What’s up with Trump’s latest tweets?

Politics

[View here as a Twitter thread]

He’s flooding the zone—and it’s working. My feed this morning is filled with things like this: Ted Lieu debunking Trump’s latest law conspiracy theory.

1/ . . . and reports that Trump is again called the press the enemy of the people, and three hours later, the Boston Globe was attacked. The Toronto Star counted 67 lies Trump told this past week—his most dishonest week ever:

2/ Trump is just following the strategy articulated by Bannon: “The real opposition is the media . . . and the way to deal with them is to flood the zone. . .” All commentators I most respect are stuck in a game of whack-a-mole.

3/ They’re busy pulling apart each of Trump’s absurdities, showing why they’re wrong. When they finish one, another pops up. “Trump seems to be panicking,” people say. “Look at this stream of absurd tweets and statements.” Maybe he’s just more focused & improving his game.

4/ One problem with spending time exposing Trump’s lies is that his base KNOWS he lies, and they cheer. Profs Hahl, Kim & Sivan explain why. Trump’s base believes the government is illegitimate because it “favors new social groups” over the “real people.”

5/ In other words the government helps minorities and immigrants instead of prioritizing “real” Americans, so Trump’s base want him to torpedo the government and create a more “authentic” government—you know, like what we had in the 1920s.

6/ When Trump trashes the FBI (who is not playing on the right “team”) or the media (who also don’t play on the right “team”) Trump’s base cheers. To quote Sarah Sanders, Trump’s lies are vehicles that get to “important truths.”
7/ Moreover, as Timothy Snyder explains, Trump’s base thinks all politicians lie. In the “us v. them” mindset, they think: “Trump is a liar, but he’s our liar. We prefer our liar to the enemy liars (HRC, Comey, etc.)” It’s the ultimate in skepticism and relativism.

8/ Another problem with spending time exposing each lie is that it absorbs all our time, and we can’t focus on issues. Timothy Snyder explains that Putin used similar tactics when Russia invaded Ukraine.

9/ Putin told spectacular lies that contradicted what reporters could see with their own eyes. The reporters spent time dissecting Putin’s lies. Putin’s Reality TV News Show distraction meant it was months before the world could focus on Russian aggression.

10/ While everyone is playing Whack-A-Lie, Trump’s pals are busy devising strategies like separate families, revoke the citizenship of Americans of Mexican heritage, dismantle the federal government, move America from alliance with Nato to alliance with Russia, etc.

11/ How do I know Trump’s tactics are working? Because 41% of the population approves of Trump’s job performance (according to 538’s aggregate) despite a flood of evidence in the news of actual crimes.  And because I can’t figure out a solution.

12/ Ignoring lies is obviously not wise. Spending too much time explaining why they’re wrong, means we fall for the ploy. The fact that Trump can keep people so busy untangling his lies shows they serve a purpose. The public is so flooded it’s hard to focus on what matters.

13/ The calm of Obama’s presidency meant people could spend days on the color of his suit, and her emails sank deeply so into the public consciousness even people who knew there was crime felt a nagging doubt. Now serious crimes drowned out in the noise.

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