Tag: Trumpolitics

Trumpians Using Chaos to Mask Substance

Buck Banks

We can’t stress this enough: Watch closely the specific, substantive moves of the Trump White House. Try to block out the white noise of outlandish statements and unforced errors, and the hyperventilating they provoke. … Otherwise, you miss the big — and in some cases, radical — changes coming our way. In fact, White House officials tell us they welcome what seem like needless distractions, because it allows them to jam through transformative, disruptive ideas and orders without focused public scrutiny of any particular item.

— Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen

Is Trump the New Nixon?

Buck Banks

Trump is not just the most emotionally fragile president since Nixon: He’s literally planning to hang a framed letter from R.N. in the Oval Office. He modeled his RNC speech last summer off Nixon’s from 48 years earlier. Repudiating Reaganism, which won the Cold War, he’s embracing Nixon’s ‘madman theory’ of foreign policy. He’s consulting with the disgraced former president’s advisers. He’s stocking his West Wing with his protégés – including one whom he has decided to stand by despite egregious plagiarism that no other White House would tolerate.

— James Hohmann

Hey GOP — Trump Is Not Your Ally

Buck Banks

The populist fury of the Trumpentariat isn’t reserved for liberals alone; more and more, it will be focused on Republicans who fail to toe the line when He issues his commands and diktats. The rage monster machine of Fox News, talk radio and Trump-centric social media needs something to feed on, and if House Republicans think Trump and his media allies won’t sacrifice them for their own satisfaction and ratings, they’re not paying attention.

— Rick Wilson

Republicans: ‘Free Trade Bad’

Buck Banks

68%

Of Republicans and Republican-leaning registered voters say free trade has been a bad thing for the U.S., while only 24% say it has been good for the country, according to Pew Research. “These views, which have shifted starkly since May 2015, when 51% of Republican voters said free trade was a good thing for the U.S. and 39% said it was bad, came as President-elect Trump criticized free trade throughout the 2016 election cycle. Democrats, on the other hand, remain largely positive about free trade.”

Plurality of Americans Pessimistic About U.S.-China Relations Under Trump

Buck Banks

47%

Of Americans expect U.S.-China relations to deteriorate under the Trump administration, according to a YouGov poll from December. Just 19% expect them to improve, while 17% expect them to remain the same. The same poll asked if it was more important to punish China or maintain good relations, and 59% of respondents said maintaining good relations and only 13% wanted to punish China.

Next Four Years Critical for American Journalism

Buck Banks

Given everything we know about Donald Trump from his divisive, demagogic presidential campaign, the next four years will be a stress test for the American system. … The Trump Years promise to be full of Oval Office insults, Twitter attacks and disregard for facts. But rather than viewing the prospect of covering a Trump administration with exhaustion, we should feel invigorated. Because when this time is done, we will look back on it as the best and most important time to be a journalist – not because it was easy, but because it was hard and our sense of mission was clear: to respect the office of the President while holding the person in power accountable against a standard of enduring American values.

— John Avlon