“Only
a twit goes on twitter, and only a birdbrain tweets”
----from “The Quotations of Chairman Joe”
A theory is being bandied about which holds
that tRUMP’s use of the social media “Twitter” is a clever stratagem to
circumvent conventional media, in whose hands he has been savaged, opting
instead to speak directly to his constituency in 40 characters or less. I imagine that this would comport with the
‘bumper-sticker’ mentality of the great unwashed in search of a champion, but
it is no way to explain public policy.
Others hold that tRUMP’s nearly daily use of the medium is a bit of
genius, distracting as it does from the wretched Rescumlican agenda, serving as
a form of “flak” in effect jamming our “collective radar”, distracting us from
watching what congressional Rescumlicans are cooking up in the smoke-filled
rooms and about to foist upon an unsuspecting public. Others hold that tRUMP’s “tweet storms” serve
to distract us from the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in our
election, possible tRUMP campaign ties to the Russians and possible collusion
with the Russians to rig the outcome of the election. Lurking beneath, not so far from the surface,
are possible financial dealings which may involve racketeering and money
laundering. So, it is held, tRUMP almost
daily takes to “Twitter” and “Tweets” false accusations and insults in every
direction, calling into question in the process the legitimacy of every
institution in this country, be it law enforcement and the courts, the press,
the congress, thousands of county clerks (mostly Republican) across this
country who conduct our elections, financial institutions, American
corporations and businesses and accusing anyone who slightly disagrees with his
version of reality of being “fake”, disingenuous, and an outright liar; all of
this designed to smear with a mighty hand so as to obfuscate, confuse and
obstruct. He has even been compared to
the ‘Great Communicator’ Ronald Reagan as an alleged genius in connecting with
the ‘people’.
I’m not about to give tRUMP such credit.
You see Reagan spoke on behalf of a moribund
and largely discredited political and economic philosophy honed by messages
delivered at countless ‘rubber chicken’ events held at VFW and other venues in
countless towns and cities throughout America, transforming himself, over the
years, from a first-rate second-rate actor to a master political salesman. Moreover, a political salesman possessing a
deeply-flawed philosophy of governance, but a philosophy nonetheless. tRUMP, it by now must be clear, possesses
none of that.
Many students of the presidency have
correctly pointed out that the president has very few constitutional
powers. Beyond his or her role as
“commander-in-chief” of the armed forces and the veto power over acts of
congress (which can be overridden), the power of the presidency is one largely
of persuasion. In this the president, to be successful, must first have a clear
idea of where one wants to lead the country, how to use the office in order to
so lead, and, most importantly, how to sell one’s agenda to the nation at
large. For this one must be able to
adroitly use in Teddy Roosevelt’s immortal words the “Bully Pulpit”, but in
order to do so one must be able to make a salient case for one’s agenda; one
must use the profile of the presidency in order to legitimize and move one’s
policy goals. For that one needs an
uncommon salesman. tRUMP, it appears, is
not a salesman.
I have often pointed out in these columns
that a business background is an immediate disqualification for political
office, especially the highest office in the land. The president, you see, does not “rule” by
“decree”, but must persuade the people, the congress and the courts of the
need, legitimacy and urgency of proposed change. For this, the star of the
reality television show “The Apprentice” is the most ill-suited for the job,
for barking “you’re fired!”, will hardly get the job done for the inevitable
question—and it is always a PUBLIC question-- immediately emerges “now what”?,
demanding a public debate and discussion.
In any case, nowhere is the totally ill-suited nature of this man for
the office he holds on greater public display than in his almost daily use of
“Twitter”.
“Twitter” along with “Facebook” and
“LinkedIn” represent the vanguard of an explosion in this culture of so-called
“Social Media”. It should be more
correctly termed “Anti-Social Media”, inasmuch as complex questions of public
policy, when they are discussed at all, are done in crude two-dimensional
“Memes” where everything is reduced to bumper-sticker mentality or involve
sometimes long threads where people, armed with few facts and less
understanding, openly abuse each other by reducing public discourse to
invective, vitriol, and abuse.
These are media made for one Donald J. tRUMP,
for it should be clear by now to even the most casual observer that the man in
the oval office, armed with few “facts” and even less understanding can only
express himself by reducing public discourse to invective, vitriol and
abuse. And so, the headlines of the day
are dominated by these “tweet storms” in which our intrepid leader is
constantly seen whining, blaming, accusing and demeaning everything about
him—even, on occasion, his own party’s policy agenda. None of these rants stick, none have in the
parlance of the theatre “legs”, save the “tweet” that President Obama bugged tRUMP
tower thereby accusing the former President of committing a felony. That little tweet storm rattled through the
‘news cycles’ like loose change in a dryer for nearly two months bringing
unwanted attention to the Russian mess all the while robbing Rescumlicans of a
splendid opportunity to sell their much-anticipated savaging of the health care
system in this country.
But it is one thing to steal a Supreme Court
seat in the static caused by these “tweet storms”; it is one thing to get a
health care bill through the house stripping, by estimates of the non-partisan
Congressional Budget Office, 22 million people of their health care; it is one
thing to then have a handful of Senate Rescumlicans meet behind closed doors to
fashion a Senate version of same. It is
quite another to get this country to swallow such a savaging of the safety net
as Rescumlicans are learning with each trip back home.
So instead of addressing the nation from the
oval office or, as Obama before him, before a joint session of Congress in
order to explain himself, we find instead this little man, hamstrung by
language reduced to trying to forward his agenda in 40 characters or less. “Twitter” is not the medium for this and
Donald J. tRUMP is not the man. To do
this one must sell the program to the American people. To do this one must have a Master Salesman,
one must have a president. Donald J.
tRUMP is no Master Salesman; Donald J. tRUMP is no president worthy of the
name.
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