Bear in mind Donald Trump’s one and only talent: he’s a master propagandist. Every single thing that he does he figures out a way to spin to an impossible grandeur. He’s gone out of business selling mail order steaks, vodka, (I think the winery is still (mal)functioning) university educations, a football team, an airline, a social media company (which then became an entertainment streamer and is now going into financial services.) You name it, the list goes on and on.
Then he created a fictional character on TV and for fourteen years was known to a great many people as that fictional character. Then he sold the character to the American electorate. And you know the rest. So how has he managed to survive at all? He’s got a messaging system that outrivals any other politician. The medium is the message and Trump has mastered both television and social media. That’s why the Democrats lost. We are without any question the better party with the better vision (and don’t think the GOPers don’t know that Trump is full of shit. J.D. Vance, when he was honest, called Trump “cultural heroin,”) but we don’t get the message out there. That is our downfall and Trump’s advantage.
Trump did get out the message he wanted to and so he got back in power. Now he has his messaging machine churning out pro-Trump propaganda 24/7. On the other side of the coin is plain reality, what really happened, but it can’t compete with Trump’s bombastic fantasy version.
Apply this to what happened today. Trump folded on his huffed and puffed tariff illusions. If any other politician did this, they would be standing there with egg on their faces. But not him. The reason is because he’s got right-wing media cranking out his version of the facts, which is triumph, while the reality is that Mitch McConnell was on 60 Minutes last night saying what a dumb idea the tariffs were and the stock market began crashing Friday and continued today — until Canada and Mexico found the secret sauce.
And what is that secret sauce? Humor the crazy old bastard. Just pretend that he got what he said he wanted. Mexico played along and sent troops to the southern border, because political theater is a small price to pay for economic sanity. Canada also caught on with this. Canada agreed back in December to put more people on the border to deal with fentynal but now they’ve made a theatrical show of it. Expect the other nations of the world to follow suit — except the Russians and the Chinese. They’ll just laugh in Trump’s face and roll their eyes, like always.
Jennings: He got permanent troops.
Rampell: Do you know how many troops Mexico had on the border last year? 15,000. Is 10,000 more than 15,000? pic.twitter.com/7LoaXsLsJN
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 4, 2025
You see what I’m saying? It’s like the deportation theatrics. Biden had two plane loads a day going down — only not in expensive military planes with people shackled. That was Trump, because of the theatricality.
FLASHBACK JAN 30/31: Is Donald Trump setting up for yet another fake deal to take credit for just imaginary things that aren’t happening so he can get the propaganda headlines that he wants to? Donald Trump made a deal, but in reality, it’s just the status quo because he doesn’t… pic.twitter.com/7h0VLUdput
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) February 3, 2025
Once again, @kaitlancollins laying the smack down on a dumb Republican senator. He’s caught off guard when she states that 🇨🇦 already had the border deal set since December. Also, notice how smug he is when he says Canada will be a better ally when Trudeau is not our leader. pic.twitter.com/yztdiwAHye
— Crooked as Sin 🇨🇦 (@nottheworsehalf) February 4, 2025
Trump is a liar because if he ever told the truth about what he really has done and how it all really worked out, he wouldn’t be able to negotiate the price of a stick of gum. But by lying about the status quo and making it into a major accomplishment, his accomplishment, he’s been able to get into our highest office twice.
This is the secret, right here. And it’s a good thing the nations of the world are catching on. Because all they have to do, as stated, is humor the crazy old bastard. And then we won’t see our markets collapse and another Great Depression occur.
Andy Borowitz figured this out today. Here’s his take on it. It’s meant as comedy but like all good comedy, it’s funny because there’s an element of truth in it.
MEXICO CITY (The Borowitz Report)—After persuading him to delay his trade war with her nation, on Monday Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she was “confident” Donald J. Trump would not remember to impose a tariff on Mexico a month from now.
“After I got off the phone with him, I was like, ‘He’ll never retain any of this,’” she said. “It’s all good.”
Asked why she was convinced that Trump would not remember the tariff, she said, “Please. He can’t remember his wife’s name.”
In Washington, Trump said that he was looking forward to having a phone conversation with the president of Mexico someday.
Now we just have to control President Musk and we’ll really be getting somewhere.
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“…but we don’t get the message out there…”
I suggest that this phrase is getting as tiresome as “Democrats in disarray.”
And remind us all to add a healthy and huge dose of VOTER SUPPRESSION by Republicons.
I think the Democrats, via Kamala & Tim, got the message out very clearly. The results reflect that: it was no landslide for Trump, even running against a natural MAGAt target, a black woman. Sadly, the message was too complex and thought-provoking for Trump voters to comprehend. Sadly, the rightwing media spewed lies rather than anything resembling truth about the Democrats’ policies. Sadly, the mainstream media did a predictably shitty job of publicizing those policies or their benefits. Sadly, too few American citizens left their comfy sofas to vote. Sadly, we’re now stuck with chaos and ciminality for at least 2 years.
The MAGAs don’t listen to the main stream media, but they do heed their trusted sources.
Those sources of course, lie and distort anything the Democrats say or do.
Also don’t forget that this dolt managed to bankrupt not one, but TWO casinos in AC
Friggin’ casinos! They are practically a license to print money.
As they say, he could screw up a wet dream.