The Coming Summer of Propaganda

“President George W. Bush once said that to get a message across, you had to repeat it over and over, ‘to kind of catapult the propaganda.’ President Trump must have been paying attention. … I predict this will be a summer of nonstop, shameless propaganda from Trump and his minions. It will be clumsy, ridiculous and pathetic — but don’t ignore it. Call it out. Laugh at it. Recognize it for what it is: a sign not of strength but of fear.”

Eugene Robinson

More Americans See Trump as ‘Presidential’

40%

A new Gallup poll finds more Americans today (40%) than two years ago (33%) believe President Trump has the personality and leadership qualities a president should have, although that still represents a minority of the public. In contrast, roughly six in 10 Americans thought George W. Bush and Barack Obama had the right presidential characteristics at a similar point in their presidencies.

Nation Tires of Trump’s Tweeting

0.16%

“President Trump’s tweets don’t pack the punch they did at the outset of his presidency. His Twitter interaction rate — a measure of the impact given how much he tweets and how many people follow him — has tumbled precipitously,” Axios reports. “It’s a sign that his strongest communication tool may be losing its effectiveness and that the novelty has worn off. Trump’s interaction rate has fallen from 0.55% in the month he was elected to 0.32% in June 2017 — and down to 0.16% this month through May 25.”