran for President - Obama humiliated him at one of those dinners when Obama mocked the birther BS. In the current political climate, most of the people who show up at those events don't respect Trump and it bothers him.
Second, and related to the above, Trump really dislikes Obama. Any praise of Obama gets Trump mad, and anything Obama did is in Trump's mind bad. I suspect the recent "leak" of Obama criticizing Trump was intended in part to get Trump's goat.
Third, what people want to talk about at the moment is COVID-19 and the economy, both of which are connected at the hip to each other. Trump has presided over a lot of failures, from bankrupting casinos to killing the USFL. His response to all of those has been to change the subject. Since COVID-19 and the economy are failing, his natural tendency is to change the subject.
Our character is tested when bad things happen to us. Trump's character has been tested and found lacking.
