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1. Best (And The Only) Way To Defeat Trumpism
Let's be clear. There is no doctrine called Trumpism. Trumpism is simply an attitude. It's an attitude of railing at the mainstream media for being Fake News (correctly) and playing fast and loose with trivial facts (incorrectly).
Let's be clear. There is no doctrine called Trumpism. Trumpism is simply an attitude. It's an attitude of railing at the mainstream media for being Fake News (correctly) and playing fast and loose with trivial facts (incorrectly).
2. Now some would include Trump tweets as a third aspect of Trumpism attitude, and they may be right, but I consider that as a manifestation of the first two things I mentioned, not a separate and distinct thing.
3. After all, absent railing at the media and playing fast and loose with trivial facts to get a rise out of his opponents, Trump's tweets wouldn't rile and torment his opponents so much, would they?
4. Now why do I maintain that there is no Trump doctrine? Because nothing that Trump has actually implemented policy-wise is any different from what conservatives and Republicans (and heck, in some cases even Democrats) have pursued, at least rhetorically, for a long time.
5. The only difference is Trump has implemented more efficiently and effectively what others have merely talked about but never delivered on. Yes, his methods are unorthodox, but then orthodox methods have demonstrably been utter failures for so long.
6. Quibble all you want with unorthodox success over orthodox failure, but that's all it is when it comes to Trump. Trump's results will endure, while Trumpism will leave the American body politic when Trump leaves the White House. It's a fascinating but a transient phenomenon.
7. Still there are those who are bothered witless by Trumpism, and it is highly understandable, even slightly adorable, and it even evokes a modicum of sympathy from me, to be frank. There was a time, right up to around late 2016, when I felt the same way about Trump.
8. So here is my good deed of the day for Trump opponents, at the cost of Trump supporters possibly hating me for giving them ideas (but trust me friends, the whole nation, all of us, will be better off if they take me up on my idea and try it). This is how you defeat Trumpism.
9. It is so simple that I kind of know it in my gut that you, Trump opponents, will never be able to do it. Simple doesn't mean easy, especially not for Trump opponents. To defeat Trumpism, all you have to do is: "Be fair to Trump."
That's it! Let me prove it to you.
That's it! Let me prove it to you.
10. Imagine NY Times and Washington Post, just for one day, picking up on some of the Trump successes and writing about them in glorious terms, just like they did for eight fricking years for Obama. So we know they are technically capable of doing it.
11. Having done that, if the next day, they then wrote say a "Russia Collusion" story, in measured terms, presenting both the damning side of circumstantial evidence as well as the exculpatory explanations, do you think it will have more persuasive purchase or less?
12. Now imagine if every blue checkmark, Democrat and NeverTrumper, first and foremost critiqued any sensational report about Trump by pointing out the hearsay nature of evidence, explaining the caveats, and excoriating any logical flaws, before exploring the consequences.
13. Imagine that. With that context in place, will the exploration of even the hypothetical consequences plant a seed of doubt and concern more effectively or less effectively in the minds of those who don't have an a priori negative opinion of Trump? The question answers itself.
14. Once people saw that media is covering Trump fairly, they would see every transgression or attack on media from Trump as unseemly and unjustified. It will have just the opposite effect than Trump intends. He will have no choice but to stop doing it. Ergo, end of Trumpism.
15. I know it's not easy to do. But I also know that most media people are perfectly capable of doing it, if they wanted to defeat Trumpism. So what gives! The obvious inference is they don't want to defeat Trumpism. They want to thrive on it, feed off of it, like parasites.
16. Deranged opposition to Trumpism, rather than its defeat, is what gives them the 'clicks' they want. Their ratings go up. They make more money. They satiate their material appetites, like the parasites feeding off animal droppings, while their minds and souls atrophy.
17. What a disgrace! Media people and intelligentsia, don't you dare blame the consumers and 'polarization' for the discord you sow and profit off of for this pitiful state of affairs. Pox on your greed and guile. Shape up, for your own good as well as for the nation's.
The End
The End
I repeat.
