politics
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January 8, 2025
Same media strategy in the new year: Downplaying President Trump’s most dangerous and extreme ideas as “trolling” and even “branding.”
President-elect Donald Trump speaks to members of the media during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on January 7, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida.
(Scott Olson/Getty Images)
On Tuesday afternoon, I made the mistake of turning on the TV during Donald Trump’s lackadaisical press conference. It sounded like the biggest hit of his failed presidency, with complaints about pressure in showers and toilets and the dangers of windmills designed to conserve water. I immediately switched it off. Apparently I’ve heard of threats to use military force to annex Greenland and take back the Panama Canal (it wasn’t clear whether those threats extended to his plans to make Canada the 51st state), , appears to have missed some of the new malignant Trumpisms, such as the promise to change the name of the nation. The Gulf of Mexico is the “Gulf of America.”
When asked by a reporter if he would rule out the use of military force against Greenland and Panama, President Trump replied: You’re talking about Panama and Greenland. No, I can’t guarantee either of those things, but I can tell you this. We need them for our economic security. The Panama Canal was built for our military. I’m not going to commit to that right now. Maybe something needs to be done. ”
As expected, MAGA Republicans applauded Trump’s swagger. of new york post He praised his militant nationalism as the “Donro Doctrine.” Congressman Brian Mast, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said: tweeted: “It’s all American to dream big. It’s un-American to be afraid of big dreams. I couldn’t be more proud of our president. @realDonaldTrump He has the greatest vision for America. ”
Perhaps predictably, some journalists quickly began deriding the idea that President Trump would do something as outrageous as using military force against Greenland. Greenland is a territory of Denmark, an original member of NATO and pledged to its membership for the remainder of NATO. defense. Yes, that’s crazy, but so are many of his promises. And in his second term, he has no doubts.
CNN analyst Maggie Haberman new york times Normalizing President Trump’s Greenland proposal, “this idea of acquiring Greenland for strategic purposes has become a reality.” for decades” she said. “It’s not completely gone.” In fact, although the United States had a defense pact with Denmark, there was no serious discussion of a U.S. acquisition of Greenland after World War II (Pat Buchanan (not counted). Haberman acknowledged that Trump is “in an expansionist mindset.” was fired His talk of annexing Canada as a “troll”. Asked whether she was serious about using military force in Greenland or the Panama Canal, she jokingly said, “It surprised a lot of people.” It’s not clear if that’s actually what he’s thinking or what he said. ”
That’s quite a difference. Wouldn’t it be better to say “what he thinks” instead of “what he said”? Or is it the other way around?
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Kristin Solis Anderson, the sometimes rational Republican consultant rejected the concept. “What is Donald Trump doing? A big real estate deal. Branding — America’s Gulf. So this is taking the same strategy that Donald Trump has been implementing for decades and putting it back into the U.S. I’m just trying to apply it to government.
She continued: “If we actually invaded, if we actually invaded Greenland. Come back on the show. Show me this clip of me saying, ‘We’re not going to invade Greenland!’ . Please tell me it’s over. And you can say I’m stupid. We are not going to invade Greenland. ”
Personally, I don’t think he will use military force to annex Greenland, but it’s starting again: Major media figures claim President Trump has no intention of carrying out his claims death, drop him off From a madman who can do almost anything. (I don’t know why I added “almost”.) 2024 Election Analysis Because of this media “brainwashing”, he argues, Americans did not believe he was that crazy or dangerous. Many of those voters chose Trump or decided to stay home on Election Day.
On some level, I can understand that too. Mr. Trump’s boasts and threats are so persistent and excessive that it is tempting to clean them up and declare that some of them are off the table. Now I don’t know how anyone could do that. As tech czars and media moguls pander to the president-elect, we are losing so-called “guardrails” against his true wrongdoings by the day. Why does he try to assure people that he doesn’t mean what he says?
