A few weeks ago I updated a post from October, where I googled “Trump threatens” to see how often the phrase appears in the news. The answer then was 62,900,000 results, and included headlines like these:
Today, this headline in The New York Times caught my eye:
Trump Threatens Iran and Then Pulls Back, All in the Same Day
“We were getting ready to do a very major attack tomorrow, and I put it off for a little while, hopefully maybe forever, but possibly for a little while, because we’ve had very big discussions with Iran, and we’ll see what they amount to,” Mr. Trump told reporters.
This quote reminds me of the classic put-down of Lillian Hellman made by Mary McCarthy: “Every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the’.”
The Guardian’s version of that Times story had this headline:
Trump claims planned attack on Iran postponed after Tehran makes new proposal to end war
Trump claimed that the leaders of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia had approached Washington because of the chance of reaching a deal that would be “very acceptable” to the US, and preclude Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
There were contradictory reports from Islamabad, which has been mediating between both sides. A Pakistani source appeared pessimistic, telling Reuters that Washington and Tehran “keep changing their goalposts” and that time was running out to find agreement.
Does Donald Trump “claim” more than he “threatens?” It’s not even close.
Google says
“About 280,000,000 results”
Of course, all politicians make claims and some turn out to be true. But besides what may be the wisest thing ever said about Donald Trump, by The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman,
Mr. Trump has treated his own words as disposable commodities, intended for single use, and not necessarily indicative of any deeply held beliefs.
A close runner-up to that insight is the observation that Trump doesn’t see the difference between what is true, and what he thinks should be true.
Today’s result for “Trump Threatens” is 43,200,000. But before you start wondering what’s making Sir so relaxed, try googling “Trump Warns.”
“About 105,000,000 results”
Donald Trump’s favorite parts of being president are where he gets to warn, claim, threaten—and build. Taking care of people, not so much.
I don’t know how White House reporters cover someone whose every word should come with a warning label noting its’ worthlessness.
But even worse is how accepting millions of our fellow citizens are about living in a “post-truth” environment. They don’t mind voting for someone who lies because they don’t expect much more from their leaders.
I’m going to end with what I wrote in my last post. I think it’s worth repeating, sharing and thinking about.
We used to be able to count on the foundational truth that people voted for a reason—to act on their most deeply held values and beliefs, endorse policies, programs or parties, or defeat someone standing in their way.
Now, many people use their vote as a card to play, a score to settle or even a joke. They don’t see the connection between the issues that matter to their daily lives and what gets voted on in Washington.
That’s why so many people aren’t as bothered as we are by a president who’s demonstrably stupid. They aren’t invested in the political process. Until we figure out how to change that, we’re going to keep losing elections.
But if we do, we can change the face of politics for generations.
Ask not what Democrats can better say to voters. Ask what voters need to hear about why they should bother.