"Trump Threatens" Update
How Many Times Does the Leader of the Free World Threaten It?
Back in October, I saw so many headlines with the words “Trump threatens” that I decided to google the phrase. That day, it yielded 62,900,000 results.
Today the live feed from the Guardian updated me with this:
Trump threatens to withdraw US troops from Italy and Spain – Europe live
US president says European countries are ‘absolutely horrible’ to refuse to support operations in strait of Hormuz
Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw US troops from Italy and Spain a day after saying he was looking at reducing the number deployed in Germany.
Trump threatens here, Trump threatens there, what do you think my October search would produce today?
Place your bets.
Drumroll, please.
And the number is…
77,900,000! Did you think it would go down?
Our larger-than-life President has gargantuan appetites, for attention, power, buildings and once upon a time, (maybe still, if you believe Bill Maher) sex.
When it comes to threats, Trump’s no slouch. Also promises, plans and plans to release plans in two weeks. This is what happens when we have a President who not only says whatever flits into his brain for a millisecond or two (and flits right out)1, with no intention of following through but access to reporters who will amplify his every word.
A dispatch from Politico’sWest Wing Playbook raised some interesting points:
President DONALD TRUMP hasn’t stopped taking calls from reporters on his cell phone — sometimes several in one day — since the Iran war began.
That so many reporters can simply call the president — and especially to have him answer — is unprecedented, another aspect of a second term defined by the president’s prerogative to do the job however he wants. And paradoxically, the remarkable level of access for journalists isn’t always that informative for the public — nor does it appear to be an especially effective communications strategy for the White House.
Semafor reports that
The broad knowledge of Trump’s cell number in Washington has led to new kinds of journalistic strategizing about how to get him on the phone and what to do if he picks up. The conventional wisdom shared by most people who spoke with Semafor was to try Trump late in the evenings when he is watching TV and chatting. One person with his number said the only guaranteed way to get him was to get him on the horn in the middle of the night when he can’t sleep. Another person who’d spoken with him by phone recently said to give him a call early in the morning. Others said don’t give him a call in the morning, as that’s when he’s snapped at some reporters.
The story quotes one Washington journalist who says,
“I feel like Frodo with the ring. I know it’s dangerous, but it keeps beckoning me.”
Back in the Nixon years, NBC’s Nightly News anchor John Chancellor gave a commentary one night where he recommended that the White House shut down its press office. My recollection is that he said something like, “reporters don’t trust what you say anyway, so why bother?
Sometimes, like when he’s threatening to imprison and deport every immigrant he can find, Donald Trump carries through on his words, and other times they evaporate like threads of cotton candy.
Or threats full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
I’ll keep score on how many times Trump threatens countries, enemies, races, genders and starving children, but I’ll also keep asking—why is having a president who’s so unhinged not more of a problem? It has a lot to do with the very, very low bar people have set for political behavior and speech.
In a clown show, clowns say clownish things.
But our politics can be better than that. In fact, it is. Watch what happens in November.
But after that…
Yes, here comes that Maggie Haberman quote:
Mr. Trump has treated his own words as disposable commodities, intended for single use, and not necessarily indicative of any deeply held beliefs.