Republican’s Pretend to Dislike Trump’s “Overheated Rhetoric” To Avoid AT ALL COSTS Having to Address Specific Traitorous and Un-American Statements
Over the last four years, Trump supporters have developed four different tactics when asked to defend or condemn whatever the most recent immoral and offensive thing Trump said or tweeted:
The Boxer:
He’s a counterpuncher, he fights for us, he’s a disrupter, he tells it like it is!
Elmer Fudd:
What? Huh? Tweets? I didn’t read it so I can’t comment. Not only that but I didn’t hear it. No, not even when you read it to me. OMG look at the time — I’ve got to run catch that rascally rabbit!
The Joker:
Ha ha, he was just kidding. You took that seriously? That’s funny. He’s funny. You’re funny. It’s all funny.
Faux Cicero:
Step 1: Express deep concern and say “I’ve expressed my view to the President” and “the tweeting is not helpful”.
Step 2: shift quickly to how the Democrats will destroy the American way of life.
In the White House, they’re all Boxers, led by Kayleigh Ukulele. Mike Pence is the Ultimate Fighter using this technique. Having once written that cigarettes don’t cause cancer, he’s the gold standard for the GOP when it comes to transforming toxic sludge into MAGA magic.
Many in Congress started with Elmer Fudd, moved to The Joker, and (because both of those get sillier and more ridiculous over time) have settled on Faux Cicero as the technique most likely to save their seats while preserving the tiniest fig leaf to cover their naked shamelessness. The key to this maneuver is the use of cheerful euphemisms for puerile and offensive garbage. The most popular euphemism is “the tweets” but there are many alternatives – unconventional style, brusque manner, overheated rhetoric — but the basic rhetorical device is the same. Take all the disgraceful disgusting comments and tweets and put them it in a little box with a harmless sounding name: “tweets.” What could be so dangerous about a tweet? Little birds tweet. Parakeets tweet. Give them credit, to a large extent they’ve gotten away with it.
So to any Republican who believes Trump is awesome except for his style or his manner or his tweets – please remove your head from your hindparts. Calling the noxious filth he spouts “those darn tweets” is an exercise in “framing” worthy of Joseph Goebbels.
Let’s be clear what is actually meant by “those darn tweets”. They refer to the fact that as President of the United States, Donald Trump has:
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- Lied about almost everything, almost all the time.
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- Extorted a foreign ally for political dirt on his opponent.
- After told of Russian interference, Trump said he called Putin and Trump said, “he couldn’t have been nicer” and “he says he didn’t do it and I believe him”.
- Told Congresswomen of color they should go back to where they came from.
- Insulted the appearance and intelligence of hundreds of women including Senators, Governors, Mayors, and the Democratic candidate for Vice President.
- Boasted about his penis size in a Presidential debate.
- Urged supporters to overthrow American state governments.
- Threatened dozens of private American corporations that he will put them out of business if they don’t do what he wants.
- Called his political opponents criminals and urging they be assaulted or imprisoned.
- Told Xi Jinping that the detention camps for Uighurs was, “exactly the right thing to do”.
- When speaking to the British Prime Minister, asked if the UK had nuclear weapons.
- Said there were many fine people at a white supremacists rally (where they chanted “Jews will not replace us”).
- Said those who serve in the military are suckers and losers.
- When discussing immigration from Haiti, asked, “Why do we want all these people from ‘shithole countries’ coming here?”
- Admitted that he knowingly provided false information which was directly relevant to the health and safety of 350 million people, consistently over a period of months during a global pandemic that’s killed over one million people.
- Said of the North Korean dictator, “he wrote me letters and we fell in love”.
I’m certain I’ve missed a few (hundred) but this list is just off the top of my head. My point is that it’s not the tweets, it’s not “overheated rhetoric”, it’s these specific things.
Don’t like Trump’s “persona” but you’re still supporting him? Cool, tell me why each of these are acceptable to you.
Taking a mountain and renaming it a molehill also achieves another purpose. It allows Republicans to play the Pros and Cons game. Yes, they admit, he loses points for his ungentlemanly tweets (-2, for style) but his accomplishments are so exceptional (+7 for substance), the bottom line is a big net positive! This is propaganda disguised as accounting.
What Trump has said and tweeted are not “cons” to be put into a spreadsheet, summed and subtracted from a list of “pros”. They are abominations. His comments aren’t just a negative, they are disqualifying. When the President of the United States expresses support for torch-bearing neo-Nazi marchers and white supremecists, this is not “paid for” by a few quarters of strong GDP growth. Progress on deregulation doesn’t make it acceptable to tell a Latino Congresswoman she’s stupid and should get out of the country.
The minimum standard for a decent human being and for a President is that they don’t spew puerile garbage 24/7.
Not retweeting nut-job conspiracy theories is, in fact, a prerequisite to be President. Why? Because his comments are immoral. This isn’t complicated, it doesn’t require deep study, intricate theories, or advanced degrees in political science. For most of us, it’s what our parents taught us, nothing more.