Donald J. Trump is a TV person at heart. A producer!
A child raised in the television era. He’s a creature of the medium who’s become quite expert (in his way) at it.
Example? That three-plus hour “Cabinet meeting” yesterday. It wasn’t a Cabinet meeting. It was performance art because the cameras were there, live, every minute. There was no meeting, no decisions, no policy presentations or options to review.
Here's what it was:
His soliloquy about many different topics, so he could shout from his bully pulpit demands and proclamations -- true or not -- all ears on him. Then, the one-after-the other Cabinet members providing witness to his greatness. Each trying to outdo their peers. With the cameras feeding it, live, to the millions he wants to impress, whether he impresses them or not.
All attention is on him. That’s what he likes. That's what he seeks. That's what he craves.
That's entertainment!
Street crime? He’s not really taking that on. He’s posturing. But Trump views it through the lens of a TV producer, what makes a good episode?
What gets him the ratings?
After just a few days of shipping the National Guard to Washington, he declared victory. “No crime in DC … D.C. was a hellhole and now it’s safe,” he proclaimed.
A good episode. Not true, but entertaining.
Never mind that those troops are being videotaped picking up trash in DC. The garbage kind, not the criminal kind.
After just a few days of “cleaning up D.C.,” he was moving on to Chicago! Another Democratic led city with the advantage, to Trump, of being known as Mob Central – about 100 years ago. But for some who watch TV, that perception remains and now he is getting what he wants: A fight with the Democratic governor (a potential 2028 presidential candidate) and the (black) mayor of Chicago.
He lives for that game.
He's a genius at politicking. At delivering results? Not so much.
Never mind that if you look at the list of the top cities and states leading crime statistics in the United States, the vast majority are Republican-led cities and states. But (shockingly?) Trump isn’t threatening sending troops to those locations.
The Democratic Party is on the ropes in the country with registration down, special interest groups once theirs now flirting with the Republican Party.
As we all know, crime isn't a result of bad leadership by Republicans or Democrats but it is a result of bad leadership by Republicans and Democrats who aren't working on the roots of crime -- be that education, drugs, poverty, enough jobs, after-school activities, etc.
Trump's efforts on crime are not seen by experts in the field as fighting crime, they are seen as gathering the benefits on the political issue – which is all Trump ever cares about.
Peace in Ukraine or Gaza? Only if it gets him his treasured Nobel Peace Prize. What’s he actually done to move the various sides to peace in those areas?
His latest Ukraine effort ended with him saying that if the leaders of those two countries don’t solve the problem themselves, he’ll figure out who to blame.
A winning Nobel strategy!
Trump actually is ignoring his real ratings: those that show what kind of job the people think the President is doing. He's under water on about every question.
Donald Trump grew up on television, real estate and being a rich kid.
He thinks, therefore, that life is won in 30-minute episodes, the transaction of the moment and who has the most money.
He measures a successful government in terms of monetary profit – and democratic governments are not built to make profits; they are built to provide help and security to their citizens.
He’s playing by a different set of rules. A set that doesn’t help the American people.
But, boy, does he get (TV) ratings!
A child raised in the television era. He’s a creature of the medium who’s become quite expert (in his way) at it.
Example? That three-plus hour “Cabinet meeting” yesterday. It wasn’t a Cabinet meeting. It was performance art because the cameras were there, live, every minute. There was no meeting, no decisions, no policy presentations or options to review.
Here's what it was:
His soliloquy about many different topics, so he could shout from his bully pulpit demands and proclamations -- true or not -- all ears on him. Then, the one-after-the other Cabinet members providing witness to his greatness. Each trying to outdo their peers. With the cameras feeding it, live, to the millions he wants to impress, whether he impresses them or not.
All attention is on him. That’s what he likes. That's what he seeks. That's what he craves.
That's entertainment!
Street crime? He’s not really taking that on. He’s posturing. But Trump views it through the lens of a TV producer, what makes a good episode?
What gets him the ratings?
After just a few days of shipping the National Guard to Washington, he declared victory. “No crime in DC … D.C. was a hellhole and now it’s safe,” he proclaimed.
A good episode. Not true, but entertaining.
Never mind that those troops are being videotaped picking up trash in DC. The garbage kind, not the criminal kind.
After just a few days of “cleaning up D.C.,” he was moving on to Chicago! Another Democratic led city with the advantage, to Trump, of being known as Mob Central – about 100 years ago. But for some who watch TV, that perception remains and now he is getting what he wants: A fight with the Democratic governor (a potential 2028 presidential candidate) and the (black) mayor of Chicago.
He lives for that game.
He's a genius at politicking. At delivering results? Not so much.
Never mind that if you look at the list of the top cities and states leading crime statistics in the United States, the vast majority are Republican-led cities and states. But (shockingly?) Trump isn’t threatening sending troops to those locations.
The Democratic Party is on the ropes in the country with registration down, special interest groups once theirs now flirting with the Republican Party.
As we all know, crime isn't a result of bad leadership by Republicans or Democrats but it is a result of bad leadership by Republicans and Democrats who aren't working on the roots of crime -- be that education, drugs, poverty, enough jobs, after-school activities, etc.
Trump's efforts on crime are not seen by experts in the field as fighting crime, they are seen as gathering the benefits on the political issue – which is all Trump ever cares about.
Peace in Ukraine or Gaza? Only if it gets him his treasured Nobel Peace Prize. What’s he actually done to move the various sides to peace in those areas?
His latest Ukraine effort ended with him saying that if the leaders of those two countries don’t solve the problem themselves, he’ll figure out who to blame.
A winning Nobel strategy!
Trump actually is ignoring his real ratings: those that show what kind of job the people think the President is doing. He's under water on about every question.
Donald Trump grew up on television, real estate and being a rich kid.
He thinks, therefore, that life is won in 30-minute episodes, the transaction of the moment and who has the most money.
He measures a successful government in terms of monetary profit – and democratic governments are not built to make profits; they are built to provide help and security to their citizens.
He’s playing by a different set of rules. A set that doesn’t help the American people.
But, boy, does he get (TV) ratings!
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